Bodysnatcher w/Big Ass Truck, Psycho Frame & Ingested @ Engine Rooms Southampton, 04.03.26

Bodysnatcher and Ingested turn Southampton into a controlled demolition

There are gigs where you politely nod along and head home with your hearing largely in-tact. And then, there are night like this, where Bodysnatcher and Ingested descend upon Engine Rooms and the entire building briefly forgets the concept of structural integrity. Opening duties fell on Big Ass Truck, whose name is less a metaphor and more a mission statement. Their set arrived with all the finesse of a large vehicle going very fast through a wall (pun intended here), with blunt instrumentals and powerful vocals. The crowd was quick to participate in the chaos, with a huge pit opening in the middle of the room and a few people shouting lyrics back to the band. As the heads started moving and the shoulders started colliding, the crowd was well warmed-up for what lay ahead for the night.

Arguably, Psycho Frame were the night’s biggest stars. Whether that is people who came just to see Psycho Frame or people who came to enjoy the whole gig, they definitely stole everyone’s attention. They delivered an assault that was tight, fast and executed with mathematical efficiency for maximum chaos. Their music was full of breakdowns, blast beats, dual vocals alternating between high pitched screams and brutal vox, and an accuracy in execution that made the floor tremble. The crowd reaction shifted from curious to fully invested, and by the end of the set, the pit had developed into an ecosystem of spin-kicks and rogue arms. Stepping into the pit myself, I definitely reconsidered all my life choices and I am sure that people around me did too.

Now that the room was hot enough, it was time for Ingested to emerge, as co-headliners who already knew that the crowd was at their mercy. As a result, there was immediate and explosive engagement on both sides of the barricade. Ingested on the stage front delivered brutality with precision and savagery, with riffs that were clear, complex and surgically sharp. On the crowd front, the pit opened wide and menacing, as the setlist flew through old songs and new songs. Interestingly enough, the vocalist said that this was the first time he performed with the rest of the band; no rehearsals, no tests, no recordings. Yet, nobody would have noticed if he hadn’t admitted that, because the set was controlled and relentless at the same time, full of blast beats, intricate guitars and vocals that rippled through the walls. 

Finally, Bodysnatcher took the stage just before 10pm. The energy levels were already high, but now they jumped from volatile to feral. Their setlist leaned heavily into fan favourites, detonating the pit and the crowdsurfers almost instantly. What the band seems to have mastered however is not crowd chaos but the art of the breakdown – as you could practically feel the moment that the drop would come and the audience braced for it. The band’s performance was once again tight, direct and uncompromising without filler and theatrics. The simplistic production in Engine Rooms also suited the lineup, as the stark lighting bursts and the strobes emphasised the brutality of the show. And for once, it was not as dark as expected so there is definitely a win there. Bodysnatcher do not need elaborate visuals anyway, they just need sound that is heavy enough to rearrange your internal organs. Which it probably did.