Photos: LEATHER LUNG, MOTHER IRON HORSE, SWAMPHEAD, GNAWED OFF @ Ralph’s Rock Diner (Worcester, MA) – 2026/02/06
The parking lot is covered in snow and ice. You can hear the Orange Amps and Nomad Cabinets buzzing from outside as the bands soundcheck. A slight scent of marijuana is in the crisp air. A party is about to be had. LEATHER LUNG, MOTHER IRON HORSE, SWAMPHEAD, and GNAWED OFF have gathered to instigate a ruckus at the infamous Ralph’s Rock Diner in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Photographs by @bananamasher.
Starting the party would be a newer band emerging from the gutters of Worcester, a dose of fast, crusty D-beat, GNAWED OFF.
GNAWED OFF:
Instagram
Mucky and sinister, SWAMPHEAD left the Hockamock to cast spells and riffs upon all those who face the stage. For fans of dark sludge-riddled doom with intense vocals, booming bass, and crushing riffs.
The band released their third album, Nightfall, last year. They recorded with Chris Johnson (Cave In, Worshipper, Leather Lung) at New Alliance in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who also mixed, mastered, and provided backing vocals on the track “Downpour.”
SWAMPHEAD:
Bandcamp | Instagram
MOTHER IRON HORSE would tease and thrill the audience with new songs as their self-titled new album would be dropping in May, performing “The Shallows,” “Strigoi Viu,” “Under the Wheel,” “Wretched Kings,” and “Bloodletting.”
The henchmen from Salem, Massachusetts, have spent the last four years rockin’ around supporting their sophomore record, ‘Under the Blood Moon‘ (2021 – Ripple Music), all while working on new songs. Those songs would eventually become Mother Iron Horse, a heavy-hitting album about heavy-hitting topics of the struggles of mankind, especially in these trying and difficult times. The band will release the forthcoming album via their own label, Hellmouth Records.
MOTHER IRON HORSE:
Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Party-sludgers LEATHER LUNG would escalate the night to a whole new level of debauchery. Their set spanned several releases, including their last three EPs, 2016’s Lost in Temptation, 2019’s Lonesome, On’ry and Evil, and 2022’s Dive Bar Devil, and their debut full-length Graveside Grin, released in 2024 via Magnetic Eye Records. The dirty mangy dogs even slipped in a cover of White Zombie‘s “Thunder Kiss ’65.”
LEATHER LUNG:
Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
