Gama Bomb, Mutant, Deceptor @ O2 Islington Bar Academy, London

Gama Bomb

Mutant

Deceptor

@

O2 Islington Bar Academy, London

One thing that has always been particularly noticeable about Gama Bomb’s shows is that everyone knows everyone, and standing outside London’s Islington Bar Academy tonight highlights that our primitive thrash force is as strong as could ever be hoped for. This gig shall take the memory of those who were there the first time round back a few years back to the exact same bill (just before the shred outburst infected the streets). It shall most certainly be an exciting opportunity to compare these slayers to the upheaval in 2010’s metal youth, which primarily all three bands playing tonight are to be thanked for.

Kicking off the night's event are hidden gems, Deceptor. Having been inactive since late 2008, they really blow the balls off those that are unfamiliar with the quietly announced three-piece. Sounding somewhere in between the likes of Sabbat (yes, the UK one) and Destruction (among many other millions of influences), there is no doubt that Deceptor will soon be riding the thrash wave upon the arrival of their soon to be released debut album. They’ve got a real old skool vibe going on, which in no way trips over nostalgia’s hi-tops.

Already surfing that wave are future-speed scientists, Mutant. Still balancing on the tide of success of the independently released ‘Laserdrome’ EP, they have in no way slacked in terms of striving to impress the crowds they play to. Guitar/singing combo complexity, whilst remaining in incredibly good timing, has always been a visual boggler when enjoying the delicately furious twiddles and crunches from frontman, Tom Luchenstein. Documenting unrecorded material still hasn’t stopped their continually growing fan base singing along to newbies such as ‘Zoom Gang’ and ‘Sooopahhh Compoootahhh;. Both kickass in what appears to be a forever growing list of notable songs in their ‘track’-catalogue.

“Guts! Bones! Chunks! Rot!”, this perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere tonight as Gama Bomb space-invade yet another London stage. With what only seems like six weeks since last performing over here, let alone a whole six months, the B-movie flesh-eating fanatics continually persist to go from strength to strength - so much so, that Philly Byrne’s voice had unfortunately decided to take a turn for the worse towards the beginning of their tour. However, the crowd are in no way disrespectful and fully accept the only-human inevitability; not that it matters anyway with an almost full-room singing along to the forever catchy choruses. So simple, quirky and energetic, like Pingu. Playing an almost perfect set with balanced songs scattered from their three albums, the floor is like a bouncy castle – if only all bouncy castles had Gama Bomb songs playing from them every time there is a bounce; that would be well and truly amazing. Work on it lads!

Review by Dave Sherwood
Photography by Justin Sutton