Live Review: SPEED- Electric Bristol 17/04/2026
Sydney hardcore monolith SPEED tear holes through the fabric of the Bristol hardcore scene as they amaze with their killer riffs and beautiful humility.
Bristol hardcore has always been a thriving sub-genre of the city’s underground, and today we got treated to a plethora of the most fantastic hardcore projects there is, Sydney, Australia’s coveted SPEED, Bangkok Evildoer Tyrants and your favourite bands’ favourite band Whispers, the fresh and genre fluid metal masterminds Body Web, as well as local scene superstars Dambuster. This was one hell of a lineup for an evening hardcore show, and despite being in a venue with a barrier, they brought the energy with them tenfold. Every band brought a fresh take to the table and allowed for a varied and lawless display of chaos and technical brilliance. Each band varied slightly stylistically, but they all had the same goal: maximum energy and maximum carnage, and as the room filled up and the heat started rising, Dambuster kicked us off with an unforgettable opening set.
Dambuster set foot on stage not long after doors to welcome in hardcore fans from all over the southwest, and while being an opener can be daunting, Dambuster did not seem phased by the occasion in the slightest, and their raw and visceral classic beatdown sound cut through the room immediately opening innumerable pits and allowing the aforementioned chaos to ensue. While their set was short, it was most definitely sweet, and it was great to see that the band were able to transition their sound from a small no-barrier room to a much bigger and far more theatrical venue like Electric. These types of shows always bring community, and every band on the bill feels more like a travelling family than they do a set of bands so it was brilliant to see Dambuster not only get the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to melt their fretboards at light speed with their fast and punchy riffs but to also get given their flowers by every other band after them.
As the Dambuster set ended and silence filled the room, the anticipation for the next band grew higher and higher as people finally escaped the clutches of the dreaded 40 minute merch queue and made their way to the stage for the next band and first full tour guest on the bill, Body Web brandished their axes and began to blow a hole in the chest cavity of the crowd with their blend of styles and genre fluid approach. Their tracks bounced from style-to-style mid song, with certain songs starting in a seething grunge tone mired in reverb before breaking into pinch harmonics and false chord metal core choruses. These dynamics and the viscosity between styles kept their violent and chaotic audience guessing what mosh move to pick next in anxious excitement as they tore through their 30-minute set. Body web were an entirely new band to me and to see a project quite small just thrive under the spotlight and put on one of the most interesting and eclectic hardcore performances I have ever seen was very fulfilling and as their set grew to a close they gained the respect of the entire crowd who by this point were either shirtless or sweat soaked and raring for more, and more came in the form of Bangkok hardcore legends and crowd control masterminds, Whispers. Whispers’ set can only be described as electric, and after nearly losing my head to a flailing limb in the pit, I realised this was a no-holds-barred band. Every single song started with crushing bass notes and ferocious chords; the music itself felt angry before the vocals even came in and set the crowd off to the races. Whispers are, without a doubt, your favourite hardcore band’s favourite hardcore band, and this set proved it. Everyone who was anyone was piled to the side of the stage to watch their set in childlike wonder as this Thai 5-piece shredded the crowd to pieces including SPEED vocalist Jem Siow, who popped in to get the crowd bouncing during his guest vocalist appearance. The menacing, repeated chants of ‘2 step, everybody 2 step’ swept the crowd into a frenzy of flailing limbs and crowd kills as breakdown after breakdown leeched energy from the crowd. This set was absolutely insane, and I haven’t seen a group of event staff genuinely fear for the structural integrity of a building before, but whispers made that happen as they finished up their set of a lifetime.
After 2 sets of brutality, the main event of the evening began. SPEED kicked things off hard and heavy with the track ‘DONT NEED’ from their 2024 album ‘Only One Mode’. As soon as the first chords rang out, the crowd began moshing as a man possessed, the unity of simultaneous 2 steps and cartwheels caused sheer elation to radiate from both the crowd and the crowd as they tried to outdo each other in energy output. The crowd at this show were unlike anything I’ve seen in a barrier venue before, and for SPEED to create the same feel at a club show as they can at a festival like Outbreak just shows how on form they are. Everything from the light show to the sound engineering was as professional as can be and could not have been better put together to create their intended atmosphere. As that track came to a close, they continued to burn through tracks from both new and old projects, and all tracks maintained this vicious sense of elation from both crowd and band. After this 3 track stretch the band took the time to introduce themselves and Jim gave one of his now famous speeches about the hardcore scene and how it is a space for people on the fringe to exist on the fringe together stating 'You can be straight edge, you can be vegan, you can eat meat, you can be transgender, You can smoke weed any and every person in this room and on the edge of society can find life and community in hardcore, and that’s why we do what we do.’ If you ever feel even remotely down, go to a SPEED show. I have never left a room feeling more human and connected to the people around me, and the room full of strangers that make up the scene I and many others love so much. These guys do more for their audience than they could ever realise and will undoubtedly bring on a whole era of bands and projects that they have inspired out of being genuine and beautifully decent guys.
As the set raged on, we were lucky enough to hear several tracks from their most recent project’ALL MY ANGELS’, these songs were some of the best received of the night as both the band, the supports at the side of the stage and the crowd kept upping and upping the energy showing an unstoppable level of stamina and grit as they headbanged and moshed from cover to cover the entire show. These tracks held up so well in the live format, with songs like ‘PEACE’ becoming one of their most professional-sounding and skull-crushingly intense to hear live as they change time signatures and styles while still keeping to their savage beatdown style. The closing portion of this set started all too soon as the band ran through their most adrenaline-fuelled tracks like ‘ALL MY ANGELS’ and the moment we were all waiting for, ‘The First Test.’ To no one’s surprise, the energy of the now steam-filled room never dwindled and only accelerated the second that Jem pulled out the famous flute for the breakdown solos of their final track, as the final track ended and the lights flared and the band let out exulted screams of triumph at the memories they had just created not only for themselves but for the crowd one thing became evident, SPEED is so much more than a band they are a pillar of any community they set foot in. This set brought memories and inspiration to a large number of people who will now be better people for having witnessed the inclusion and unity that comes with being a part of such a beautiful and growing community. Seeing SPEED talk about being inspired by every other band on the bill and wanting to aspire to be like the bands below them on the bill speaks to both their strength of character as a band and their evident humility. So if you ever need a pick-me-up or just a good old punch in the face, find your nearest hardcore show and get involved in a community full of people that couldn’t be happier to have you.
Words by Josh Pook
Photography by Rhiannon Phillips
