Caught in the Crossfire

Engine Room, Brighton
15/02/2010

That’s right Heshers, it’s a night of Thrash Metal in the Engine Room, and there’s a decent turnout considering it’s a shit awful cold and windy Monday… so let’s mosh.

Brighton’s own Crypsis are already on when I arrive. Com-padres who’ve seen them have given super-positive words on these lads, and after a 30minute blasting I can confirm they are an excellent trio, cranking out slick and powerful Thrash-jams totally faithful to it’s roots, and executed with much precision and force. I didn’t see too many of these bands back in the Eighties, but of those I did – I know that Crypsis could easily have held their own. And it’s inspiring to see kids still getting pumped for, what is still essentially, outsider music. Fly-by-night fashionistas will try to score credibility referencing Metallica and Slayer… but the likes of Crypsis, and their enthusiastic following, are the Real Deal. They leave the stage to a huge roar of appreciation from the crowd, who, if they weren’t familiar with them before… are now.

Cannabis Corpse, from Richmond Virginia , is the bong-term vision of Municipal Waste bassist Phil Hall, his (drummer) brother Josh, and two other cohorts. They play straight ahead fast ‘n heavy Death ‘n Grind that satisfies the pumped up crowd… yeah – the ‘Corpse easily delivers. Given the bands name, you don’t need to be Einstein to work out that these boys dig their weed as much as their Grind, and arrive on stage informing us they are already under a heavy toxic fug. And the songs, yeah – they all seem to be related to their favourite pastime too… as I recall there was one about having a weed addicted pregnant girlfriend called Smoking for Two and another about sharing buds in a graveyard, and on and on it went…

Great pairing of bands, and good night out – even for a pot-free no-metalhead like me, ha!

Pete Craven