The Partisans / The Insane / Deflagrador – Camden Underworld
THE PARTISANS / THE INSANE / DEFLAGRADOR at the Underworld, Camden, Saturday, August 8 2026.
When the Partisans announced they were playing Camden on the same weekend as the Rebellion Punk Festival up in Blackpool it seemed a crazy piece of timing. Even more so when it turned out the reason for this was that the band hadn’t quite got all the confirmations in place for Rebellion in time to play. They needn’t have worried though. This was their only gig in the UK in 2026 and not everyone goes to Blackpool by a long way.
Deflagrador opened up while the crowd was still filing in. Unlike the other two bands they had a punk / metal thrash sound. Intense riffs and vocals, just a shame technical problems halted their set for a lengthy time. Hope to catch them again soon.
Back in the 80’s The Insane released had the distinction of releasing landmark singles on both the iconic No Future and Riot City labels as well Insane Records. The band split in different ways, something I can’t really say I know the ins and outs of, but this incarnation played everything a fan would expect.
‘El Savador’ sounded spot on, even down to drummer Maddie Hackett adding the rolls at the end. B sides ‘Chinese Rocks’ and ‘Nuclear War’ hit the right ‘cutting through’ guitar tone too. The intro to ‘Why Die’ sounded full of slow build up power before the band went head first into their thrashiest number. I did feel like adding ‘I’m not allowed to say how many planes go into raids but I couldn’t them all out and I counted them all back” over the top though (if you know you know).
The Partisans hit their stride from the very first note. Starting with the teenage angst anthem of ’17 Years of Hell’, singer Spike is straight on the crowds case with his cries of ‘come on’. The crowd respond, they need little encouragement. There’s something magical about The Partisans. an ingredient X. Some of the songs off their debut LP could be considered quite basic, it wasn’t until later they really nailed The Clash levels of song writing. but ‘Police Story’ , ‘Overdose” and the rest of first LP cuts just sound so damned urgent. The connection with the crowd was incredible, a cathartic sing along of exorcising frustrations. Later songs added more chord changes and the somewhat melancholy ‘Blind Ambition’ really hit hard before the band returned to thrasher output before set closers ‘Police Story’ and the singalong-a-spike “Partisans’. Incredible energy, great songs, just an amazing band. I’m hoping they cock up the paperwork for Blackpool again next year too.
