METZ / Protomartyr @ Stereo, Glasgow, 5 Nov

Sweat droplets are saturating the heavy air, eyes are rolling wildly, and limbs are snapping about like a rabid pair of jaws. That’s not tonight’s headliners though; rather, it’s the lone antics of one fairly, erm, enthusiastic individual who has cleared a three-feet exclusion zone around the Stereo stage with his startling paroxysms. When the manic mosher does himself an injury and claret starts spurting from his head, even METZ, the devastatingly punk-hardcore Canadian outfit, are concerned. "Someone help this guy, he’s bleeding," motions guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, though our victim is quick to reassure the room, "It’s okay – I’m from Motherwell!" Welcome to Glasgow, indeed.

Filth, rancour, intensity, and moments of beauty – Glasgow embodies it all, and tonight METZ deliver it all, forging a happy marriage for the three-piece from Toronto. Earlier in the evening, the support slot is handled with murky aplomb by post-punkers Protomartyr, frontman Joe Casey’s grip on his Pabst Blue Ribbon can as unyielding as the group’s caliginous, rattling riffs. The band from Detroit make a solid case for new record The Agent Intellect, particularly with the rumbling, primal Why Does It Shake?, which crashes pleasingly into place at the tail-end of their set.

Young guns METZ have fielded inevitable Nirvana comparisons, but they also blister and rankle with a purist kind of Sex Pistols rancour that inspires the aforementioned boisterous crowd behaviour. Edkins’ ragged vocals are punctured by a machine gun spittle of drums, and tracks like The Swimmer temper the group’s abrasive aesthetic via covert melodic threads. It's an ebullient, assured performance from a group with just two albums under their belt, and METZ assert tonight that the bite they brandished on sophomore album II isn’t just confined to the recording.