It’s rare for a band as heavy as Pulled Apart By Horses to have attracted so much attention. In the normal run of things, any band that sounds like Black Sabbath crossed with Soundgarden would be, at best, a marginal interest, but the Leeds boys seem to have genuine mass appeal.

Currently the darlings of everybody from metal magazines to national newspapers, their profile is swelling constantly. This was seen in the 300 people who had to hear their set at Truck Festival from outside because the stage was already at capacity. Thus, when they step on stage in the O2’s upstairs room, the place is packed and not just with people wearing biker jackets and hair down to their midriffs.

None of this, though, should suggest that Pulled Apart By Horses do anything other than pack an almighty musical punch. Each one of the songs they play tonight has all the energy, intensity and power of the best alternative rock bands, with every riff like a juggernaut.

New single High Five Swan Dive Nose Dive is particularly bruising, with its metallic guitar riff and enormous crescendo. Equally blockbusting are I Punched a Lion in the Throat and Meat Balloon.

In terms of influences, there are a lot of bands in the mix: there’s the brutal hardcore of Minor Threat, the lyrical irreverence of Black Flag and Rage Against the Machine and the gargantuan guitar sound of vintage Metallica. Even their knockabout cover of the Gladiators’ theme tune sounds like something Machine Head could have written.

Usually, you’d label Pulled Apart By Horses as the kind of band a select few will really love and most people will go their entire lives without hearing. But, as that doesn’t seem to have been the case so far, there is no reason to describe them as anything other than a terrific live band with untold potential.