Talk about a venue on a mission.  Having hosted quite possibly the gig of 2010 in the form of Sick Of It All and Madball, The Fleece seems intent on having the most seminal line-up of bands for 2011 you have ever seen.  The first of these being this very tasty little four bander, featuring some mad, bad and downright legendary hardcore punk.

First up are Bridgend's finest noise-mongers Smiler who rip through the majority of their upcoming album 'Con-Demned' at a fairly rapid pace.  Hitting a groove that's equal parts DRI and Cryptic Slaughter,  songs like 'Pissed Up Fools' and 'Pro Choice' give the impression that these lot really should be at a 924 Gilman St matinee.  There's plenty of humour and energy and some choice breakdowns, and they even manage to coax respectable applause from the traditionally partisan Discharge faithful.  Their choice version of Black Flag's 'Rise Above' also gets the first notable pit action of the night as frontman Michael gets down into the melee to conduct the gang vocals.

Next up are Bristol's finest Crusty D-Beat exponents and long-time Uber Rock favourites Bullet Ridden.  Having only recently started gigging due to health issues, the band seem absolutely busting to make the most of it, and by the time they've flattened 'The Light Is Retreating' you know this is gonna be some set.  With a guitar tone a few notches above fucking murderous Chris' riffing underpins the steamroller ride through most of their now legendary (in my book anyway) 'Songs Written Before Jumping From An Eighth Storey Window' opus.  New song 'What Am I Against The Dollar' shows that they'll be continuing their rich vein of face-ripping for the foreseeable future and despite, what is later revealed as, a "fucked throat", frontman Martin leads the band through a storming set. Fucking awesome.

The last time I saw London's Defcon Zero they had the dubious honour of a crowd of about fifteen people, so it was quite nice to see them peddling their very agreeable noise to a couple of hundred people this time round.  And they certainly make the most of it, turning a top performance.  Their mixture of raging hardcore punk, sarcastic humour and more than the odd good song makes for a storming half hour of power.  The likes of 'Nick Griffin (You Cunt)' and 'St Pauli (Anti-Nazi)' ensure you know what their agenda is and they certainly seem to make quite a few friends as they get a fair old pit going.

And so finally (and I mean finally, with them hitting the stage at, as near as dammit, midnight) it's left to true legends to finish the night off.  Since reforming Discharge, along with GBH, have shown there's plenty of life left in the class of '82, vocalist Rat taking the 80's legacy and giving the songs his own stamp, while the band have produced two damn good albums that doff their caps to their illustrious predecessors but also stand tall in their own right.  And such is the theme with their live show, mixing the best of the post-reformation albums with a healthy smattering of classics.  'CCTV' and 'Corpse Of Decadence' sit comfortably alongside timeless classics like 'Never Again', 'Protest And Survive' and 'State Violence, State Control' and show the band on top form.  Bones just exudes his "Godfather Of D-Beat" cool as he rips out the riffs that launched a thousand imitators, while Rat probably looks more at home now than ever, proving the pro-Cal detractors very wrong.  A great end to a great night.