Suuns @ The Kazimier, Liverpool, 17 May

“The old guard don’t talk about rock’n’roll no more,” hisses Ben Shemie through clenched teeth. “Music won’t save you.” It’s the opening song, and Suuns are already decrying the importance of it all? A glance to our right tells a different story – as torrid blasts of electronic white noise punch new holes into our eardrums, a middle-aged man dances frantically to the driving pulse that underpins the whole glorious mess. A faded bucket hat sits atop his unkempt, greying locks as he careens wildly from side to side, interspersing each jerk with effusive shouts of “YES! FUCKING COME OOONNN!” He looks like the reanimated corpse of every Spike Island casualty you’ve ever met, and tonight he’s more alive than any of us.

The ruckus the Montreal quartet raise is tense and brittle; like Clinic’s finer moments stretched to breaking point on a rack, then fed repeatedly through a mangle to the strains of Suicide’s Cheree on constant loop. Tracks from latest album Images du Futur form the backbone of the set, with the nervous rhythms of Powers of Ten feeding ominously into 2020’s ludicrous, piercing squalls of guitar.

Suuns are far more than merely passable on record, but tonight their furious magnificence transforms The Kazimier into a sea of nodding heads and shit-eating grins. As truly wracked closer Pie IX sends us dazedly towards the exit, our newly bent minds think back to the shadows cast by our dancing friend. Music may not save us, but Suuns sure feel pretty redemptive. [Will Fitzpatrick]