Live Review: Chemicide - The Star & Garter, Manchester
31st August 2025
Support: Bloodsaw, Struck A Nerve
Words: Matthew Williams
Having seen Costa Rican thrashers Chemicide on their first visit to these shores in July 2023, ironically at the same venue, I excitedly headed up to Manchester’s finest, The Star and Garter for a Sunday night triple header of thrash and mayhem.
This was the last night of their European tour and for the UK leg, they had Struck a Nerve with them and for a few nights, locals Bloodsaw, who I had seen earlier in the year supporting Bewitcher at the same place. The quartet are full of youthful exuberance and with their long hair thrashing about, they giveanother good account of themselves.
With vocalist/bassist Ryan Gabrielides resplendent in his Mercyful Fate t-shirt inviting everyone to “move closer” and “get the fuck up” they head straight into “Imminent Nuclear Assault” which is fast and loud, with immense drumming from Karim Treifi. With the anthemic, self-titled “Bloodsaw” ringing out, heads are banging, as they bring a sizeable crowd with them, and Matthew Wright on lead and Jensen Blackburn on rhythm, rip through their respective solos.
There’s a lovely slow section during “Bow Down” before it gets the “hey, hey, hey” treatment and their blackened thrash whips the crowd up again. Playing a mixture of old and new songs, they give “Midnight Warrior” a go, which sounded fast, before ending with another new, but still untitled number and one that Jensen simply referred to as “PTSD” when I asked him afterwards. I look forward to seeing these again later in the year at Thrashchester.
Struck a Nerve will be familiar to some people, as they are headed by bassist and vocalist Aarran Tucker, formerly of Shrapnel, with Nathan Sadd, also from Shrapnel, Chris Williams of Gama Bomb and Lexell Altair making up the band. They are a no frills, heads down, full on thrash band, and waste no time getting down to business, setting a frenetic pace from the very beginning. “Nocturnal Terror” sees the band sounding tight, as they play their 5th show of the tour, with Tucker taking a walk through the crowd, as the slick solos emanate from the main stage.
From someone wearing a Nuclear Assault t-shirt, I was hoping for something fast and exciting, and they deliver on this front. They blast through “Inside the Torture Fortress” and the superb “Raining Death” as the pit cranks up. The experienced frontman quips that “it’s a pleasure to be here, you ugly bastards” He continues, “It’s the last night of our tour with Chemicide, it’s been so much fun” before announcing “fuck politics, fuck the boys in blue and I hope we’ve struck a nerve” as they tear in to the band named song.
With the boys from Bloodsaw bouncing about in the pit, SAN show boundless energy and some excellent guitar work, as they play “Moon Sniper”, “Last Eyes See All” and with an animated Tucker, they finish with the brutal “Parade of Violence”. “One more song? If you want one more, then step forward” and they hit us with a terrifyingly quick version of Slayer’s “World Painted Blood” to round off a cracking set. Thanks to Aarran and Lexell for the chat afterwards and the set list.
Having seen Chemicide two years ago, I knew what to expect, thrash metal played to the extreme, and I was intrigued to see if they had improved much, and boy was that answered and then some!!!! With the Spice Girls playing loudly on the PA, drumming machine Chalo, runs onto stage, with bassist Kohke joining him, and they jam before Sebastian and Frankie step up, with the words “Do as I Say” screamed into the microphone and off we go.
Its quite frankly, a blistering beginning to a set that is explosive and proves that they have grown so much in a short space of time. With Frankie snapping his “5th string on tour already” they play at a frantic speed that gets the crowd going from the off. With guitar fixed, they go straight into “Violence Prevails” and the mayhem continues.
“Good evening Manchester. It’s great to be back, and the last time we played here, a guy jumped off the PA” which got a loud cheer, as I remember it well, and no, it wasn’t me!! “This song is for the fascists and fuck genocide; this is By My Hands”. With a slow introduction, it cranks up to an impressive pace, with Kohke taking his turn to walk in the crowd, threatening to “kick your ass if you aren’t going fast enough.”
“Have you heard our 4th album?” Frankie asks, “this is called Lunar Eternity” and it has a sumptuous bass sound. The speed is ramped up, and the crowd are stage diving, with Bloodsaw leading the charge. There’s a different tempo for “Barred Existence”, slower and heavier with bits of pace, and then deliver a pure thrash song in “Uncertain Future”. It just has everything you want, with the back-up vocals adding more weight, and the drums are Lombardo esque, with Frankie summing it up with the words “fucking right man” and a beaming smile.
“It’s the last night of our European Tour before we head back to see our families, we want to thank everyone and all of you for coming out once again.” He introduces the band, and asks, “are you ready for 3 more?” which gets noisy approval. They play the intense “Thrash will Conquer” which sounded stunning and see’s more stage divers, some good and some bad I hasten to add, before “we come from a very catholic country unfortunately” as he introduced “Book of Lies” which somehow sees the intensity go off the scale. So much so, that at one point the vocals completely disappeared, much to the bemusement of the frontman, before returning.
With chants of Chemicide ringing around the upstairs room near Manchester Picadilly station, passers by must have wondered what the hell was happening inside, they finish with the brilliant “Indoctrination” to prove that they have indeed improved tenfold and are developing into one of thrash metals finest bands. “How many of you have heard of Sepultura? Under a pale gray sky, we shall Arise” which rounds off a stunning night and sees Kohke put down his bass and finally kick people’s asses in the pit. Wow, what a night.
