Given that there were seven bands on the bill, and that the first four only had half an hour each, the reviews of some of them might be briefer than is typical. Beforehand, though, I also want to give a shoutout to whoever was stage managing the night. Given how many bands played and the tight turnaround times things could have gone easily gone wrong - but every band stuck to their allotted times and some even managed to get on a little earlier than planned. The Stage Manager clearly was running the show with an iron fist - but that was appreciated as the night, at least out front, seemed to run really smoothly. Up first, from Texas, were the hardcore/crossover thrash act Life Cycles - and the band's mix of groovy riffing and fast-paced thrash songwriting got the evening off to a fine start. Whilst this was a heavy night, there was a fair amount of variety on show - and only one band that I actively did not really enjoy on some level. Given their hardcore side, there was plenty of energy alongside some big mid-paced headbanging breakdowns from Life Cycles - with frontman Jeremy Cuevas commanding the crowd from the off. Given that the doors opened at 4pm, with the music kicking off at 4:30pm, the first few bands had smaller crowds to contend with - but there was still a bit of an atmosphere in the room during Life Cycles' set. A few small mosh pits got underway early - and from the balcony it was good to see plenty of in-sync headbanging during the band's groovier sections. I think that bands like this tend to excel when they operate in a groovier manner - and it was the more mid-paced songs and sections which stood out for me. Shredded solos and a few strong lead guitar moments stood out - but generally Life Cycles seemed all about the riffs. They seem to have been going for about 10 years and have a number of EPs to their name, but this was their first show in the UK. They are not as new of a band as I assumed they might be, then, so they are likely scene veterans to an extent.
The following band, Distant, who seem to have members hailing from both the Netherlands and Slovakia, were the only act of the night that did not connect with me at all. Deathcore may well be my least favourite metal subgenre, so they were unlikely to ever win me around, and nothing the band played did anything to really change my mind. They did seem a bit doomier than is typical for deathcore, but all the typical deathcore tropes were present, including those strangely over-triggered bass drum patterns and the really incomprehensible deep vocals mixed with occasional shrieks. In truth, there is just nothing about deathcore that I really find interesting. The riffs are usually not very hooky and the pseudo black-metal vibes that are often utilised for atmosphere just leave me cold. The somewhat chavy look does not help, either, but the band still managed to whip up a bit of an atmosphere. I think that the bands either side of them fared somewhat better - but there was still some moshing taking place during the faster sections of the band's songs, whilst headbanging could be seen elsewhere. As mentioned, though, there was a doomy side to their playing which meant that there were quite a few slow sections. Some were very slow indeed, which did shake up the usual formula, and there was an odd vibe being generated during these sections. There was some originality, then, which was good to see, but overall Distant did nothing for me whatsoever - and they felt a bit like the odd band out as a result.
Another Texas band in the form of Frozen Soul followed - one of the three bands added to the line-up later on. Whilst many of the bands on the bill were upbeat in some ways, with the exception of Distant's doomiest elements, Frozen Soul felt at times like the heaviest, and certainly most crushing, band of the night. Their take on traditional death metal did not stray too far from the blueprint established many years ago - but there was a coldness to their sound, which was suitable given their name, and a focus on mournful guitar leads and crushing riffs. There were faster moments in their set, with classic death metal tremolo picked guitar lines and plenty of double bass drumming - but there was also plenty of groove and mid-paced riffs to be found. With two albums to their name, I felt as if the overall evening stepped up a notch with Frozen Soul. They certainly felt a cut above the previous two bands - and they are starting to make waves in the death metal scene. Despite having barely any room on the stage, which looked very funny during the first few bands due to the amount of gear that was set up, frontman Chad Green made his presence felt early on. He spoke to the crowd a lot and by the end of the set everyone seemed really into what Frozen Soul were up to. It likely helped that there were a few more people in the room at this point - so there was quite a bit of moshing to be seen during the faster sections. Green also took time to tell a few stories around some of the songs, which I think helped to draw people in, and I enjoyed the band's pretty traditional death metal antics. Frozen Soul's brand of death metal is certainly not the most original out there, but given that I am occasionally partial to some pretty traditional death metal I will likely give this band a bit more of a listen in the future.
The final act of the 30 minute club were Revocation - who likely suffered on this bill in terms of having a shorter set. I imagine that they have generally been playing for longer than half an hour on the rest of this tour - but the technical metallers did not seem phased by this and delivered a strong set full of twisting song arrangements, lengthy guitar solos, and pure death metal vibes. David Davidson (vocals/guitar), the band's sole founding member, looked like the least metal person on stage throughout the evening - but his powerful harsh vocals and intense guitar prowess certainly made up for his everyday looks. I have listened to a few of the band's albums but I am certainly no expert - but I enjoyed the arrangements which never stayed in one place for too long. Some slower, more melodic sections were welcome, given the onslaught of heaviness throughout the night, but the set was still largely heavy - with Davidson and bassist Alex Weber trading vocals back and forth. Weber's bass was high in the mix, and some songs really focused on his playing - especially whilst Davison and Harry Lannon (guitar/vocals) were trading lead sections or playing in unison. This bass focus at times helped to give the band a different sounding edge to everyone else on the bill. Tracks like Existence Is Futile and the newer Dystopian Vermin, from the band's latest album New Gods, New Masters (which I reviewed here), certainly filled the band's allotted time with plenty of power and intense riffing. Those aforementioned quieter moments did allow for some coming up for air, though, and the crowd seemed really into Revocation's set - which is unsurprising given that the band have been around for many years at this point.
Even though Revocation are a long-standing and well-respected band, I feel that the final run of three bands saw the overall standards and crowd reactions rise further. 45 minutes were afforded to the evening's fifth band, Michigan's The Black Dahlia Murder - a melodic death metal band that have been around for 25 years at this point. Guitarist-turned-frontman Brian Eschbach may be the only founding member left at this point, but the current line-up is certainly a potent force to be reckoned with. I had not seen the band live before, but I have been something of a casual fan for a while - so I was looking forward to seeing them for the first time. Despite Eschbach's voice not always high enough in the mix, and generally the sound mixes throughout the night were pretty good which is an achievement given how many bands played, the band smashed through a number of generally short and fast-paced songs to the delight of the crowd. The Black Dahlia Murder are generally quite thrashy in terms of pace - so there was little time for rest here. Occasional groovier riffs were thrown out, but largely the fast footwork of drummer Alan Cassidy kept things moving at pace. The overall vibe of the set was somewhat more light-hearted than everything else on the bill, too, with Eschbach generally coming across as a likable and funny frontman. There was not too much metallic posturing or taking things too seriously which was nice to see - but the playing from the five-piece was tight as one would expect from a band with such a pedigree. The guitar duo of Ryan Knight and Wes Hauch made sure that each riff hit hard - and both had ample opportunity to solo throughout the night. Whilst I was not familiar with all of the set, there were a number of standout tracks which I did recognise from my previous forays into the band's music. Mammoth's Hand, from the band's most recent album Servitude (which I reviewed here), was a rare slower moment in a pretty furious set - whilst the title track from 2017's Nightbringers also went down well. Perhaps the tracks which hit the hardest and the crowd enjoyed the most came from 2007's classic release Nocturnal, though, with the anthem Everything Went Black and the title track impressing towards the end of the band's set. The band's 45 minute set pretty much flew by, and it was great to finally catch this legendary and well-loved band live for the first time.
Perhaps this show in the end should have been seen as a co-headline effort with Heaven Shall Burn - but the night still very much felt like it belonged to Sylosis. Despite this, though, the German band were still afforded an hour on stage - and I largely enjoyed the band's efforts, particularly as the set progressed. I saw Heaven Shall Burn with Trivium a few years ago, and found their set to be a bit dull, but I had been listening to the band a fair bit in the lead-up to this show so was a bit more in the right mindset for them. Despite this, though, I am not sure that they came across well live as they do on their albums. Their take on melodic death metal is quite dense and a chunky live sound mix is not always going to help bring these nuances to life. As was the case with The Black Dahlia Murder, too, frontman Marcus Bischoff's voice was not always that high in the mix - and his raw growls are a big part of the band's appeal. Despite this, though, I enjoyed the band more this time than I did before - even if I feel that they might be a band better enjoyed on record than live. The guitar playing of Maik Weichert and Alexander Dietz was layered, with the latter laying down plenty of mournful and melodic leads throughout. The crowd were a little more muted than they were during the previous set a bit at first, which was perhaps befitting of the more atmospheric approach the band take, but the final third or so saw things really kick off. The security had their work cut out for them towards the end due to the number of people crowd surfing, something which Bischoff noted as things closed out, and their epic cover of Edge of Sanity's Black Tears saw plenty of singing from the crowd during the chorus. The band's own anthemic Endzeit also saw plenty of singing from the crowd - whilst Voice of the Voiceless, played early in the set, was another which got people going. Despite something of a slow start, then, I think that it is fair to say that Heaven Shall Burn went down well on Friday. They have not been regular visitors to the UK over the years, with that aforementioned Trivium tour a few years ago their first in around 10 years at the time, but they are clearly a well-respected band on the extreme metal scene who do something a bit different with a melodic death metal approach that has been done to death at this point. They were a worthy addition to the evening, with their dense take on the genre a good palate cleanser between The Black Dahlia Murder and Sylosis.
Despite the goodness which had come before, and some in attendance were likely there for Heaven Shall Burn and The Black Dahlia Murder - the reason that I and many others were truly there was for Sylosis. Afforded just over an hour, on the day The New Flesh dropped (expect a review on this blog in due course), the band soon set about showing the room why they are one of the current shining stars of the British metal scene. Despite their first release dropping 20 years ago now, Sylosis still feel like a new act. The hiatus and the glass ceiling that seemingly led to that hiatus likely help that vibe - but now, at last, Sylosis seem to be getting the recognition they deserve. Perhaps it took simplifying their sound somewhat to achieve it - but the last few years have been a great time to be a Sylosis fan given the amount of material the band have dropped and the number of shows played. This was my first time seeing the band since 2024, and the setlist was quite different. Four songs from the new album were played, with the mid-paced chug of Erased kicking things off, whilst the set largely focused on post-reunion material - with the occasional look back to the past. Thankfully, the mix issues which somewhat hampered to two previous bands did not affect Sylosis - with Josh Middleton (vocals/guitar) high in the mix. He continues, even now, to improve as a vocalist - as the focus on clean vocals during some of the new choruses showed. Backed by the now solidified line-up of Conor Marshall (guitar/vocals), Ben Thomas (bass guitar/vocals), and Ali Richardson (drums), Middleton really shone on Friday. His vocals and high-octane guitar playing were on show throughout - whilst the chemistry between the rest of the band seems tight. There were few moments in the set where Marshall was not windmilling his hair around - and the strut of Thomas added some grit to the proceedings. In terms of setlist, then, it was largely focused on anthems. This seems to be Sylosis' style going forward - with shout-along choruses from I Sever and Poison for the Lost coming early. I particularly enjoyed hearing the new numbers live, though, with the hooky Lacerations and the unknown to me All Glory, No Valour in particular impressing. The former has one of the band's best clean vocal choruses, clearly something Middleton has been building towards - whilst the later was pure venom with some great gang vocals from the rest of the band. It was great to hear some lesser played numbers in an amongst the new tunes and the classics from the recent past, too, with the rarely played Heavy Is the Crown getting a deserved outing - whilst the middle part of the set seemed focused on older material. The melodic and mournful instrumental piece Where the Sky Ends, which had not been played live before this tour, saw both Middleton and Marshall impressing on the guitar - whilst, sticking with the same album, the lengthier and knotty Eclipsed showcased the old sound Sylosis have largely left behind. The slower paced and grungy Servitude then showcased a slightly doomier, sludgier side, which was experimented with before the hiatus, whilst an all-time classic and crowd favourite in Teras took the crowd back to the band's 2008 debut album. It is good that the two eras of the band seem to be able to live together - and the 13 song setlist showcased just how much variety there is in the Sylosis catalogue. The closing moments brought things bang up to date, then, with Pariahs and the band's true anthem Deadwood, both from the last album, seeing the now-large crowd go crazy. The amount of moshing during the band's set was impressive, but it really peaked around this time, whilst The New Flesh saw the set come to a triumphant end. The setlist was:
Erased
I Sever
Poison for the Lost
Lacerations
Heavy Is the Crown
All Glory, No Valour
Where the Sky Ends
Eclipsed
Servitude
Teras
Pariahs
Deadwood
The New Flesh
Sylosis continue to go from strength to strength - and Friday's showing was another reminder as to why they are one of the best British metal bands currently on the scene. I am really looking forward to hearing the new album having heard some of the songs properly now once my CD arrives - and I am sure it will be another excellent effort based on what I have heard so far. The band also mentioned on social media that the show was being filmed - so perhaps there are plans for the band's first true official live release at some point in the future. I certainly hope so - and I also hope for Sylosis live experiences over the coming years.
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