“We’ve come to ruin you night” screams Tomb Slab vocalist Dean Lettice by way of an introduction, but nothing could be further from the truth. Hailing from the badlands of Nottingham, this quartet form a tight unit, delivering a doomy brand of sludge that’s full of Sabbath-esque riffs and anchored by a crushing rhythm section. With the stage bathed in demonic green light, Dean enters the crowd during ‘Toils Of The Unclean Spirit’ to sing from the floor and get close up and personal. The inherent groove found within their songs means they soon get the whole crowd bobbing in unison and with the band stomping like a giant putting out fires, that’s really no surprise. They certainly haven’t come to make up the numbers and their energetic performance sets the bar high for the rest of the evening.

With a name that conjures images of a corrosive chemical spill or a strange subterranean dweller who has been hiding from the light, Slimelord aren’t a band for the faint of heart. They appear on the horizon like a fleet of tanks to the strains of ‘Besieging the Fortress’ and then proceed to unleash the heavy artillery with ‘Gut-Brain Axis’. Slimelord create a sound that’s so immensely heavy that the means of weighing it have yet to be invented, but imagine the force of an ocean bearing down upon a shipwreck and you’d have something approaching the immensity of this Leeds-based quintet. The riffs are drawn out to impossible lengths, whilst the vocals are inhuman and seem to emanate from the very depths of hell, and with the rhythm section exploding like a series of depth charges, songs such as ‘Splayed Mudscape’ make for an arresting experience. What sets Slimelord apart from their peers is a progressive edge, like some mutant creature they are in constant motion, shapeshifting and taking on new form as they roll along. The gaps between songs are kept deliberately short which only adds to their sense of power and this set renders Slimelord a potent force.

Undeath are no strangers to The Craufurd Arms and are making their third appearance at the venue tonight. Testament to the buzz surrounding the band, they’ve pulled a decent sized crowd on a cold, Wednesday evening and means that there’s a tangible excitement crackling the air as we await their arrival. It’s a tension stretched to breaking point by an elongated introduction and means that when the band arrive and launch into ‘Lord Of The Grave’ it feels as if a safety valve has been released; a pit erupts (it’s that type of music), horns are held high in affirmation and those with follicles get them flying. With pig squealing guitars, thunderous drums, bombastic bass, and a frontman in Alexander Sason constantly riling the crowd towards greater levels of insanity, Undeath encapsulate everything that’s great about death metal and roll it into one perfect package. They are a band who wear their influences on their sleeves (quite literally; the guitarists sport Manowar and Suffocation tees, which gets them bonus points) and while the band do pay homage to death metal’s illustrious past, they are no retro act, either. Aside from Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, New York doesn’t have many legacy death metal bands, and that has helped Undeath formulate a sound all their own. Whilst ‘Human Chandelier’ does contain elements of Cannibal Corpse, it contains equal parts Merauder and Crown Of Thornz, especially the aggression and aggro of New York hardcore. When the two genres are fused, they make for a volatile mix and that’s exactly what tracks such as ‘Rise From The Grave’ serve up, Undeath releasing their songs in quick succession, making their set a sustained sonic assault. It is with ‘Brandish The Blade’ that things come to a conclusion, the band making a sharp incision to bring things to a sudden stop and makes this a gig that’ll live long in the memory.

Undeath Set List:

1. Intro
2. Lord Of The Grave
3. Necrobionics
4. Disputatious Malignancy
5. Defiled Again
6. Shackles Of Insanity
7. Enter Patient
8. Human Chandelier
9. Trampled Headstones
10. Chained To A Reeking Rotting Body
11. Rise From The Grave
12. Lesions Of A Different Kind
13. Brandish The Blade

Slimelord Set List:

1. Besieging The Fortress (Intro)
2. Gut-Brain Axis
3. Batrachomorpha Resurrections Chamber
4. Splayed Mudscape
5. Amphibia
6. Amphibious Dirge (Outro)