Tonight was my first experience of the compact, but comfortable Independent in Sunderland. Amidst homeland cries of towns such as Billingham, woefully confusing american act  aesthetic perfection during a slight technical difficulty, there was a spirit of eagerness to the crowd.

First band Uberbyte performed with satisfying force and didn’t round too bad either. The uniformed attire of the band and their 3 drummers all beating along like an anvil strike kept the visuals up during set highlights Industrial Bitch and signature song Stand Up For Uberbyte.

I was unsure at first about second billed band, Aesthetic Perfection, a band I was only recently made aware of through new single, The Great Depression. My worries were also increased when this was their first song. Effectively blowing their load early, musically speaking. Performance wise Mr Graves delivered all the power heard on the record right down to the rhythmic left right pointing seen in his latest music video. Bouncing back after a slight technical hitch, with the assistance of Uberbyte, Aesthetic Perfection showed they were made of stronger stuff, playing through with plenty of material at the same level of the Great Depression.

As with any gig, the moment dawns when the headliner takes the stage. Combichrist performed at just the right level of anger and intensity, constantly cheered through 2 hours worth of stomping and screetching, and that was just the crowd.

Combichrist played a number of tracks from the latest album, at one point, singer Andy Laplegua himself could be seen singing the title track “We’re All Demons Today” to a rag doll lifted from the front row of the audience. Set essentials, Rain Of Blood and Electrohead were present and accounted for, yet didn’t seem out of place or over played with the new material.

Despite the savagery of Combichrist as a whole, Andy was a gracious host. Bowing out towards the end of the set, giving thanks to ‘Wonderland’ with his ever devilish grin peering out from behind the corpse paint. It was obvious that the crowd would beg for more, and beg they did. When they finally recieved the encore they demanded they were teased with a mock new song which instantly progresed into This Shit Will Fuck You Up.

Given the sheer body of club play this track gets I feel it worked best to save until the end; I was not desperate to hear it, but couldn’t leave without it. Vowing to return to our shores again Combichrist departed the stage for real this time. House lights up, Journey home. This shit realy fucked me up.