Ah, yes. 6 hours of non-stop death/metalcore at my favourite London venue. It would have been awesome if I had remembered my earplugs. Oh, and if my mate hadn't dropped out last minute and left me with noone able to share trips to the bar. Hey ho.
In all seriousness, though, it actually was awesome.
I missed the first band due to a guest list muddle, but luckily made it in time for Arsonists Get All The Girls, who were hilarious. Not one for the metal puritans, but the mad pinball machine / gaming sounds that come out of that keyboard are brilliant fun and inject the whole venue with the atmosphere of a weird heavy metalcore house party.
War From A Harlot's Mouth were a lot less jazzy live than on record, but brilliantly brutal as a result, and Carnifex and Beneath The Massacre were just plain HEAVY. Like deafeningly, earth-shatteringly heavy. Beneath won over Carnifex simply due to their blindingly talented band members, though. The singer has a majorly deep growl, but is a bit pit-bull on stage and not all that engaging, but the rest of the band are so fast and powerful it's almost something you want to have recorded to watch in slow motion when you get home.
It was a toss up between Darkest Hour and Bleeding Through, who are both massively talented headliners in totally different ways. Where Darkest Hour turn suddenly more raw and credible live, not giving a hoot about image or plans, Bleeding Through are polished and melodic. Both worked for me, I gota say, and between them they had enough great songs to play for a good hour or two more.
Maybe we need two Thrahs'n'Burn tours a year from now on!
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