Mat Price heads to the Legendary Cart & Horses to catch Solitary and Struck A Nerve, here’s his review – he also had a chat with our mate Nathan from Struck A Nerve, so catch the bonus interview at the bottom of the page

It was a year, almost to the day, that I last saw Solitary play The Cart and Horses. Like then, we were treated to some pleasant, early autumn weather. The pub itself shows its connection with Iron Maiden with pride, allowing no mistake as to where you are going or what you are letting yourself in for.

The place is small, yet nicely decorated with the venue underground that takes up the same footprint. Outside, on gig nights, you will often find members of the playing acts mixing and chatting to the attendees. This is what makes underground metal the community it is.

But I can’t pretty this up. The Cart and Horses are facing a troubling time. As seems to be the trend with smaller venues all over the country, they are staring down the barrel of closure, unless someone can muster up the £800,000+ to buy it (are you listening, Iron Maiden?).

At the moment, though it’s business as usual, and there’s thrash to be played tonight. By the time Struck A Nerve came on, a sizable crowd had gathered. They were the main support at the Manchester gig as well, and looked well up for it. Of course, why wouldn’t they?

They consist of members (and ex) of heavy hitters Gama Bomb and Shrapnel, and on this night, we have a fourth member. But more on him later. Kicking off with Moonsniper, you instantly knew you were not hearing anything close to the respective bands that they’re from. As with the next tracks played, their two singles released (Inside The Torture Fortress and Nocturnal Terror), we were left in no doubt that this is a band who’s members know a stage and work it well. Guitarist Nate and drummer Chris kept everything going tightly, while Aaran’ vocals and bass were like surgical bomb drops, being considerably happy being reunited with his favourite bass from Shrapnel. There is no denying that this is more than a mere side project. The band’s energy together cements more good things from them. Especially with set closers Rider of Black and Parade of Violence. they certainly struck a chord this evening.

This year not only marks the release of Solitary’s fifth studio album, it is also their thirtieth anniversary. It sometimes seems hard to believe, considering that they just keep on delivering hard hitting output. Be it recorded or live. Coming off the back of The Peer Hat in Manchester means their set should be bedded in for this London audience. Not that it was needed. For their second time playing the Cart & Horses, they were instantly settled and locked on as new track, Section 21 kicked off proceedings. Another testament to Solitary’s work ethic.

Honestly, it was hard to keep my journo head on. Rich and gang just keep firing out songs with little need for chit chat between songs, they let the music speak.  Of course. Live favourites Keep Your Enemies Closer, I Will Not Tolerate and Architects of Shame are, again, kept early into the set, but it is songs from Embrace the Darkness that does the most heavy lifting tonight. Even the Kreator-esque Filtering Hindsight got an outing, which cheered me up, no end.

Not many bands showcase so many brand new songs when touring an album, and I wish more did. Instead of waiting years before doing entire album gigs. The band were on top form tonight. They could dial it in, but you would never know. Besides, live is where they look most at home. When Rich isn’t spitting lyrics, his smile is infectious. Andy is the quintessential lead guitarist, keeping his head down and just nailing it.

Royston may hate this, but he reminds me of Gene Hoglan. His is a style that looks like nothing is going on but the kit is being played with power and precision. Gaz, as always, is the real showman of the band. Darting about like a bluebottle fly with ADHD and always ready to interact. Even on this tiny stage, he finds room to rock out.

By the time Requiem had played out, there were a lot of happy, knackered people in attendance, but Solitary had a spare round in the chamber with the not often played Trigger Point Atrocity. That, to me, is a sign that a band enjoyed the crowd enough to give something special back, and we all lapped it up.

All in all, it was a Solitary gig like many other. As in, even when you know what you’re getting, they will mix it up enough to make sure you won’t forget it for a long time.

Before I sign off, and as promised, I chatted to Nathan from Struck A Nerve before and after the gig. Here’s what was said…

 Mat: How was the gig and what can you take away from playing with Solitary?

Nath: It was awesome! I’ve known Rich and Solitary for a good few years now, and have loved their last few albums. So playing with them again on this short run was a no-brainer. The show itself was just killer. Firstly, we’ve never been to the Cart & Horses before, so it was awesome as a HUGE Maiden fan. But it was ace getting to play for a new audience, and by the end of the set, the place was going pretty hard haha.

Rich has been super helpful with advice, since I think he’s been the one to do a lot of the business side of the band. But they’re just road warriors. They’ve been doing it for a long time, and are a testament of hard work and determination. It was just great to see the new stuff live, and Catharsis from the last record!

Mat: Who’s the second guitarist?

Nath: Our new guitarist is Lexell Altaïr. He’s been great! Aarran suggested him to us, as he knew him from back home. After sending a few riff videos and doing a couple of rehearsals, we were on our way. It’s been cool. We got to know him pretty well this weekend. He’s been showing me a lot of his own recordings, and he’s an insane guitarist. His tastes are super diverse, and being from Venezuela, he was surrounded by Latin music growing up. It’s gonna be awesome to see what he brings to the table as we move forward.

 Mat: Inside The Torture Fortress got quite a bit of interest recently. How do you think modern thrash has been able to outlast the original scene nearly 40 years ago?

 Nath: Yeah, good question. It’s weird that despite not throwing out any bands as big as the originals, it has survived longer without disappearing as much as it did in the 90s

I think it might have something to do with ease of access due to streaming/YouTube, but also due to there not really being a massive industry and culture shifting new genre come along and blow everything else away (like grunge or nu metal or whatever) since thrash kicked into gear again in the late 2000’s.

Mat: Do you think the added transparency with social media between artist and audience has added to thrash’s longevity?

Nath: Yeah I think that’s true. I think social media can do what it’s supposed to do sometimes and help create a community. We have a particular group of fans we’ve connected with over time that have purely discovered us through social media that we share things with.

But also, it’s enabled groups like UK Thrashers (thanks Nate..cheques in the post) and the New Wave Of Thrash Metal to flourish and connect thrash fans together. I’ve found countless new bands through those kinds of outlets that I’ve gone on to reach out to,  play shows with, exchange new music with, and become friends.

 So yeah, it can be a really positive thing.

Mat: I understand you’ve had a busy time lately. How are things going with new material? You’re in the writing process currently, correct?

Nath: We’ve been loving it! We’ve actually finished everything we need for our debut full-length.

Chris (drums) and I started writing stuff while we were waiting for the newest Shrapnel album to be released, which we’d also worked pretty hard on.So a lot of the songs have been knocking around for around 2 years. We actually recorded the drums for a whole album in 2023, and it’s just been a case of slowly getting everything else finished up when we can fit it in!

We’ve been really excited about the singles we’ve been putting out, and we’ll be drip feeding a few more as we finish them. Then it’s album time early next year.

Mat: Speaking of Shrapnel. In Gravity saw quite a shift in sound. How intentional was that?

Nath: It was a mix of intention and natural progression. We always liked experimenting a bit in Shrapnel, and when you listen through the discography there’s loads of different influences in there. In Gravity was just about pushing that a bit further. 

We also had Dan come into the band with his influence and voice. We really wanted the music to provide a backdrop for him to really show what he could do vocally.

Struck A Nerve was much more about Chris and I leaning into our love of Slayer and Power Trip, and not over-thinking things too much.

Mat:I can appreciate that. In Gravity warmed to me. But We’re not here for that. 

How far do you hope to go with Struck A Nerve?

Nath: As far as we can! Chris has the Gama Bomb stuff too, and we’re all super busy outside of music, so our attitude is just to do what we can.

We’re finishing up the album and I think we’re going to shop that about a bit, and we’re laying plans to get over to Europe in the new year. I think we’re taking quite a relaxed approach, but there’s definitely a pretty strong ambition to do some cool stuff.