Cruel Hand @ The Firestation

You really have to hand it to Days of Last promotions, there are some seriously good bands coming to the Firestation in Windsor now, you know you’re doing alright when you can get Cruel Hand to stop off on their tour.



But before that, the gig last night offered up four support bands, starting with local boys Thrones, playing only their second gig (and fist with current vocalist). Now if they were nervous (as you might expect) you couldn’t tell. A short, ferocious set with plenty of hardcore type rage and some sweet breakdowns followed. Set closer ‘The Shore’ was the highlight; probably because that was the only song anyone had heard before. I told you to check them out a few weeks back, if you haven’t, go and do it, now.
Next up, Welsh metal/hardcore genre benders Ark of the Covenant. British hardcore with some blisteringly heavy guitars and a tendency to face away from the crowd while playing. Slightly disappointing really, they didn’t quite have the stage presence to match the music and fell a little flat.

Sweden’s Guilty were next on what was fast becoming an international bill. Now from the moment they appeared on stage, all long hair and Metallica patches there was quite a lot of crowd bemusement. Certainly they were more on the trash end of things that you’d expect considering the rest of the line-up, however this didn’t stop them putting in a real solid set. Confused faces in the crowd aside there were killer riffs and a fair bit of hair swinging which is always nice to see. Another band to check out added to the list.

The final support came from Philadelphia’s own Wrong Answer who absolutely killed it. No question. A set of tight, loud and angry hardcore that sounded like Terror covering Gorilla Biscuits and a shit load of 2-steping down the front is all you could ask for from most top of the bill acts and here it was delivered in shed loads. The whole thing was also helped along by the singer’s pretty massive stage presence and to quote a member of the crowd ‘moshing like a badman’. I’d pay money to see them headline a show for sure.

Their set also led pretty seamlessly into Cruel Hand’s, a double dose of American hardcore generally goes down well. With songs like ‘Lock and Key’ and ‘Cruel Hand’ to pull out of the bag and the ability to keep the intensity up ever when one of the five piece’s guitar players broke a string, you could see why they are one of the best hardcore bands in America right now. Lead singer Chris roamed the stage front and pit area pretty fearlessly and there was mic sharing and 2-stepping galore. If anything the set was a little short, a couple more songs would have been nice, but that’s only a minor issue. All in all, top of the game live act, who manage to sound as good as they do on record while playing a show in a basement. Oh and the bassist was wearing a Hell Rider cut off, what else do you want from a band? Sweet night.

(Oh and major Bonus, got to chat with Justin (the singer) from Wrong Answer afterward, expect something from that next week.)