Booooyah!! It’s well fucking hot in here. I’m sweating so much I think I’m going to pass out from dehydration. The Head of Steam is deep underground and ‘steam’ never seemed like such an operative term to describe the place. The place is packed, jam packed, more jammed than jam than a vaccum packed vibrator. More packed than a tin of Aldi 9pence beans. More... well, it’s just a wall of humans in here.

We’re all being pushed around, or trying to push around, it’s almost impossible to breathe, and people are clutching their precious pints of water. Then Darkest Hour come on, and the whole place turns into chaos - and we’re talking bull run of Pamplona chaos here, not just your average melee. To the lightning fast doubles thrown out from drummer Ryan Parrish’s kit, to the tortured vocals of John Henry, kids are coming together for walls of death, their own pre-rehearsed moves and just a whole lot of dancing.

Darkest Hour are a mind-blowing, über-technical four-piece hardcore group who have really won over the crowd and got them totally into the set, even under the duress of the enervating heat. Hell, did I mention the heat!?

As the set progresses the band pull out the novelty of a guitar triangle, as Mike Schleibaum, solo guitarist extrordinare, annihilates the crowd with his podium raised machine gun guitar pose. How Iron Maiden can you get?

Darkest Hour are on tour (with Majority Rule) in the UK right now and you can check the dates at www.darkesthour.cc.