The opening band, whose name I can’t remember for the life of me, and I feel quite bad about that, were pretty good, if following the general standard of the part of the scene that gravitates around Basik records. Tech death meets Killswitch Engage, and the singer having a cold really didn’t help the clean bits to wow me. Even so, I’ll give them their credit as they only got the gig an hour before doors and were a guitarist down.

London’s Aghast then charge onto the stage in a furry of blasting and tremolo shredding. The band are a breath of fresh air to experience live. Explosive and incredibly entertaining to watch, with their guitarist stomping about the front of the venue before throwing himself into the next brilliant beat down. Mixing brutal, Suffocation style death metal with bouncy Hardcore riffs and beat downs galore, they hold the attention of the swelling crowd and seem to shift a fair amount of merch by the end of their set. The only thing I would say is to drop the clean singing, it doesn’t really fit for me.

Seethe are pretty much a Milton Keynes institution these days, and draw the biggest crowd by far. Their brand of old school metal meets hardcore is as engaging as ever and they even manage to shake up a little pit from this tired Sunday evening crowd. I’ve been watching this band since I was 14 and can honestly say they are the best they have ever been. Catchy stomping riffs crafted with a passion for what they do, a joyful sight indeed. Singer Dan has probably got the best stage presence of the night, cutting an imposing figure and yelling his guts out. I will definitely be keeping a closer eye on their gig listings from now on!

Malefice are really good live, it has to be said. I have heard them on CD and was admittedly not blown away. But seeing them in the live arena is seeing them at their best. Tight, heavy and focused, they have totally changed my opinion on them. Sparing us the more ‘commercial’ of their album tracks (and I mean the ones heavy on singing) and playing a short but precise set of surprisingly brutal metalcore that goes down very well with the remaining crowd.

More nights like this in Milton Keynes please, we’ve proved that there is still a decent about of people interested in metal here, now book Seregon or someone like that!

Carl Sucharyna Thomas.