War Stripes start their set with shouty indie, although the instruments have a heavy grungy tone which makes them sound like The Libertines if they played through Royal Blood's amps. Their brash indie punk verges on Soft Play/Slaaves at times, especially if they were backed by Big Business. Their final track (which is introduced as being about Gary Lineker) has a 'Babylon's Burning' feel, mainly because of the bassline. This isn't the only old school punk reference as there are little hints of the Sex Pistols at times too. They also lead the crowd in a few chants of 'Fuck the Tories' a couple of times too. Not bad at all.
There is a pretty wide range of T-shirts in attendance, covering black metal (Immortal and Septic Flesh), more mainstream metal (Gojira, Jinjer and Anthrax) and punk (Capdown and The Casualties - yeah, that one's mine) which highlights Blood Command's wide ranging appeal.
The band explode onto the stage with high octane, riff heavy, anthemic punk reminiscent of fellow Norwegians Turbonegro, The Good The Bad And The Zugly and Ondt Blod. They get more metallic on occasions, even including some blackened blasting at times. The energy is infectious. They are remarkably accessible, even verging on Paramore style pop punk at times, just much ballsier. The riffs just incite non-stop jumping which reverberates through the floor enough to cause motion sickness. Frontwoman Nikki Brumen is a ball of energy, covering every inch of the stage. She is a magnetic presence who is difficult to take your eyes off, even when she's spitting on herself! The band exits the stage while the hardcore techno of 'Welcome To The Next Level Above Human' plays, and the party continues regardless. One quick costume change into different Adidas outfits and the self-proclaimed 'band with the three stripes' are back on stage raging. There is a hardcore edge to many of these songs and the vocals are reminiscent of Svalbard, particularly on 'A Villain's Monologue'. 'Forever Soldiers Of Esther' is a frantic thrashabout with an anthemic chorus. The final track of the regular set, 'Losing Faith', even has a touch of Eurovision as it is more of a guitar heavy 'City Lights' (Belgium's 2017 entry). Encore 'Ctrl + Art + Delete' even has a hip hop style groove. 'Cult Of The New Beat' rocks out in a Refused 'New Noise' style and closes the show in epic style.
Blood Command ****
War Stripes ***
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