The former Sheffield duo, now trio, Drenge took to the stage at The Dome in London’s Tufnell park on Thursday night to deliver an insane thirteen song set, giving them the chance to test drive a few of their new tracks from their upcoming album, Undertow.

This was the boys’ first show since August last year and it was far from a disappointment, despite them being so out of practice. Crowd interaction was kept to a bare minimum of course, and by bare minimum I mean, absolutely nothing. I do recall getting a satirical mutter of, “Uh, yeah… We’re Drenge” following a deranged fan’s appearance on stage, screaming “AW YEAH! FUCKIN’ DRENGE MAN!” Into the mic at the top of his lungs. The crowd were relentless from start to finish, there was no escaping the mosh pits. No escaping the intensity of such a small intimate gig, where sweat was literally dripping from the walls.

Drenge kicked off this sterling set with two new tracks before sinking their teeth into the stupendously riffy, heavily distorted ‘Gun Crazy’, sending the crowd into an absolute frenzy. The energy being given off was incredible. Their original grunge sound has only been enhanced by the addition of a bass part courtesy of Rob Graham, giving it an even dirtier sound. I must admit that initially I wasn’t too keen on Drenge introducing a bassist – I thought that they would lose that trademark raw sound, the thing I love most about them.

They went on to play crowd favourites ‘Bloodsports’ and ‘Face Like A Skull’ from their debut, before wrapping things up with a very mellow (in parts) ‘Fuckabout’, where you could hear genuine emotion in Loveless’ voice as the crowd hung on helplessly to his every word.

Finding the highlight of this set was the real challenge, every song was just so raw, none of that clean cut nonsense. Drenge are a band who are rough around the edges, and that is something that they will always embrace. But the highlight had to be ‘Let’s Pretend’ with the thud of ‘This Is Hardcore’, like drums combined with Eoin’s passionate snarls of “BABY… LET’S… PRETEND”, a combination capable of sending shivers down the sturdiest of spines.

I had to step back multiple times and remind myself that this is only the beginning, if this is what they are capable of after just one album, then what does the future hold for them? I don’t think I’ve seen a band in a long time that give off such a raw energy. And this is exactly why Drenge are here to stay.

Abbi Parcell

@abbilennon