Romeo Must Die must feel the same way about their gig at the Camden Rock Bar as I imagine most people would feel about head-butting a jockey into unconsciousness. Any sense of achievement in knocking the little fellow down would be marred by just how easy it was, and as the pain in your own skull would leave you thinking “was it worth it?’

And why would they be entertaining similar thoughts? Well, the combination of foul weather and The Answer playing just up the road, sees the Camden Rock Bar noticeably ill-attended. While their warm-up act, The Defiled, manage to stir up some excitement with a fiery performance despite near-total equipment breakdown, and RMD remain as driven as they always were, the ex-Stampin’ Ground’ers aren’t miracle workers.

While their new material feels postively threatening – ‘Slow Motion Catastrophe’ in particular will not only tear your face off, but eat it, sick it back up, then set the bile-drenched remains on fire for good measure – demonstrating such scorchers to so few people must’ve barely seemed worth the effort. Romeo Must Die deserved better.

Romeo Must Die & The Defled @ Camden Rock Bar photo gallery by Rob Milton