Bonded by Blood @ Purple Turtle

So 150 or so thrash diehards gathered in the tiny Purple Turtle to tear it a new asshole as they say and boy did we tear it one! First band was called Your City is Forgotten - a late and out of place addition to the bill. They were deathcore, breakdown infested, rant merchants. I renamed them Your Band is Forgotten- oops sorry lads. This wasn't your crowd but I guess no one threw beer at you so not so bad eh.

Next up was the insanity that is the new thrashforce hurricane of ol' London town - namely the awe inspiring young upstarts of Mutant. They have a limited supply songs but man when they thrash along this good, who needs variety. They changed up the order from the last week I saw them at the Underworld. They still sound amazingly tight and you can't go wrong with these neckbreakers they call tunes can you. There was a 15 man pit started after the opening song with the odd stage diver but the intensity of the headbanging and thrashing all round me was pretty wild although I did hear and see a couple of guys getting a bit overzealous in the pit on a couple of occasions - I guess this type of music just sends some people over the edge. Anyway these Mutant guys just leave me with a shit eating grin all over my fat face!

Next up were Canadian retro NWOBHM metallers Cauldron. They have the moves in place and look the part. They make a right royal thumping groovy racket but alas don't seem to be quite the songsmiths that one would like. The vocals are a little bit scratchy and flat as well. Not so bad and the heart is definitely in the right place but they need more in the way of memorability with the songs.

Finally it was the turn of Hispanic thrash crew of LA - namely Bonded by Blood. I quite like them on record but certainly don't love them. Their songs are a bit so so with a few killer rippers thrown in but I will tell you this live they were absolutely incendiary. Walls of head banging hair and unison axe twiddling lead breaks and squeaky fast spat vocals. Especially the little maniac bass player with his curly mane banging away like his head is about to fly off! Loads and loads of damn fun these guys. They played roughly 40 minutes and it was over all too soon. I still can't tell hardly one song from another in the live setting but damn it was insanely catchy and cool anyway. The gathered headbangers at the front went nuts so to speak and the guys in the band thrashed away like there's no tomorrow. Once again a couple of drunk idiots went a little bit over the the top, with their pit behaviour leaving a little bit to be desired but I guess I'm an old fuck so what do I know - I just steer clear at the side and enjoy the bouncy riffs 'n' sizzling solos! I especially loved the insane track Another Disease with it's killer riffs. Bonded by Blood were hellishly cool and much better than I was expecting. Those Hispanic dudes know all about the art of shredding thrash.

High Quality Youtube clips of Bonded by Blood and Mutant are here. Captures the immensely energetic performances of both bands perfectly and thanks to the "newmetalarmy" for filming it. Thrash til death!