Perhaps the most infamous and popular moment of every Manic Relapse fest is the Saturday afternoon show. An outdoor guerilla show -- originally in the backyard of the appropriately named punk house, the World Rage Center, it graduated to a skate park of questionable legality in 2018. Crammed up against a highway and warehouse district it resembles more a scene out of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome than matinee hardcore show at CBGBs. Smoke bombs, fireworks, flares, and beer cans go flying through the air. What’s that? Someone brought a whip and just handed it off to the singer of Enzyme? The PA got hit with a smoke grenade and no longer is working? Just sing through a bullhorn. A guy just set up a bar on a card table and is selling $1 shots? Sweet. No stage, no rules, and an overarching feel of danger? Sounds great. There’s a reason these shows are so legendary.
Nosferatu hail from Texas and play a blistering, primal style of hardcore that can only be described as quintessentially American—a totally unhinged, high-energy sonic assault which has echoes of Void, Koro and Land Speed Record-era Husker Du. Live, they are just a series of violent explosions of table flipping and bottle shattering rage.