Live Review: Party Cannon - Rebellion, Manchester
25th April 2026
Support: Gutteral Slug, Internal Bleeding
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price
For a short time this evening, this small part of M1 became Slamchester, with three of the scenes most rambunctious bands landing here for night four of their Vomitour trek. From early, even before the doors have opened, it’s clear from the excitable and fancy-dressed queue, that this is going to be a wild one. And, boy, was it!
There’s an electric atmosphere inside Rebellion before Dannish slammers, Guttural Slug, have taken the stage, and when they do it’s like someone has lit the touchpaper for the evening. The Slug is not here to make up the numbers and hit the stage with a fierce intent. Washed with emerald light, it’s as close a recreation of Megalodon’s album cover as can reasonably be attempted, and new vocalist, Alexander Kristensen seems to have found his feet well among the grunts and squeals. His one recorded contribution to date - last year’s Ulcers in the Flesh of Thought EP - is heavily represented tonight, hitting hard with Suspended from a Single Strand of Sanity’s wall of noise assault and battery. We’re into Megalodon for Paranormal Evisceration, which gets a very warm welcome and finds the pit in good early form, serving up the huge beatdown to Manchester on a platter. Mind to the Millstone takes us back to the EP for a more Brutal Death Metal than a Slam vibe; Hacksaw Surgery is a stone cold Slug classic and Rebellion confirms that by sending the first wave of surfers over the top; Psychosomatic Desynchronization keeps the perpetual motion of the pit to a high tempo and it looks wild in there.
Ulcer’s title track is full of infectious grooves and creates a mass of bouncing flesh and a wall of death, leaning heavily into Slam’s hardcore roots. Ending with Isolated Insanity, the Danes have warmed Manchester up nicely, ready for the battering to come. When seasoned veteran Togs like Rich are coming out of the melee with a thousand-yard stare and mild PTSD, you know it’s fierce in there.
Slam’s fusion of death metal and hardcore was born on New York streets, credited to Suffocation’s Liege of Inveracity’s breakdown; yet the oft-overlooked Internal Bleeding, formed in Long Island at the same time as Suffocation’s explosive debut, is credited as being one of the early pioneers of the sound we know as Slam today.
The ever-present Chris Pervells still marshals his troops and spend much of tonight’s set in the front of the crowd. As this is a no-barrier show, he’s in the thick of it and, though it was insane for Guttural Slug, the Internal Bleeding fans are out in force and relishing a rare opportunity to see the band live. Vocalist Steve Worsley hasn’t made this trip, so his place has been filled by Skinless growler, Sherwood Webber, who’s clearly having a blast tonight.
Driven to Conquer’s title track starts the set in a no-nonsense sort of mood. This is deadly serious, full of menace and a little bit dangerous; this is Slam from the source. Newest tune, Crown of Insignificance, comes with a call for a circle pit along with the spat vocal, an uncompromisingly vicious Ruthless Inhumanity arrives with a hard, granite edge and the conclusion that, three songs in and Manchester is already taking the top spot for show of the tour.
A sample of Driven’s Falling Down is some of the nastiest death metal heard tonight; bodies fly all over the place as the beatdown gets big and ugly. Surrounded by tunes from the debut, 2014’s Patterns of Force III: Aftermath feels heavy and grounded, whereas Languish in Despair, Anointed in Sacrifice and closer, Inhuman Suffering, all from 1995’s Voracious Contempt album, are forged from the same rock as New York’s finest and most abrasive hardcore.
It’s an early curfew tonight, so Dunfermline’s premier party slammers, Party Cannon, hit the stage at about nine o’clock for what, for me, will be the first of at least three encounters this calendar year.
Sound check has barely begun and Rebellion is awash with inflatables: beach balls fly everywhere, a couple of what appears to be giraffe/ unicorn hybrids stand high above the crowd, one illuminated from beneath by a phone light. Knowing how Party Cannon shows usually go, and no matter how good Internal Bleeding and Guttural Slug have been – and they have been very good - it’s all mere prologue to the main event.
Never has an album title and consequences be so in-tuned as 2024’s Injuries are Inevitable, and the Scotsmen deliver their opening salvo with two hard-partying anthems in the shape of Weird, But Not Illegal and the tribute to Alice in Chains fallen front-man, Layne Stayley Went Down the Slip and Slide, showing even heroin addicts can enjoy a waterpark now and again. Grunts and growls and a masked sign-bearer fill the stage, as vocalist Daryl Boyce takes a break to welcome everyone to the show with: “Hello Manchester, we are Malevolence.”
All four new tunes from this year’s Subjected to a Partying EP get played, with the first, Improper Use of a Speculum, being introduced as being a song about “having your arse stretched wide open.” It may be unseasonably hot inside Rebellion tonight, but that doesn’t stop a whole load of punters being suitably inspired to crowd surf and stage dive for this one.
It seems shoes and watches are being lost at an alarming rate, no wonder as the stage is packed with both the band and paying guests for Thirst Trap; the cyber-grinding beats of There’s a Reason You’re Single, from the Bong Hit Hospital debut full length shows the band’s progression, yet still coxes journeys from pit to stage and back to pit from a shark, a cardinal (could be a bishop, it’s someone in a mitre), and Jesus himself.
It’s widespread chaos in there and I’m fearing for Rich’s safety as bodies fly and fall and feet flail and flap. If ever they decided to make Mad Max Fury Road: The Musical, I imagine it would look a lot like this. Oh, a killer whale has just gone over my head; don’t recall seeing one of those in the Wasteland.
Soft, White, Gelatinous Body from 2017’s Perverse Party Platter, feeling like a warning about the limits of the human body; Sherman from Internal Bleeding comes out to join in on High Tariff Behaviour and covers the vocal duties while Daryl heads off over the crowd. There’s a Braveheart-inspired ‘hold’ moment during the night’s biggest wall of death, squeals and grunts from the scatological focus of Nauseating and Unpalatable, the room is fetid and sweat-drenched by the time Duct Taped to a Flag-Pole is played and it all comes (sorry about the pun) to an climax (again, so, so sorry) with Human Slime, which finds almost the whole tour party on stage as the front of the crowd drop for press-ups.
The houselights come on for a photo opportunity, and the floor of Rebellion looks like the aftermath of a battle, the walking wounded wondering if they’ll ever be the same again, those lucky enough to have escaped injury helping their comrades to a place of safety. The warnings were there, the inevitable injuries are collateral damage after an evening of sheer slamming brutality.
One can only imagine what will happen when Party Cannon take the mainstage at Bloodstock in August, on a bill that includes Biohazard, Municipal Waste, Sepultura and Lamb of God. I think you may need to look again at any personal insurance policies you might have.
Photo Credits: Rich Price Photography
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