Just under a year ago I saw Paint It Black on what was to be their last tour before what was to be an indefinite hiatus for the band due to vocalist Dan becoming a father.  However the lure of bringing their "angry stuff" to the masses obviously proved far too strong as they're back much sooner than expected and you're certainly not going to hear any complaints from me about it.

First off though, I must give mention to Deadpunk Promotions who put this show together because any of the four bands on offer here tonight are worth the admission price on their own, so getting a four-bander of this quality is a fucking sterling job.

First of these bands are South Wales punk stalwarts Four Letter Word, who are celebrating their 200^th gig before an enforced break, and they get proceedings under way in blistering fashion.  Recent EP 'An Invitiation To A Hanging' gets a fair bit of air time along with a career-spanning smattering of the top drawer melodic punk you've come to love them for.  'Unfinished Symphonies' gets things going and 'Putsch Comes To Shove' highlights Welly's endless disdain for the fuckwits who try and govern this country.  A closing finale of their excellent cover of Billy Bragg's 'To Have And To Have Not' and 'Unconditional' get the night off to a cracking start.

Next up are Off With Their Heads.  Considering this thing we now know as Uber Rock is now a year old it's quite fitting that one of the first bands I reviewed on here should mark the first Uber anniversary with a truly fucking corking set.  Like Hot Water Music on better speed and stronger liquor, OWTH are an absolute whirlwind live.  Their infectiously catchy, heavy and very groovy brand of hardcore goes down a storm.  Songs like 'Die Today' and 'Keep Falling Down' are always going to hit the spot, and tonight sees them hit the bullseye.  Trust me, if you get the chance to see this lot, do not under any circumstances miss them.

Philadelphia heavyweights Blacklisted are running on pure adrenalin by the time they get on stage having travelled from the USA overnight and travelled straight to the gig (well 4 out of the 5 did anyway, guitarist Andy already being in the UK with Paint It Black).  So it's huge credit to them that they turn in a pretty solid performance.  Be warned though, as Blacklisted are a totally different proposition to the band I saw five years ago.  Gone is the Terror-inspired straight up metallic hardcore of old.  As they showed on new album 'No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me' they've got a lot of different styles and sounds in their armoury now.  Readily describing some of their newer stuff as Shoegaze/Hardcore, songs like 'Circuit Breaker' are as much a cathartic outpouring as the days of old used to be Hardcore bluster.  They still mix up like good 'uns when they speed it up though, the newer fast stuff coming over like the bastard son of good old Only Living Witness.  Maybe not what the old school fans of 'The Beat Goes On ' want, but enthralling stuff just the same.

As I said earlier it's a little under a year since Paint It Black sort of put themselves on the back-burner but having recently played the Leeds and Reading Festivals, they are back doing what they do best - making sweat boxes go absolutely nuts.  As vocalist Dan laments not getting a nice lonely night due to a suitably packed venue, the crowd makes sure the band's efforts are more than appreciated as the place goes ballistic from the off.  'Nicaragua' and 'Election Day' deliver equal parts scathing political commentary and truly supreme hardcore as classic after classic from 'New Lexicon' and 'Paradise' are wheeled out.  Never afraid to speak their mind and never delivering anything less than 110%, Paint It Black are pretty much all you've ever known them to be and all you hope they'll ever be - fucking essential.