Divorce / Ultimate Thrush @ The bay horse, Manchester 05/03/12

So, I’m just upstairs after Ultimate Thrush have played their set. I witnessed a fury of sporadic, yet seasoned blast-bursts, all held together by carefree fun artistry. They open the set with low lights, and the vocalist sliding across the floor, his back to a skateboard, free styling on a clarinet. 

When you witness something like this, you know how little of a fuck the band give, both for convention and appearing pretentious. The following half an hour is a barrage of thrash hungry power violence punk and some more clarinet.

A slight interlude was given to pay mock-homage to mosh-heavy breakdown scenecore. In the right way. Playing mostly new and unheard tracks, Ultimate Thrush are chaotic and unpredictable in every way, except they turned up, played loud music and were a bit weird. No costumes either. Devils.

 

Then there's Divorce: Lesbian hardcore grrl punk at its best. Chug heavy and my lips are chapped. Tightened thick with post punk tendencies, distorted power, throaty growls and punk shouts. In a Divorce show, the people with the most balls are them. The crowd are headbang heavy and we’re all friends together here. Not as sporadic or thrashy as UT are, but certainly as carefree and just as loud. There is more sludge, there is more grunge, there is more meat on these bones. They're also very tight, and well rehearsed. I overheard a fat gent say ‘they’re possessed, but in the best way’ that’s certainly a good review, if I ever heard one. And I’ll leave you with that.

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Eliot Humphries