Full Contact, Nelson St., 300 Blackout, Black Mould Live

A perfectly pleasant May evening in Manchester, and a modest but enthusiastic crowd are gathered at one of the city’s hidden venues. Aatma is located down the tiniest of alleys and often hosts the most extreme of music, and tonight’s hardcore/beatdown bands are no exception. This is the second show put on by newcomers Volatile Events, and it promises to be an excellent night.

Opening the show is Midlands-based Black Mould, who almost immediately inspire the hardcore dancers to crack open a pretty impressive pit for such a small show. Frontwoman Helene is excellent, with an impressive voice, and despite apologising multiple times she was pretty engaging in between songs, at one point demanding “everyone get boogying” to track ‘Lowlife’, to which the two-steppers came out in force. Her vocals on ‘Skin & Blister’ were a particular highlight, with their metalcore influences fully on show. Their bass tone was also on point, rattling the crowd, and the hardcore/beatdown riffs (with the occasional bout of sweep-picking) really got everyone riled up. An excellent start to the night!

East Midlands-based slam/beatdown crew 300 Blackout are up next, bringing a combo of good-natured crowdkillers and two-steppers to life. Immediately aurally pulverising, their energy is infectious, the tunes seriously heavy, with minimal chat in between. Dropping a cover of Laid 2 Rest’s ‘Pain’ that made the crowd very happy indeed, 300 Blackout absolutely smashed their short set.

Nelson St. bring a different flavour of hardcore to the night next, and it works so well. Vocalist Luc reminds us of Perry Farrell in his tone, and their punky upbeat Turnstile-type riffs really get the crowd going. We admit, we thought Nelson St. might not work tonight, especially sandwiched between two super heavy bands, but we were dead wrong. Their set was the best of the night for us, and judging by the crowd reaction they enjoyed it just as much.

Leicester-based headliners Full Contact take to the stage with vocalist Elliott immediately dedicating his set “to all the alcoholics” before cracking open a beer from their on-stage cooler, immediately setting the tone of the night and providing some laughs before sonically destroying the place. Their blend of hardcore and beatdown riffs, coupled with Elliott’s aggressive raw vocals, has the crowd absolutely battering each other (good-naturedly, of course!). This show is bassist Harley’s final gig with the band, so the energy is even more chaotic than usual, with non-stop banter around the abrasive, chugging riffs and high energy of the crowd. Finishing their set with crowd-pleaser ‘No Escape’, Full Contact leave the crowd to spill out onto the Manchester streets bruised, bloody (in some cases!), but happy.