Viet Cong @ Deaf Institute, Manchester, 5 February

Viet Cong's live presence is a startling remove from the unremitting, blunt force of their debut album. That eponymous opening shot, a hard-boiled and unsweetened deconstruction of the submissive, errant state of alternative guitar pop, secures its claims for greatness via a full-blooded, generous performance. Ignore the commentators keen to spout where they first heard Matt Flegel's implacable bass or Scott Munro's chiming twelve string; Viet Cong are in thrall, nor debt, to anybody.

Flegel, a wry and cheery presence, disarms any such accusations with a mid-set admission. "So cool to be in Manchester," he says, "the home of so many of the bands we've been ripping off."

On several levels the Canadian four piece (built largely from the debris of Flegel and drummer Mike Wallace's previous band, Women) surprise and unseat. They open with three non-album tracks, each one brighter and more immediate than the bulk of the album. But already there are crowd favourites (and for once, here's an audience fully locked-on and contributing beyond the entrance fee): there are cheers as Munro attacks the descending intro to Continental Shelf; a savage Bunker Buster scours the room and the floor responds.

As on record, they save the best till last with an epic exploration of Death, the eleven minute album closer, spun out here to twice its recorded length; it's the bruising epitome of their full metal racket. No encore: both audience and band exit bloodied and spent. Sign up before it's too late – as statements of intent go, this one feels like a declaration of war. [Gary Kaill]