ACTIVE SLAUGHTER, ARMED RESPONSE UNIT, REJECTED AND FLOWERS OF FLESH AND BLOOD
LONDON HOLLOWAY GAFF - 22/02/09
It was off down to Holloway Road and a boozer formally known as The Kings Head for this event on a Sunday night. Thanks to London Transport for shutting half the lines down and making getting home impossible, but that’s the only moan on an otherwise excellent night. This was the launch party for the new Active Slaughter album ‘4T2ude’ and where else could you go and pay just £5 and get four bands, the new album, badges, keyrings and cupcakes (vegan of course)? At a Metallica show haha! Well to be fair, Prince did give away his album away free at his shows and you can find it in charity shops everywhere unlike ‘4T2ude;’ reviewed elsewhere on these pages.
First up were ‘Flowers Of Flesh And Blood’ named after the infamous Japanese pseudo snuff Guinea Pig movie. I had cheated by seeing them a couple of weeks ago at The Unicorn so knew what to expect. Musically they play crusty sounding anarcho punk with a definite hardcore edge to it. They immediately got the crowd moving towards the front of the stage and one got the impression if it had been a bit higher off the ground there might have been a bit of diving going on. Songs like ‘Just Say No’ were anti Nazi and ‘Emancipation’ was an ode of disgust at Form 696 and if you don’t know what that is look it up immediately. The rants between songs became as necessary as the ones during them and I was reminded of all sorts here, a bit of Icons Of Filth, Rudimentary Peni and Minor Threat all rolled into one. I’m sure they did this for the love of it and money will never really fly their way but someone really needs to their guitarist a new pair of strides!
www.myspace.com/flowersoffleshandblood
Rejected from Newport, now there’s a sentence in itself, but what I mean is were on next. Never heard of them before but I certainly liked what I heard and so did everyone else by the seem of it as pit ructions quickly got underway to the likes of ‘Cruelty’. Their brand of self described ‘Taffy anarcho’ was an exuberant and well executed gobby mash up that had numbers such us ‘Protest’ pretty much speaking for themselves. This was in the spirit of Discharge and Conflict, full of attitude and crustier than the stains on my trousers. ‘Think’ had a slower groove to it but was still just as full of aggro and the fluttering guitar sound really added to it. With a girl joining in to provide some vocals there was plenty going on here and ‘All Blood Is Red’ was an anthem and a half for the group to finish on.
www.myspace.com/yourapersonnotanumber
Seamus O’Hooligan is a busy man not only is he in loads of bands but many of those that he is not, he used to be. Just before getting on stage he was serving behind the bar and when not serving he is no doubt drinking at it. Enough about him though as Armed Response Unit are a tactical assault squad of four and what a fucking racket they make. Having heard them on record (yes vinyl) I knew they were fast but bejesus! It was safer after a photo mission to watch at the side of the stage guzzling a beer, cue ‘Sobriety Sucks’ from the band. The audience were twitching like epileptic zombies trying to keep up with the pace here. The drummer particularly seemed to make his presence felt, hell there were even some blasts and joining in on the yells female bassist Kiara was the perfect accompaniment to the hooligans distempered yaps. This was about as fast as punk gets and at times it bordered on grind to my ears, furious, riotous and drunkenly aggressive; this lot would make a great support for Napalm Death.
www.myspace.com/thearmedresponseunit
Having only just been handed the new album I obviously was not likely to recognise numbers such as ‘Nothing To Hide, Nothing To Fear’ from Active Slaughter but they immediately struck a nerve and sounded good and well practiced by the band. They might not have tried to keep up with the previous lot but once the audience had recovered they were keen to get up and bounce around again. ‘Price Of Silence’ sounded like it was being shouted from the rooftops at a riot and was a song that wasn’t intended to be stifled. I was happy to hear an old one ‘My Foot In Your Mouth’ a rant against all forms of animal abuse. A little bit of dub made its way into one number before skidding on the oil which it thematically was about, slipping and speeding off into a big old pile up. Singer Jake Slaughter was also making plenty of between song statements and ‘R.I.P.’ was a number about the credit crunch. Perhaps it wasn’t a crunch but during it one enthusiastic audience member made an amusing sound as they slid across the floor on their face. ‘Chernobyl Waiting To Happen’ was one cautionary number and the next being about police brutality, was one that is unfortunately all too prevalent already. It was at this point that my notes disintegrated but I pretty much remember ‘Land Of Hope & Glory’ being one of the last numbers before drunkenly falling out the boozer. Consider this an album well and truly launched and a great night was certainly had by all.
www.myspace.com/activeslaughter
Pete Woods
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