For a small show on a week day at a venue which can be extremely hard to get to for some, American grind Thrashers TOXIC HOLOCAUST certainly pulled a crowd. The show had a slow start at first with barely a quarter of the venue being full but through the night it slowly started to fill up with dedicated fans who have travelled far and wide to get a piece of the Thrash action. On their 2^nd tour of 2014 being supported by the almighty EXHUMED and local supports BULL RIFF STAMPEDE and KREMATED the show was definitely the heaviest of the year, despite it only being February.
 

First on the Queens Hall stage is London Metalheads KREMATED who bring a mighty mix of old school style CARCASS and EXODUS making them old school with a new wave twist. Their 30 minute set went rapidly but didn't stop their guitarist Phil Robert's pulling out riffs and solo's to make the speakers break to go with vocalist Pete Dee's brutally low vocals. By the end of their time they had got the crowd joining in, clapping along, and tapping their feet and head banging to their new and old songs. KREMATED almost certainly gained a new base tonight and made their current fans even happier.
 

One of the UK's favourite's to come out of the new breed of Metal; BULL RIFF STAMPEDE hit's the stage and certainly has the much larger crowd ready for them. With their own unique twist on Death and Thrash Metal they hard people head banging from the first riff played, guitarists Dave Garnett and Jay Walsh proved why their becoming one of the biggest bands from England with their guitar style which would make Chuck Schuldiner jealous. BULL RIFF STAMPEDE performed tracks such as ''Enraging The Beast'' from their newest album and various song's from their debut album such as ''Thrashing Machine'', it is certainly impossible to not bang your head whilst listening to England's newest breed of Metal, you either must start a mosh pit or just headbang by yourself to the simplistic but extremely heavy riffs being played. The death/thrash gang proved that they are going to be the next big thing to get out of England with metal which is catchy but heavy enough to go into the extreme genre.
 

One of the most anticipated bands of the night EXHUMED had an even bigger crowd awaiting them due to the lengthy 20 minute delay of their set, the Californian gore metal band started with a slow start but after the first few songs such as ''Coins Upon The Eyes'' the mosh pits got flowing fast! Vocalist and guitarist Matt Harvey still had his classic low growls on top form for all of their 40 minute set which never faulted whilst Bud Burke performed face melting solo's in every track he could fit them into, despite EXHUMED being together for over 20 years they still have the same excitement as back in the early days. The set was a mix of old favourites and tracks from their latest album ''Necrocracy'' which fitted the band's old school Death style with a new twist, but the favourites of the audience were ''Sickened'' and ''The Matter Of Splatter'' which had the front row of the audience wind milling in sync with each other but the real highlight of EXHUMED's set was when their loyal buddy ''The Surgeon'' came on stage to resuscitate guitarist Bud Burke with a defibrillator which sadly failed but the gory doctor managed to wake him back to live with a beer bong which spilled over the audience. EXHUMED are still going strong and are making sure Death Metal, surely isn't dead.
 

Still running late due to EXHUMED's set the crowd in the packed bar was getting rowdy for the underground kings of Thrash Metal that is TOXIC HOLOCAUST, bringing together brutal growls and Grindcore drums it is a mix which cannot be faulted. Within the first song rough mosh pits develop and people are headbanging in every corner of the room, Joel Grind has vocals which automatically make you want to break something to release anger only made better when he performs older songs such as ''The Lord Of The Wasteland'', ''Gravelord'' and ''Reaper's Grave'', the set is lengthy for a band with such short songs but it's much loved by every fan in the venue even if they dislike Thrash. The band end's the night with crowd pleaser ''Nuke The Cross'' which has one member of the audience jumping from the stage in excitement, followed by short but great ''Bitch''. TOXIC HOLOCAUST are the true kings of thrash metal with its added grind core twist there is every reason why they pack out venue's, even on a week day in winter, the band brings together so many influences and stay strong after 15 years of being together it's brilliant how they manage to still pull out tunes like ''Awaken The Serpent''.
 

Setlist:
1. Metal Attack
2. Wild Dogs
3. Endless Armageddon
4. I Am Disease
5. Awaken The Serpent
6. MKUltra
7. In The Name Of Science
8. Reapers Grave
9. Death Brings Death
10. Agony Of The Damned
11. War Is Hell
12. Gravelord
13. The Lord Of The Wasteland
14. Nuke The Cross
15. Bitch
 

Overall the night was a huge success even for a week day in a place which is hard for everyone to get to and ran extremely late into the night, the show proved that the local midlands Metal scene isn't dead at all but is alive and kicking at every chance they get.