Genitorturers at Rebellion Manchester – Shock Rock reclaimed

The Rebellion could be hosting a Wiggles tribute band and I’d still encourage you to go check it out. Sure, Satans has the looks, the O2s book the bigger bands, but The Rebellion is by far my favourite Manchester venue. It always delivers. The almost cult following of this club guarantees a dedicated, familiar audience that always elevates any show, though tonight’s performer doesn’t need any help in doing that. 

The Genitorturers are transforming this great club into a carnival of chaos. 

Gen is a Shock Rock Siren with spectacular showmanship. Her influence has spanned decades, exposing her shocking style with sparking severity to stages with Glen Danzig, supporting his tour in 1993, the same year the Genitorturers signed with Sony's label and released 120 Days of Sodom, an industrial metal bible and blueprint. 

Gen’s a bit of a cryptid in the music industry. She’s been around, she knows everybody, she’s seen it all, she’s built a dedicated fanbase through her authenticity and craft, but stayed out of the harsh glare of the spotlight. To truly discover who Gen is and what she’s all about, you need to see her. 

The supports are an eclectic mix. Spire Circle, a local Manchester band, bring a deep, brooding synth sound synonymous with batcave rave music. The drumbeats are subdued, like a muffled pulse, with breathy vocals and ambient melodies. It's distant and distorted, a perfect mood setter for this show. It’s downbeat and gets bodies moving. 

Unique is a term thrown around a lot within our genres, but truly, Celavi were just that. Refreshingly peculiar with an evident prestige, Celavi bill themselves as Nu Metal, but embody elements spanning many genres, demonstrating an esteemed music literacy. It’s a genuine growth of a sound etched from unfeigned passions. It's unapologetically goth, devastatingly heavy, and Sarah Wynn Griffiths is profoundly punk, a sculpture of shining leather. They’re loud and proud, their Welsh heritage an integral aspect of the sound and spirit. They just ooze originality, and have earned their spot on this lineup. 

Black Lakes seemed to have a career highlight performance. Visibly lifted by the energised enthusiasm of the crowd, Black Lakes ran through their soaring setlist with a professional precision that begins to falter as their beaming excitement and enjoyment overwhelms them, enhancing their performance with a vitality and vigor that augments their efforts from entertainment to enlightenment. This was really passionate, with lead singer Will Preston nervous at the current quality of his voice, only to soar above the instruments with a captivating clarity and control. Clearly dedicated and disciplined, Preston gave the most impassioned and technically sound vocal performance of the evening. 

After a thorough warm-up, the air is thick with anticipation, and a sour metallic scent. The floor is full; the Genitortures have a faithful and firm female following. As the lights flicker to life, a lone figure emerges, Skwerll, wild eyed and painted up. He’s an uncanny blend of clownish whimsy and intrinsic discomfort. Skwerll’s body is a canvas, a living sculpture of horror and daring distinction. He gets to run an angle grinder inches from his face only twice before the venue shuts it down. Not at all discouraged, Skwerll moves on to a tamer portion of his act to appease management, skin stapling. 

In a twisted version of Magic Mike (Magic Spike?), Skwerll earns some extra tips from the girls on the front row. Bear in mind he's using a heavy duty tacker here, not simple office stationary. 

The theatrical spectacle escalates as smoke billows onto the stage, ominous and chilling. The band is made up of acclaimed metal alumni, each a legend in their own right. Ilyn Nathaniel of The Union Underground commands bass, Goth-Glam God Chris Densky is on the drums, and renowned Murderdolls guitarist Eric Griffin leads the melody. Gen stalks onto the stage in fishnets and fetish boots, cloying pink lights illuminating her figure like a deity summoned from the shadows. Her presence is both seductive and unsettling, a duality of desire and dread. 

Gen is a beacon of alluring artistry in a space hungry for the bold, whose performance blurs the boundaries of convention with sultry audacity and unapologetic authenticity. She has the audience captivated from the first song, and interacts with the crowd with genuine attentiveness. As much as her intentions are to be seen and heard, she sees and hears her fans too. She feeds the front row with validation, calling them her Girl Pervs, embracing their reverence for her, and pointing out a 90s tour shirt adorned by a fan, a display of humble gratitude and appreciation for the support. 

The band's evident BDSM thematics wield a profound alchemy of power. Within this framing, femininity transcends reductive societal constraints and is given a platform of power. In contrast to the pervasive objectification women face in mainstream media, Gen explores the archetype of the dominatrix and displays the role as an embodiment of sovereignty, with strength in subverting sensuality. Gen commands respect, challenges conventions, and illuminates the potent intersection of sexuality and spirituality within a Diva. Gen cannot just be observed. She is revered as a goddess, the crowd zealous for her. 

Armed with a riding crop and phallic props, Gen makes a visceral declaration that her body is her own, her pain and pleasure intertwined in a celebration of kink. Her vocals are orgasmic with a range you should expect from such an industry mainstay. Her screams are soaked in 80s nostalgia, akin to Annihilator, she slows it down to a seductive softness similar to Peter Steele’s stylings, and she gives us gritty growls with a Rob Zombie gait. Devil in a Bottle really feels Hellbilly Deluxe, an anthem of a track punctuated by Gen and Skwerll brandishing bottles of liquor. 

It’s an extremely provocative display, a dance of dominance, a manifestation of transgressive female power that redefines women’s roles within sex spaces and alternative music. Gen is the fierce, erotic archetype of the shock rock goddess, her imagery confronting norms and embracing her raw, amorous legitimacy. She is a symbol of liberation, resilience, and rebellion. The Madonna of Metal with a voice so seasoned it's an effortless surge that cuts through the noise with clarity and charisma, Gen commands her show expertly, inviting to stage costumed characters to spur the spectacle on, beckoning them with an intimidating sex toy. 

A masked well-endowed devil, flamboyant, twirls in his cape, hip-thrusting. Wearing a grotesque yet exaggerated grin with rubber teeth that sneer with theatrical charm, he soon has a female victim to savage. She’s in bondage, twirling and twerking, occasionally getting a spank as Gen effortlessly steamrolls through her set whilst Ring Leading the debauchery. 

She then roughly leads a crawling, bleeding man by the chain pierced through his nipples in the crescendo of her shock schtick with beautiful brutality. 

In a genre often characterized by rebellion, Gen’s fierce femininity is a vital clarion call, an artistry that not only ignites the stage with a show so deliciously deviant, but also sparks vital, long overdue conversations about gender, power, and identity within the metal community, cementing her status as arguably the most celebrated shock rocker with knockers since Wendy O. Williams. 

Gen plays over the curfew, the way of a true punk, and announces she’ll be signing titties all night long to a chorus of delighted squeals. 

Genitortures continue their UK tour, coming to a close in South Hampton this weekend. They will next have a brief tenure in California, delivering a devilish Halloween special before taking their scalpels and strap-ons back on the road to tour the rest of the USA in October.