Live Review: Tuskar with Burner & Acid Throne at The Black Heart, Camden, London (21/12/23)

Merry f**king Tuskmass. It’s the final gig of the year (for me) and it’s one hell of a noisy, chaotic, and heavy gig to close out a phenomenal year of live music. In the case of these bands, it’s not the only time I’ve seen them this year. In fact, Burner now takes joint top place with Wallowing as the band I’ve seen the most this year. Not bad company.

It’s the Black Heart, it’s almost sold-out, and everyone is in a jolly mood, looking to celebrate the festive period the only way metal-heads know how. By head-banging and mosh-pitting to the sound of glorious noise.

Alas, no amount of Christmas wishes could get me out of work early enough to see opening band, Scum Yard, but beer in hand, I entered the choking gloom that emanates from Acid Throne. The stoner/doom noise mongers continue to excel in the live environment and cap off their good year with a tight showcase of heavy music. The album ‘Kingdom’s Death’ might only be a little over a month old, but the songs from it are sounding like classics.

This has got something to do with the fact that Acid Throne are on incredible form at the moment, and there’s a sense that they will be headlining this place sooner, rather than later. The crowd are bang into them too, and it’s more than deserved as the noise they make it so deliciously dark and heavy. Here’s to an even better 2024 for this band, they’re only going to get bigger based off showings like this.

Speaking of getting bigger and having a good 2023, it’s Burner and they’re up against it tonight. Not just because they’re following Acid Throne and before Tuskar, but because they’re without a bass player, due to f**king COVID. Of course, this does mean this won’t go down as one of the best Burner shows I’ve seen, but they still absolutely smash it.

There seems to be no challenge that Burner aren’t willing to meet, and they throw so much energy into this show. Their brand of chaotic hardcore meets death metal meets black metal is the stuff a word like ‘carnage’ was created for. So, it’s no surprise that some nasty looking pits really get going here.

Way back in March, I went to see Creature play at the New Cross Inn, and they were supported by Burner. At the time, I knew very little about the band, and was simply blown away by them. What has followed is a love-affair that has given me one of the best albums of the year (It All Returns to Nothing), one of the gnarliest shows in July with their album launch party, and now this. Keep killing it Burner, there’s a reason why everyone that hears and sees them gushes about it afterwards.

Speaking of gushing though…

All the way back in November 2021, I went to see Boss Keloid play at the Boston Music Room (now known as Downstairs At the Dome). Before I went, I got an email from a PR rep who asked me to get down early to see the band, Tuskar. Not a problem for me, I always try to see all the bands anyway, as the possibility of finding my new favourite band is always there.

I expected something good, what I didn’t expect was to stand with my mouth open in absolute shock as two people made more noise than I had ever heard before. I was transfixed and hooked from that point on. Consuming everything Tuskar had to offer, loving their latest album ‘Matriarch’, and seeing them live multiple times.

It turns out, as evident by how packed the Black Heart is, I’m not alone in this thinking, and for over an hour, Tuskar prove they are near-untouchable. It still blows my mind that they are a two-piece as they bring forth some of the most emphatic stoner and sludge noise you’ll ever hear. The riffs, the drum beats, the roaring vocals, Tuskar’s sound is made for venues like this, even if their talents demand much bigger stages.

It’s so easy to get lost in the wave of noise that comes from this band, resulting in many a person being knocked over by violent pits. The place is absolute chaos, but in a (mostly) fun way and the fact that Tuskar are just ‘winging’ it, to some degree, makes for a even more anarchic feel.

As the night ends, drummer Tyler Hodges jumps into welcoming arms for an impromptu crowd surf to everyone’s festive favourite; Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You. Merry f**king Tuskmass indeed.