Send More Paramedics / D-Rail / Your Demise

When there is no more room on earth… The Cockpit will still only open up the small stage.

Tonight is the penultimate Leeds performance zombiecore legends Send More Paramedics. Armed with nothing but a bucket of brains, into the pit I go. But first, some live, and I mean living, bands. My Demise’s singer Nick is throwing himself athletically around the stage in what turns out to be the set’s finale. Essentially classic speedcore fare replete with double kick drums, screechy guitars and plenty of shouting. Hardly original, but a good neck warm up.

D-Rail are also definitely putting in the effort tonight. Lee Thackery is in danger of taking out the front row with his high kicks while the bass and triple speed kick drums are threatening to hit the natural resonance of everyone in the place and create a big pool of pink gack. With its breeze-block riffs and punky attitude, this is the kind of thrash cross-over stuff that was more prevalent in the Eighties, but is lively enough to receive an updated airing.

X Undead, El Diablo (looking very Tom Savini) and Medico take to the stage with a roar from the cattle, I mean audience. B’Hellmouth is… otherwise occupied. As the first power chords of ‘The Hordes’ rupture the air, he crawls on, eyes rolled up, the remains of an unhappy meal smeared down the side of his face. Thus begins the end. No quarter is spared tonight; by the second song, B’Hellmouth is surfing the crowd and Medico is proving to be a very lively zombie. The great and tragic thing is that, even if they weren’t zombies, this would be great speedcore, comparable to ‘Hell Awaits.’ But they are zombies. With an undeadline.

Suitably, all the classics are out tonight; ‘Nothing Tastes Like This’ is described as an “operatic odyssey,” ‘Circle Mosh’ provokes the inevitable and ‘Zombie Vs Shark’ prompts one of the audience to request, er, ‘Zombie Vs Shark.’ With a final flourish, an exhausted B’Hellmouth flings himself upon the mercy of the crowd. I’ll miss the skull-crunching cadaver.