Iceage are faultless at London's Scala

Mirroring the audible confidence-boost of the Beyondless, the band played with an apparently newfound self-assurance in London last night. Largely gone are the wobbly kick drums and slurred vocals of old, replaced by a white-hot sense of command and control. There's still power and noise aplenty, but those breathless tempo rushes and moments of artful discord feel far more purposeful nowadays, which only adds to their potency.

In faultless punk form, Iceage don't fuck about tonight: the set is short and sharp, old favourites like "White Rune" and newer cuts like "Painkiller" thrown at us at machine-gun pace. The furious razor-wire hardcore of their early records and Nick Cave-flavoured melodrama sit together with improbable congruence tonight, perhaps due to their both being refracted through the prism of this newly masterful live unit. By the time we reach "Catch It", the new record's lead single and finest moment, they've proved their point: more so than ever before, Iceage are not only a group of rare talent, but one whose true brilliance lies in the increasing dexterity with which they are able to utilise that talent to create an all-consuming audience experience.