Playing their first gig in a year, Stoke-on-Trent bruisers Charger were never going to disappoint. The remarkably genial and informative between-song banter from their normally-seen-screaming frontman Martin Ives proves to be just another plus point. He is clearly pleased to be back as he roars a load of unintelligible indignation of half an hour of sludgy grooves and surprisingly intricate riffs.

Chief axeman Jim Palmer works his guitar with aplomb, his face contorted into ridiculous expressions that somehow fit his music absolutely perfectly. With his menacing glare and enormous frame, Ives is a truly frightening prospect while he’s singing, but then Charger are just as worrisome.

Everyone is busy nodding their heads during the support acts because there is a lot of energy to be spent; it’s all being saved for The Abominable Iron Sloth. A gaping chasm of a slampit opens up before me as the streamlined trio, stripped of their Will Haven cohort, launches straight into the raucously groovy ‘I'd Rather Die Than Fly’. It doesn't let up after that.

New bassist Matt has also assumed growling duty, adding a beautiful, disorderly depth to the sound while the languid style of Andres’ drumming belies the power that flies through some outstanding fills and rolls. Already though, you can tell that despite the ferocious display here, Iron Sloth needs another guitarist. This band needs to be the biggest, the dirtiest and the sludgiest sound imaginable to man. It falls ever so slightly short tonight.

The handlebar-moustached Justin Godfrey cuts an imposing figure as he shoves and lurches his tall, slender frame around his side of the stage, his flowing locks following his every move. Inviting the crowd to join in during ‘Parasite Hilton And Other Flaws Inherent To Wealth’, he mounts the microphone, screaming big bowls of vitriol at the crowd. Cries of, “RUN SLUT! RUN SLUT! RUN SLUT RUN…” ring out around my head.

Those cries never seem to stop ringing. As you walk home you wonder to yourself, “Where are my ears… where have they gone?” Iron Sloth will obliterate everything before them. They will gobble you up and spit you out again and again. They will shit down your throat and make you sing along. You will enjoy it.