Although the sledgehammer subtleties of Pitchshifter's craft may be lost on many, none can fault the band's patience and determination.
Their first album was released in 1991, and over the course of the last decade their techno-fuelled metal has, via the likes of The Prodigy (whose guitarist Jim Davies now inhabits the 'Shifter's ranks), gradually drifted into fashionable territories.
If they were American they'd be selling out venues twice the size of tonight's, but there's a sense that ten years hard work much of it recently in the US is about to pay off.
Credit the band, too, for not shying away from a support band challenge - openers Sona Fariq are a brisk and confident Asian punk foundation who belie the usual third-on-the-bill crowd reception and whip up a hell of a party.
Detroit's frenetic Workhorse Movement - a kind of more metal inclined Beastie Boys - are playing their first gigs on these shores yet effortlessly set an intimidating standard.
Looking like a lusty Hare Krishna sub-sect, their twin-vocalled rock/rap assault detonates a baggy-shorted, body-pierced mosh pit of impressive standards.
By the time they leave the stage having played the single 'Keep The Sabbath Dream Alive' (nice title), the crowd is totally buzzed up.
The gauntlet has been laid down in no uncertain terms, and, to be frank, Pitchshifter don't quite match the challenge tonight. The new songs - spiky blasts of agit prop from the 'Deviant' album, more melodic than of old, all underpinned with phenomenal drum'n'bass-style live drums and Davies' Tom Morello-esque hip hop guitar effects - go down well, but more thuddingly primitive oldies like 'Genius' and 'Triad' go down even better.
Perhaps after Workhorse's massive energy expenditure, Pitchshifter's reliance on the onstage charisma of singer John Clayden just isn't enough - or perhaps they are a little tired.
Either way, the peak of the night came in the Workhorse Movement's performance. Tonight Pitchshifter were merely good. Greatness still beckons.
