Here's a quick summary of what we've reviewed thus far...
Stampin' Ground live (Tom)
EFD live (Tom)
Decimate live (Tom)

Stampin' Ground Live
It's not often you can say you've just been to the best gig ever (obviously), but having experienced the full-on intense hardcore mosh pit action that was Stampin' Ground, supported by God Forbid and Decimate, I find myself thinking that this may have been the case on Saturday. The first band, Decimate, were good but suffered from the singer losing his voice, a lack of pit fury and over-reliance on Slayer cliches guitar-wise. Still, they set the scene for the insanity that was American band God Forbid, who had just the most amazing frontman and really got the pit going. Again there were a lot of Slayer-esque riffs, but this time they were interspersed with Sepultura stlye dynamics and fucking awesome solos. This is a band you need to check out. But on to Stampin' Ground, labelled "moshpit heroes" and rightfully so. From the moment they hit the stage, the area in front of the stage descended into the hardest pit ever seen. Flying kicks, walls of death, circle pits, headbutts, piggy backs and a Braveheart-style charge were among the highlights of what had to be the most concentrated area of pure energy anywhere in the Universe that night. Yep, it ruled. You start off thinking "I'm not going in that pit, I'll die," then you think, "Oh what the Hell, I'll throw a quick windmill," then before you know it you're transformed into a spinning ball of thrash-hardcore driven fury, hitting stage dive after stage dive, wall of death after wall of death, and still with the pit spirit of helping your fellow psycho up off the floor and catching the fat bald bloke who somersaults off the stage. And to cap it all they played "Scratch The Surface" by Sick Of It All, one of the greatest hardcore songs ever. Fucking awesome.
10/10

EFD live
As night descended on the remote village of Feering and a far-off coyote howled, the garage door began its ascent, the banner that strikes fear into the hearts of pussies unfurled and a cacophony of guitar noise heralded the beginning of an unforgettable night provided by the current saviours of British heavy music, Excellent Flying Deth. The engines of destruction squealed into life as the audience jolted to life when their heroes stepped out, and those braves gathered in the deadly gravel pit began flexing their mosh muscles.
The steady whine of feedback. A ride cymbal gradually building up the pressure. Then all Hell breaks loose as the pounding wall of guitar and bass jackhammers the pit into life. Bodies go flying, fat people hit the deck, blood spurts out of fresh wounds and gravel fills the air. Those lesser men outside the pit and the band members in the garage cannot help but be awed by the power of the EFD interpretation of "Blind" by Korn. The sound is rough, a far cry from the polished riffing of the MTV pretty boys, but it is a sound full of emotion, honesty, and most of all, death. As the members of the pit recover, inspecting their wounds and retrieving their beer cans from the floor, Ed Pain leaps into the garage and, with his help, the band belt out a pit-baiting rendition of Deftones classic "My Own Summer (Shove It)." By now pit warriors Tom Possessed, Inhumatus, Chainsaw and Jamie Death are all bleeding. Yup, no surprise to see the Dead Corpse boys in the thick of things. "Killing In The Name" was next, with the original non-pitters giving it some while the bleeders recovered. After a short interlude, in which the battered Death Grinder guitars had to be retuned and Sickboy had to change into the 80s Shorts of Death, EFD original "Shut Up" impressed the crowd, especially the mosh part, but it was the final number of the first performance that had the whole place deathing- "Orgasmatron vs Ultimate Warrior," the ultimate confrontation. Tom Possessed and Ed Pain brought chaos to the pit with a spinning Wall of Death, Chainsaw organised a kamikaze charge and needless to say, Jamie bit the dust more than once. The first performance was over, but it was nothing compared to what was to come.
After suitably heavy drinking by band and fans alike and an impromptu jam of, of all bands, Radiohead's "Street Spirit" (at a death metal concert??) with Tom Possessed of Dead Corpse on drums, EFD retook the stage and this time it was sheer death-fuelled madness. The pit became even more brutal, the garage was invaded by fans, Tom Possessed ascended the bass amp to chug copious amounts of Budweiser, and the reprise of "Ultimate Warrior" was one of the finest death performances the world has seen. Sickboy's fingers actually caught fire, and when beer was poured on them to put out the fire, electricity shot out of the throbbing guitar and killed three people. Luckily none of them were cool. As the gutters ran red with blood, ears rang with the sound of Deth, zombies rose from the grave and churches across the world burst into flames, the message was clear- Excellent Flying Deth have landed, and they're playing for keeps.
10/10

Decimate live
I arrived at the Twist, with Inhumatus, expecting good things of Decimate, the headlining band, having seen them before, but as ever with the Twist, I was unsure of exactly what delights the support bands would bring. The first band didn't come on stage until just before 10, a fairly generic metal band called Karia with a girl singer with a good voice, but to be honest I don't think most people were looking at her mouth. They sounded like a better version of Defenestration, without the manly roars of that fat pink-haired minger from aforementioned band, but at a mere 4 songs they didn't really get the Twist going. Out of the blue the next band, Above Instinct, completely blew me away. Somewhere between Will Haven and Napalm Death, they hit the stage running with some proper metal riffs, and the vocalist had a fucking amazing scream on him. Their set was perhaps a bit too long, but of the 3 support bands they impressed me the most. Special mention should go to the scary-looking drummer, who was a veritable beat machine behind the drums. Third to grace the stage were Viscera. The fact that their style was fairly similar to Above Instinct took the shine off them slightly to begin with, but they had great band interaction, with a fantastic screaming, singing, flat cap-wearing bassist. They seemed to me like a heavier version of GlassJaw, and I think they are another band who could go far.
However, what I'd been waiting for, apparently unlike those people who fucked off early, was the appearance of Bromsgrove's Decimate, a different band altogether to the supporting acts. I saw this band last year supporting Stampin' Ground but the vocalist's voice was fucked. However, a friend got hold of their EP "In the Name of a God," and it fucking rocks, so I was eager to come and see them, as they put it themselves, firing on all cylinders. Sitting at the back looking like typical Friday night pub-goers you wouldn't have thought they were a metal band, but once they got on stage the 5 man outfit metamorphosed into an absolutely brutal melee of thrashing guitars, hammering drums and screaming vocals that feel like getting hit in the head with a lorry. I swear they had their amps turned up louder than everyone else, and from the start they were tight, fast and fucking heavy. The breakdowns got many a head nodding, and although the pit was sparse, when the tempo picked up again, so did the moshing. Decimate are a similar band to Stampin' Ground, but with less of a Slayer influence, sounding more like their fellow Brummies Napalm Death. The set wasn't the longest ever, but it had a powerful effect, and I made sure I got hold of a copy of their EP before heading out of the Twist with my ears ringing and my love of brutal thrash-hardcore (for want of a better genre description) intensified considerably. Overall a powerful display of British metal talent let down, like the extreme scene as a whole, by a lack of numbers in the audience. There were actually less people than when Dead Corpse played the Twist. Fact.
8/10