Show Me The Body @ Soup Kitchen, 12 Aug

New York City trio Show Me The Body aren’t afraid to embrace the rot in the core of the Big Apple. Their debut album Body War’s thrilling mixture of hardcore, hip-hop and nihilistic post-punk takes inspiration not from the city’s shining skyscrapers but from the claustrophobia of the rat race. It’s been waiting for you, alright, but only to knock you down and make off with your wallet.

In that sense Soup Kitchen’s stifling basement is the perfect place for SMTB to show Manchester what they can do for the first time, and they don’t disappoint. Frontman Julian Cashwan Pratt sets the band’s confrontational tone from the off, holding court with beast-like stomps as he aggressively raps and slashes at his electric banjo over Harlan Steed’s sludgy, monstrous basslines. ‘I think about my city when I think about hell,’ he spits over drummer Noah Cohen-Corbett’s double-time beat in the punk-indebted Tight SWAT. The trio’s frenetic energy and clever fake-outs excite the Soup crowd enough to get a mosh pit started; one suspects they could incite a riot if they wanted.

After Steed finishes shredding through the discordant Chrome Exposed, Body War’s wild title track makes for a gloriously anarchic end to their half hour set. "Don’t be afraid of those bros at the front!" Cashwan Pratt says to those shying away from the pit before he eventually leads by example, wading into the crowd and taking several dudes with him to the ground. Show Me The Body haven’t made it yet but there can be no doubt that they’re ready to scrap for it.