Live Review : Wargasm + Death Blooms + Bambie Thug @ Rebellion, Manchester on November 30th 2021

Wargasm – up and coming genius, or annoying AF? Let’s explore… 

But not before we visit the weird and wonderful world of tonight’s opener, Bambie Thug. I find her nestled on a Spotify Misfits Playlist between some of my other favourites like Cassyette, Nova Twins and Ghostemane. 

All the way through her set I’m hearing the influences of pop, trap, electro, but it’s on a much darker and unusual scale, and I can’t actually stop watching her. She commands the crowd with ease, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people into an opener before. I may be wrong though, I am getting old and losing my memory a bit. By tonights crowds average age, I am practically their Nana.

A shining example of what Bambie Thug is about is the gloriously catchy ‘P.M.P’  which has been stuck in my head since hearing her perform it. A very interesting act, as I initially didn’t really know what I thought of her, but as it’s sunk in I’ve managed to conclude that I a) really enjoyed it and b) absolutely want to see her again. 

Next up is a band I predict will be absolutely huge in a few years. Death Blooms are one of those bands we’ve visited again and again at ROCKFLESH towers and with good reason. Waiting for them to come on stage, I start to clock an enormous number of Death Blooms tshirts and die hard fans getting as close as they can to the front, and I wonder if more people are here for them than they are for the headliners. 

I don’t have time to wonder for long, the smoke machine tonight is going to give me a fucking asthma attack if it doesn’t calm it’s tits. 

As ever, Death Blooms remain ‘AGGRESSIVE EXPLETIVE-RIDDLED AND DISTURBING’ and I love it. Opening with their collab with Wargasm, ‘Shut Up’ the entire standing area erupts into a monstrous pit. 

“Ah lad, I lost a full pint in that thing” 

We’ve all been there mate. 

There was also some of the most perfect stage diving/crowd surfing I’ve ever seen;  Rebellion’s set up really does lend itself tremendously well to such things. Later on in the night, someone dove and wasn’t caught, which nearly shut the gig down, but they got up off the floor like a superstar. 

Setting the tone after a rowdy Death Blooms set, the PA is playing Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, and then a bit of Britney. As you do. 

I’ve loved Wargasm since I first heard them, but the only way I can really describe them to people who have never heard them is “musical marmite”. You are either going to absolutely love this, or hate it with a passion. There is no inbetween, no indifference. 

The sound is a hybrid of electro and punk, not too dissimilar to a band I used to love called Hounds. Both Sam and Milkie have spoke about their influences being rooted in acts The Prodigy and Slipknot, and tonight Sam takes the stage with a Slipknot shirt on. 

Maybe because it ticks all my boxes (I love nu-metal,edm, drum and bass, industrial, and acts that tend to blend one or more of these elements usually rate incredibly highly for me) I have a hard time understanding why it rubs so many of my friends up the wrong way. 

I understand it even less after the gig tonight. What we were presented with in this relatively small venue was an intimate encounter with a band who are obviously not taking themselves too seriously and who appear to be having the time of their lives. Every now and then, the mask of attitude slips and you can see in Sam and Milkie a pure joy within their performance. 

I feel Milkies clean vocals compliment Sams aggressive ones perfectly, and opening with ‘Scratchcard Feeling’ sets the tone with a minute of menacing build up before chaos erupts. Other set highlights include a little nod to the Prodigy during ‘Your Patron Saint’ .

Wargasm sold out the entirety of this headline tour with no record label and no album. I have no doubt they will go on to be massive. But they will probably still annoy a lot of my friends.