Filthy Xxxxmas ft Dragon Eye Morrison + Little London + Mister Doom + Sons Of Cain - Messclean @ The Frog On The Front, Portsmouth. 23/12/05

A final get together for the near legendary Filth Trinity, it's nearly Christmas and we've got a bit of a 'local crew' works drink get together so this night was always destined to be a little messy and just a bit hazy to the memory as the taking notes went out the window after the fourth pint of cider!

Sons Of Cain have appeared from nowhere, no one seems to know who they are or where they come from and I can find no trace on the web (though I notice they are playing Messclean again in March), they are a perfect starter for the filthy night as they dive headfirst into a set of groove laden dirt rock. Hardcore fury bangs heads with stoner wipe outs, crust coated fingers work magic on the guitars as they slay us with some fine tunes riddled with aggression and power, a welcome addition to the filth trinity and a pleasant surprise to find such a good band on first.

Having seen Mister Doom make their debut a couple of years back with some shuddering doom encrusted rock, it has been a pleasure to see them transforming into some kind of metallic stoner superbeast as they weld classic metal shapes to drawn out stoner plains moving back and forth between them licking at the sharp edges and cutting through with shattered glass slicing people up as they power on. Admittedly, the dodgy Santa outfits are a bit of a distraction tonight especially the black PVC one but these boys get better and better each time I see them and I look forward to seeing where the superbeast stops off next.

Already the cider is soaking my brain as Little London hit on us with their rock n roll. Possibly my favourite Pompey band, they never fail to deliver a cracking set and as one of Mister Doom sits on a chair in front of them being lap danced by four young ladies you realize just how damn sexy the music is. It's quite possible that they slip in a QOTSA cover next to a couple of Therapy? tunes which kind of indicates where their hearts lie, down a dark alley with a bottle of Jack, a bag full of drugs and some loose women. It's rousing stuff and front man Dev is being his usual cheeky self as he announces from the stage that we all need a bit of pussy as he watches the lap dance before he catches my eye and says Grebo needs some pussy before mumbling something about me being married and we won't go there; luckily Mrs.G standing next to me sees the funny side and you've got to love them, a real good time band and they are on top form tonight.

At this point, free pints of cider keep arriving so it all goes a bit vague from here, I remember Dragon Eye Morrison spewing out molten rocket fuelled metal and their Christmas hats flying off within a few seconds as they let rip with pummeling riffs, frontman Adam trying to destroy everything around him as usual as the guitar is used and abused. A vague recollection of Pantera being covered and technical mishaps but fuck it, from what I remember it was fantastic and everyone had a great time, a perfect end to a year of gigging. Apologies to anyone I stumbled into, hugged, mumbled complete nonsense to or tried to have sex with, it was just one of those nights!