THE tail end of Hurricane Bertha may have been battering the south coast of England over the weekend but up in Newcastle the only storm hitting this city was the unbridled whirlwind unleashed by New York Hard Core legends Biohazard on their return to Trillians.

Describing last year`s show as something akin to being in the epicentre of a wild west bar room brawl without the fighting pretty much sums up the ferocity of a Biohazard show. This is primal Rock `n` Roll at its brutal best.

Shades of Grey from their hugely influential Urban Discipline album lit the blue touch paper and through Black and White and Red All Over to Vengeance is Mine from their most recent opus Reborn in Defiance along with Tales From The Hardside there was no let-up in their social commentary-inspired songs.

Billy Graziadei, an expert in Jiu-Jitsu, drew on all his martial arts training using a level of energy that few possess while guitarist Bobby Hambel and the imposing bassist Scott Roberts leapt around the stage like rabid rabbits. Even being caught in the mouth by a flying microphone stand during the suitably riotous Punishment song failed to put Graziadei off his stride.

Quite what the security made of matters as the band and crowd became one heaving mass as the maelstrom of the mosh-pit spilled over onto the stage is anyone’s guess, but whatever it was there was no need to fret as this was all good-natured stuff of pure, raw Rock energy and the absolute antithesis of the bland, corporate, over produced music so beloved of daytime radio.

As Hold My Own brought matters to a suitably anarchic close there`s something remarkably therapeutic about a show like this. Had a bad day at work or stressed out with exams? Then a trip out to a Biohazard show will see all of those worries just drift away.

Mick Burgess