Four nights into the UK leg of Uriah Heep's 'Into Their Wild' world tour, and everything was seemingly ship shape and Bristol fashion leading up to this, the band's first show in the West Country in quite some time. Die-hard Heep fans across the road in the Hatchet pub seemed positively glowing with contentment tucking into their pre gig pint of real ale, and even when simply crossing the short distance over the road to the O2 you got the feeling that even though there might be way too much facial hair present in one place for anyone's good, the atmosphere here was one of spiritual oneness, something that only a band like Uriah Heep or one of their 'classic rock' peers can conjure up in this day and age.

But hold it right there, the reason I'm here tonight is not to see Uriah Heep okay, my credibility as office hippy hater is not going out the window this early in my review. Nah I'm here tonight to see a band probably no one else in this venue will have heard of, I'm here to see London techno punks The Howling on their first of two nights playing as support on this tour.

With the Led Zeppelin track playing on the PA having seemingly hypnotised most of those present into swaying as one in time to Bonzo's bass drum, the scurrying onstage of 5 silhouetted reprobates sporting feather cut hair dos, drainpipe jeans and wearing their guitars at what appeared to uber approved regulation strap length was indication enough for me that things were about to get 'interesting' as a huge "HOWL" went out across the venue, The Howling literally exploded in a wall of sound that left many of those around me quickly looking to pick their jaws back up off the floor.

Through the thick blanket of dry ice billowing over us I was just able to make out the waif like figure of the Rev stood legs akimbo half stooping to trigger something that "god forbid" looked like a sampler, whilst cranking out some white hot licks from his ever trusty Les Paul.  The real outsiders to the classic rock scene had arrived ladies and gentlemen, and with their short and very sharp 5-song set they were going to be opening up more than just a few minds here tonight.

Swaggering through their set with all the cock sureness of one of the Rev's previous bands, namely the Towers Of London albeit without the Oasis fixation, The Howling's frontman Blackie treads the fine line between cunt and cool with veritable ease, baiting his audience and causing some claret to be spilt mid set, largely due to his eagerness to 'connect' with some of less enthusiastic members of the audience.  But with tracks as strong as ' Dance Of The Skeletons', 'Champion' 'The Outsider' and set closer 'Lunatic' making up a huge chunk of their live repertoire how can you fail not to get involved?  This is music to lose your minds to; the beats demanding you shake your ass whilst the guitars make you want to bang your head, it may sound confusing on paper but trust me, live it is like watching Atari Teenage Riot whilst at the very pinnacle of your weekend buzz. 

Then just as the momentum was built to a fever pitch via the aforementioned 'Lunatic'...Bang! it's suddenly over as quickly as it started.  From the studio tracks I'd heard before tonight I honestly wasn't expecting something quite as frenetic as this, the studio polish (and thankfully also the auto-tuned vocals) gone in a blur of punk rock and industrial energy. The Howling live certainly have some very sharp teeth, and boy do they fucking bite.

You know, Uriah Heep and their management should be praised for taking a chance on a band like The Howling and giving them a shot at impressing a crowd who probably wouldn't otherwise be listening to this type of music.  And from Mick Box's onstage comments later in the night (yeah I did stick around to get Heeped after all) he seemed to be more than a little impressed with the guys as well.

So 2012 looks like it's found itself some new anti-heroes for Uber Rock to champion and they go by the name of The Howling.... Now let me hear you "HOWL!"