LIVE REVIEW: Full of Hell @ Rough Trade, Bristol

Grindcore is a genre best experience in a sweaty, disgusting basement filled with like minded individuals all going hammer and tongs to the sound of putrid screams, raging blast beats and lightening fast riffs. Instead of a dirty basement, FULL OF HELL have opted for the Rough Trade record store to play in as they swing through Bristol again, just a year after they utterly decimated The Exchange. Bringing with them a selection of some of the finest in British brutality, this was all set to be one of the noisiest and downright abusive nights of the year.

HUMAN CULL are the first band up and they are the first to fall foul of the genuinely awful sound within the concrete enclosure of the Rough Trade venue. Their guitars are almost inaudible, utterly drowned out but the cymbals that create a deafening and not entirely enjoyable sound. The band play as fast as humanly possible but lack any real power save only for the relentless pace at which they play. The six string bass is utterly redundant in this venue, as even the lowest of low end cannot cut through the abrasive drums, making their set sound as if it were a drummer and a vocalist with brief guitar backing. Sure, when you can make out the guitars and bass then things start to come together, but ultimately this is just noise in an enclosed space that only fans of the band could truly enjoy.

Rating: 4/10

Fairing far better due to their more dynamic sound, HELPLESS are up next and they make a lasting impact on the near sold out crowd. With the pace you would expect from a grindcore band, the trio also understand the need to slow things down in order to make the pace that much more horrific. HELPLESS don’t address the crowd save only for them to introduce themselves, but the crazy guitar work backed by grooving bass and utterly pounding drums makes for a wonderful time. Still deafeningly loud, the band aren’t afraid to drop all the noise in order to really build up the tension before coming down on the crowd with the force of an anvil.

Rating: 7/10

If you aren’t aware of LEECHED at this point, then prepare to be hearing a lot about them in the coming months. The newcomers to the British scene boast a bleak and horrifying sound that comes at you with clenched fists and bared teeth, making for their set tonight to be one intimidating affair. With their debut looming on the horizon, tracks like Guilt boast a more refined approach to their violent sound. Older tracks like Marrow come at the crowd with intent to kill and LEECHED, despite being static for the majority of the show, are able to command the crowd with their surprisingly well mixed assault. There is no reprise, as the half an hour set culminates early after the band take no prisoners with their pace, sifting through multiple new tracks intertwined with their debut EP material. Despite being such a young band, LEECHED boast unrivalled aggression in their music, and with a bit of work on their live show they could become one of the most terrifyingly aggressive bands to come out from our little island.

Rating: 8/10

FULL OF HELL have carved themselves a war path during their career of writing some of the most punishing and artistic grindcore around. Witnessing the band on the tiny stage in Rough Trade definitely instigates sweaty palms as the anticipation for the sheer gargantuan noise this band create begins to hit fever pitch. After some weird samples, the game is on, and what a fucking game it is. The blast beats don’t just sound aggressive, they feel aggressive, as they just pound the front row with unrelenting brutality, as the wretched and vile noises that erupt from vocalist Dylan Walker’s microphone cut through the wall of sound like a scalpel.

The guitars do get lost in the tirade from time to time, but thankfully for the band’s carefully created songwriting there is reprise to be had when they feel like it. When FULL OF HELL want to get weird they do, as guitarist Spencer Hazard rubs his guitar strings against the wall during a tidal wave of feedback, using the entire venue as some sort of twisted industrial bow for his weapon of choice.  It does get a tad overwhelming at times, as trying to figure out where one song ends and the other begins becomes difficult, but this adds to the intense experience of a grindcore band of this quality in such a small enclosed space. FULL OF HELL do find time to stop and engage the crowd with awkward results, clearly finding more comfort in creating a terrifying racket rather than bantering with the crowd. When all things are said and done, the band leave the stage and leave the crowd in awe at the experience they have just had, and god bless the ears of those who watched without earbuds.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our stunning photo gallery from the mayhem in Bristol from Serena Hill Photography here: