Our friends down in the south west are set to hold a huge event for the area. Concrete South takes place on Sunday 29th March at Arena, Torquay with none other than Grief Ritual headlining a packed out line up!
Grief Ritual released their debut album Collapse last January on Church Road Records and it has been critically acclaimed by the likes of Kerrang! and Metal Hammer amongst others.
“The seismic breakdowns, huge, downtrodden riffs and excellent guest appearances from Cage Fight’s Rachel Aspe on Recursion and Burner’s Harry Nott on the incendiary Bile are matched by the vitriol in vocalist Jamie Waggett’s delivery, as he tackles subjects such as capitalism, the far right and human extinction. The result is a ferocious album that serves as the perfect soundtrack to a fractured state of living.” – Metal Hammer Issue 396
With a packed out line up including Safeword, Mentality, Entropic Rot, Arbiter, Bother, Toothache, Empty Threat, Benydrill & Nephilim this event works out at £1 per band that plays which in todays climate is nuts! That’s if you grab a ticket in advance and to add to that it’s basically an all ages show.
Remember it’s important to always support your local scene, otherwise we lose shit like this. Devon heads listen up, to get you in the mood and hopefully get you heading down to this, here are some bands I’ve highlighted below:
Plymouth heavy hardcore band Benydrill join this show following a recent appearance at the Ark At This x Moor Beer Company x Foefest show in Bristol. They have released a new track earlier this month called Nomad which goes with their demo The Sleepy Session released back in March 2025.
They’ll be repping the local area early so make sure you’re there in time!
London heads Empty Threat bring a style of metallic hardcore to the south west this March. They are another sick band that has recently formed, and are set to bring carnage to the scene!
They’ve recently come off of playing Smoke Over London’s first promotion at The Black Heart in Camden and released their latest single G.Y.D. (Gun You Down) to streaming platforms.
Let’s just say, this is something that’s going to hit hard in the pit. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these lads coming up!
Coming out of Bristol, Toothache are bringing their sick beatdown style to Torquay! New to the scene last year they had their first show supporting Parisian metalcore band Calcine when they visited The Croft, Bristol. They are also due to support our East Anglia mates in BIND. this may in Bristol hosted by Ark At This.
You can listen to Toothache’s debut demo Struck Down which was released back in June 2025 on all streaming platforms and below.
Mentality are one of the main support for the show and they are another band that have recently came onto the scene as of last year.
Local to the south west in Plymouth they play a crossover style to the core. Pulling elements from hardcore, thrash and heavy metal. Fast thrashy riffs with a big focus on making songs hit hard live to get that physical response and you can really hear that with their recent single ‘Snakeskin’ released end of Jan.
I caught up with band member Ty recently so watch this space for their interview coming soon.
Hailing out of the South West, Safeword are the real OG’s of Torquay. Safeword are playing their local town and treating you to their heavy beats and violent riffs with guitarist Jordan setting up this entire event.
‘A brand of hardcore that wraps itself in barbed wire and delivers an onslaught from start to finish; the kind of approach that suggests ‘if you’re not with us, you’re against us” – Casual State Audio on Safeword HC
Their recent EP Step To Me which was released at the end of January has some heavy tracks and I’m sure you’re in for some heavy moshing activity! TQHC has something to show you.
Tickets for the all dayer are avaliable now and for £10 advance you can’t complain.
So make sure you head down to this and support your local scene!
Until next time, I’ll catch you in the pit!
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