Live Review: King Parrot - Birmingham

Live Review: King Parrot – Castle & Falcon, Birmingham

5th June 2026
Support: Ritemaker, Thrash Mob, Suffer UK
Words: Matt Noble
Photos: Tom Atkin

Opening at The Castle & Falcon are local noise merchants Ritemaker, who warm up the crowd with an angry, vicious and violent mix of sludgy doom and hardcore. Their lead vocalist commands the front and centre of the stage with genuine rage, while the band’s ugly, dissonant riffs and powerful breakdowns leave an ugly yet memorable impression. Ritemaker’s drummer, in particular, puts on a great performance at the back. Closing with a slightly more atmospheric number to showcase the variety in their sound, these local boys start the night strongly and hint to a bright future.

With bags of presence, Thrash Mob follow to dominate the stage for half an hour with some old-school thrash metal. They bring slamming double bass drums, a cool technical instrumental edge, and a brutal scream from frontman Rory. There is a fun, Anthrax-inspired vibe to the music at times, but with an evil tinge that comes from Jeff Hanneman’s riff factory. What’s most surprising, based on the strength of tonight’s performance, is that they only formed last year and have released only one song on streaming to date. Nevertheless, their killer riffs and entertaining live show, led by Rory whipping the crowd up for a sea of devil horns raised high, makes for a genuinely great set from the fearsome fivepiece. Excellent stuff.

West Midlands heavyweights Suffer UK go on to deliver a brutal and polished performance. This band understands the art of heaviness, with a very well-presented modern deathcore set. Dark, dissonant and atmospheric, the band are watertight as they navigate blastbeats, grooves and tempo drops, while vocalist Greg puts on a nasty performance on the mic. There’s a technicality to the music, but not in a way that distracts or takes away from the sheer savagery of what’s on show. Between the humorous samples that break up the songs, Suffer manage a wall of death from the receptive crowd, who give a great deal of energy back to the band. A strong case is made for why Suffer are one of the best deathcore bands in the region.

“We’re King Parrot, from Melbourne, Australia!”, enthuses Matt Young after King Parrot blast through a few nasty, angry, grind-y numbers. Four bands in on a Sunday night, some audiences could be tired, nursing their lower backs, or keeping one eye on the exit. But not this crowd, and not tonight. They cheer raucously between songs, they throw their heads and necks around with abandon, and mosh as if to squeeze every last bit of fun out of the weekend. It helps, of course, that King Parrot really know how to put on an extreme metal show. They bring a slightly unhinged stage energy that makes the set feel dangerous, and a bit scary. They blast, they groove, they deliver.

Back in Birmingham, most recently in this city at the BP Pulse arena with Pantera and Power Trip on another memorable Sunday night, King Parrot tear it up for the best part of an hour. Led by Matt Young, an impassioned and frantic frontman with an abrasive vocal scream and charismatic stage banter, King Parrot show why they are titans of grindcore with razor-sharp riffs and punishing blastbeats, and how they can fly in from the other side of the world and still command a respectable turnout on a school night. They are exceptionally tight on stage, but still with a wild, raw energy that makes you feel like you need to scrub dirt off your body when it’s done. Some of the later songs in the set, such as ‘Shit On The Liver’, ‘It’s a Rort’ and ‘Fuck You and the Horse You Rode In On’ brought the mayhem in the room up to boiling point, with not one person left standing still. Possibly the most chaotic Sunday night party you could ever be part of.