LIVE REVIEW: Agnostic Front @ The Fleece, Bristol

AGNOSTIC FRONT are utterly legendary. And water is wet. There are few things more obvious than the incredible work AGNOSTIC FRONT have done for hardcore and punk over their time as a band. Now with another new album that features some of their most confident material to date, on top of everything else they’ve released, the band have returned to Bristol to bring the classic New York hardcore sound to a near sell out crowd.

First up though are political punk rock savages NO PULSE. With a sound that seems caught somewhere between classic punk rock fodder and modern powerviolence noise, NO PULSE have a unique energy about them. Their vocalist paces the stage, and is unfortunately the only member of the band moving around. The static nature of the other band members does affects the bands impact, and also the size of The Fleece means a lot of their nuance is lost in the lack of true intimacy, like you would get at a venue like The Exchange or Mother’s Ruin. Still, NO PULSE give a good bit of welly, and certainly prepare the audience for more to come.

Rating: 6/10 

Bristol bred beatdown crew BACK DOWN are next up, and they bring a massive amount of energy for The Fleece to soak up. The band feel tight and professional, with there never being a silent moment in the set. BACK DOWN prove themselves to be masters at keeping the pace up, and also at giving their music genuine peaks that utterly crush. Between the D-beat drums and the monstrous breakdowns, the vocals get utterly lost in the fray but the energy the vocalist throws at the crowd is still very well received. When a cover of Driven By Suffering is dropped the pit well and truly opens with a shocking display of violence, and BACK DOWN begin to make a break for band of the night. BACK DOWN serve as excellent ambassadors for a genre of hardcore that is often overlooked by fans of the original sound, and the fact that this set goes down so well should be testament to just how good BACK DOWN are. It’ll be a sad day for the Bristol scene when they call it quits.

Rating: 8/10 

THE TAKE have pedigree. Being made up of members from MADBALL, SICK OF IT ALL, and BIOHAZARD, this trio know more about this scene than most will ever experience. This new project comes more and the Oi Punk end of the spectrum, but there are still moments where the members previous musical projects begins to shine through, with a couple of true boot stomping moments thrown in for good measure. There are a few forgettable moments, but when the band hit the nail, they smash it, with stand out parts of the set coming from the interesting combination of rhythms that stand out from the classic three chord fodder this music can often be. THE TAKE may only be one album deep but they are already proving themselves to be pushing a classic punk rock sound in a genuinely modern direction.

Rating: 7/10 

As we mentioned earlier, there is no denying the incredible and immense impact AGNOSTIC FRONT have had on the genre. After all, they were one of the bands that started this crazy scene. The stage presence that emanates from every member of the band is tangible, and Vinnie Stigma is comfortably the most intimidating man in hardcore. The band come out the gates immediately with new song AF Stomp and Spray Painted Walls. Despite the band sounding a bit maimed due to Vinnie‘s guitar being almost inaudible, the energy and intensity from the hardcore legends is still second to none, and the keen crowd makes up for any potential short falls.

Classic songs like Victim in Pain and Blind Justice are as viscous as ever, and Gotta Go incites the biggest crowd reaction of the whole night as people charge their way to the front of the crowd. Even with all the sound shortfalls, there is nothing that can stop AGNOSTIC FRONT from consistently delivering hardcore sets that most can only dream of.

Rating: 8/10 

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Bristol from Normandy Photography here: