Heads were banged and pits were moshed at the Haunt on Wednesday. Although the venue wasn’t at capacity, the young crowd was receptive and energetic enough to make the room seem full.

Nylon Ostriches support, Calling Curtis, deserve a mention for eliciting calls for an encore at the end of their set.

Their raw, punky sound and meandering, stabby guitar lines seemed a hard act to follow.

However Nylon Ostrich rose to the occasion and as their set warmed up a writhing scrum formed in front of the stage. The band played comfortably together, playing well-written songs in a driving, alt-rock style. While none stood out as the star player, the band as a whole had a cohesive, unified feel as a result.

The vocalist was a little unusual over the band’s heavy sound. He favoured a softer style and accessible lyrics (“I’m having a good time!”).

He could easily have seemed apart from the band, but was received well by the crowd, who fed off his energy.

They even agreed to perform metal-moshing move a wall of death when prompted, so must have been in the palm of his hand.

Three stars