A Live gig review by The Brutal Commander

Arriving at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston i find my mood and spirit lift as i return to one of my favourite live music venues in London. The staff are always welcoming and friendly and the local regulars fill the place with good vibes. As is custom for me now, i ask for the weirdly named house shot, this time suspiciously named “Daddy’s creamy surprise” and a creamy surprise it was! The surprise being that if you leave it too long before shooting, you might be chewing on it’s curdled evolution. Unsatisfied by the frankly tame as fuck shot i insist on being weirded out properly and so the barman pours me a shot of yellow liquid from an undisclosed bottle and with a smirk invites me to try it before i know what it is. I oblige and to my delight my taste buds are assaulted with the flavours of mango and pickled jalapeño which is exactly what i had been served, mango and pickled jalapeño tequila. Mission accomplished.

After a few prerequisite pints it was time to enter the venue and begin this night of brutal extreme metal! 

You may be familiar with the opening act, we’ve reviewed these boys at a few shows now! It’s nice to see SYMBYOTE as active as they are, providing many London shows with an opening act that is guaranteed to get the party started from the beginning! An opening act that will deliver far more than expected and have you saying “they’re far too good to be opening shows!”

SYMBYOTE bring their take on black death metal tinged with hardcore elements to get the crowd moving and warmed up. Their combination of rumbling bass, meaty riffs and wild-like vocals provide a soundscape that gets the feet moving and heads banging. Despite technical difficulties i thought the ryhthm guitarist, Dan, handled the pressure really well  and kept composure where most would not! This is a big step in their growth as live musicians and it makes me proud to be able to note this growth. Bradley, the drummer, gave an excellent performance despite the drum kit trying to escape him as he rained punishing beat after beat! Their penultimate song saw frontman Dan Evans launch himself into the crowd and start the first moshpit of the night. The crowd were all too eager to give him what he wanted! As the moshpit errupted i found myself bouncing around the pit like a pinball and as the last song of SYMBYOTE’s set arrives, i’m invited on stage to fulfill my guest vocal spot on their song ‘Disembowlment’ a worthy end to a brutal display of extreme metal! The band left the stage with the crowd chanting “one more song!” Alas, their time slot was up and so couldn’t indulge the crowd, although i know they would have loved to! 

Following the first act was South Wales very own ATLAS THEORY, a band i was very much looking forward to seeing! I don’t find myself at many shows where AT’s genre style is played and having looked them up ahead of the show i knew i was gonna dig it! ATLAS THEORY come out with a bang providing a huge wall of sound that filled every vibrating molecule in the venue. Their post-hardcore, emo style brings a modern sound that was eagerly received by the audience! Even though the music isn’t as aggressive or brutal as some of the other acts on the bill, they seem to have conjured up one of the most violent moshpits i’ve witnessed at an underground show! As the vocalist lays down some seriously impressive singing and extreme vocals i can’t help but admire their stage presence as they do so! Elegance and beauty twisted with raw emotion and resolve gave life to a performance delivered with sincerity that struck a chord inside me! The guitarist’s metalcore type fry scream backing vocals really helped add to that feelscape. I could have listened to ATLAS THEORY for an hour or more that night! This band have the brightest future and i’m looking forward to my next opportunity to see another of their shows. 

VIVARIA, another South Wales death machine brought to the stage a step back in the direction of brutality as they assaulted The Fighting Cocks with their mosh inducing offerings. Straight iff the bat the vocalist dominates the stage with huge presence delivering massive vocals summoned straight out of the dark matter conjured by this savage outfit. Energy emanates from the guitarist and bass player as they join their frontman at the vanguard and absolutely decimating the frontlines of the audience who have gone truly mental as violence and moshpits mingle and melt into a frenzy. The vibes coming from the room are pure brutality and everyone is there for it! An eclectic mix of all genres and ages blend and grind in the pit as VIVARIA bring slams and blastbeats to the eager, wriggling maggots. The drummer kept to time perfectly throughout the set and although situated at the back of the stage, his energy and enthusiasm was right there at the front with his bandmates! Then the band introduce their next song, a Kublai Khan cover i believe? A pleasant surprise as Atlas Theory vocalist and guitarist both join VIVARIA as guest vocalist to provide a really enjoyable and fun cover with all three vocalist smashing their parts and demonstrating a strong comradery between the bands. As the set concludes, my neck only just surviving turns me towards the merch stands where i see a really cool variety of items from all the bands. Notably INDEVTH’s manbag/handbags which i’ve not seen anyone else do, a first for me and a welcome one! 

INDEVTH take to the stage for their headline performance and the anticipation in the audience is palpable. In true deathcore fashion they waste no time in battering the venue with sinister otherworldly brutality. The live sound these guys achieve is huge! Immediately the crowd is a blur of meaty limbs twisting and grinding together in a sick, sado-massichistic ritual. Amongst the monstrous tones there is a grooviness that could either have you pumping your arms and vibing along or head banging and two stepping with your moshpit brethren theres something for everyone in this. INDEVTH’s frontman, dressed in all black, looks ready to invade the minds of his followers and leave his mark on the newly claimed property. The string section carry so much weight on their tones you can feel the density in the air as you throw your head against the wall of sound. Everyone in stage is emitting energy thats infectious and mirrored back by the audience. I noted just how much fun everyone in the room was having at this time as every face that flashes past me has a grin from ear to ear. I’m transformed into a deck chair folding in half and opening up again, over and over as i throw everything i have into enjoying this well executed deathcore beatdown.  

With disapproving groans from the audience, the set comes to it’s conclusion, but that just isnt enough for this crowd of eager metalheads. “One more song, one more song” they cry as INDEVTH turn back and are only too happy to oblige. With one final send off the night draws to an end and everyone can leave knowing that all the bands gave everything they had and in return the crowd gave all they had! That was a night of good vibes, top tier metal music and the drink flowed freely. Just what you need on a Friday night after a long week at work! 

Here’s looking forward to the next one! 

Check out all the bands here – 

SYMBYOTE – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0lFXgIS04FINZkFPY1FByy?si=QHArc16ZQHu9_gQkqktRJg

ATLAS THEORY – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0uHRNTGQqfXhKzvluHRsMl?si=d8BrVktoT66wyVxszdm_Pw

VIVARIA – https://open.spotify.com/artist/3B4feFfjm8i2JcgUnz4osF?si=yytEPqirQXuSqgVORkx_Qw

INDEVTH – https://open.spotify.com/artist/0RQ9D4OzdWzSbznNC9DUy6?si=jm9uLdl0R4etGPMHxYmtmQ

And if you see them playing in a venue near you you HAVE TO witness the onslaught first hand and see exactly what ive been talking about. 

Support your local venues and your local bands!!