Live Review: Gassed Up w/MTXS, MSRY & Compounds @ The Black Heart in Camden!

Sunday night in October and it’s Camden’s The Black Heart that is the destination for all things Underground UK Metal Scene tonight. The “Gnostic State” release tour has rolled into town with Preston Lancashire natives Gassed Up headlining a run of shows for their latest offering in the week of its release.

Opening the show tonight are Reading natives Compounds [7/10] who manage to save from the fire of technical issues a set of Melodic Hardcore crossed with Metalcore, not too dissimilar to the likes of Counterparts. Losing an amp head and having to play a song with one guitar after a lengthy break sucks some of the energy out of the room but fortunately they saved their best material for the end of the set. “Nights End” had amassed 17k worth of Spotify streams and it’s easy to see why.

Oxford Hardcore Punks MSRY [9/10] are a band we’ve seen live on a number of occasions in various support slots and tonight is the best that we’ve seen them. The addition of bass player Harvey Lake and cutting down the backing track means their live energy, which was never in question, feels so much more alive. Not only does frontman Kial Churcher wander the floor during the bands set, but also leaps on the bar, screaming into the unmoved barmaids face unashamedly. November will see a new EP entitled “Loss” appearing and they include in their set “Guilt” for its live debut with “Still Breaks My Heart” closing it out in fine style. They maybe p***ed off with the World and things not going according to plan at the minute but they have some real fun with it.

The fact that MTXS [9/10] haven’t been snapped up by a label when lesser mortals have remains a mystery to us. They injected some Gloom and Deathcore in their Metallic Hardcore sound with sophomore album “Ache” and with songs like “Bad Blood” they go down a storm. Two steppers, headbangers and moshers unite as a Deathcore scream followed by a trademark Hardcore “Arf. Arf.” gets “Mould” going and the band are in blistering form. They’ve evolved their sound over their past pair of releases and the new and old sounds sit perfectly side by side in the live arena. As with MSRY, there is a joy about what MTXS do, each member of the band loves the material and they all pull shapes and faces throughout and that enthusiasm comes across to the audience, getting them into the groove from the very start.

Bringing Grime infused Beatdown Hardcore to the table Gassed Up [9/10] are on fire tonight. They bring Dan Hounslow of Depravity to the stage for “No Reprisals”, blast through parts one and two of “Shell Down” back to back to bring 2015 to 2019 in one clean sweep and leave no stone unturned in the process. Dan Crossley dedicates a track to his fallen sister in a Heartfelt moment while bassist Matt Unsworth is wearing a Chelsea Grin tee, which perhaps tells us where some of their heavier moments come from. The band rip up the script and blend styles seamlessly, not giving two hoots about what anyone else thinks and their confidence shows on the stage as it all comes together to create a unique sound of their own. Gassed Up have managed to capture their live energy on “Gnostic State”, something that isn’t easy done and the Slam vocal of “Summoning Murder” is as brutal as they get. 2020 promises much for Gassed Up as they should be taking “Gnostic State” on a summer festival run and some bigger stages than this. Upsurge no doubt has them on their list…

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