Live Review: The Persistence Tour @ O2 Forum, London

The Annual EMP sponsored Persistence Tour rolls into London and the O2 Forum in Kentish Town bringing with it a fine selection of bands within various Hardcore Sub-genres. Each show on the tour has had a local band opening up, however this afternoon is different. West Midlands Extreme Metallers Napalm Death are the special guests!

Chula Vista, California veterans Take Offense [7/10] get things going with their take on World events with tunes from current EP “Tensions on High”. Siberian Meat Grinder [8/10] turn up with a masked frontman and a bullet belted bear mascot and smash through a set rich in fine Crossover Thrash anthems that is a joy from start to finish. Booze & Glory [6/10] provide early career Green Day inspired anthems of the Punk Rock variety that are perfectly fine for what they are but seem misplaced on this bill.

Walls of Jericho [10/10] on the other hand are a band more than up to the standards of years gone by on this tour. They may have been going since 1998 but frontwoman Candace Kucsulain defieys all the the naysayers with her caustic vocals which the band back up with slab after slab of Metalcore guitars. “The American Dream” is the sing-a-long anthem that the crowd need after the set worth of circle pits. Orange County Californian quintet Ignite [7/10] are full of sing-a-longs and clean vocals around Hardcore Punk or Melodic Metalcore anthems, take your pick. “Fear Is Our Tradition” is a great moment and the socially aware lyrics are on point for the World in this moment.

Municipal Waste [8/10] bring the party element and with cuts like “Slime and Punishment” deliver Crossover Thrash at its finest. Heard of Power Trip? These dudes give them a run for their money. Like the finest of Horror B-Movies they great fun. Napalm Death [7/10] are the elder statesman of tonight’s show and also the special guests. They tear it up with an Extreme Metal set that leaves no stone in their back catalogue unturned. Barney Greenway is on fine form and new cuts like “Smash A Single Digit” fit perfectly alongside older cuts like “You Suffer”.

Sick of it All [9/10] are legends. Their status on this tour is testament to years of hard work and endurance through thick, thin and thinner. The Queens New York quartet are on fine form and from the sing-a-long anthem that is “Us Vs. Them” to the stage flooding with band members and crew from tonight’s show for an impromptu on stage wall of death during “Scratch The Surface” and remaining on stage for “Step Down” tonight is a triumph.