When this European tour was announced, you could practically hear diehard metalheads squealing like schoolgirls. Co-headliners Sylosis and Fit For An Autopsy are two of this genre’s most underrated forces: firmly cult names despite each having 10-plus years of excellence in their back pockets. Combine that pairing with metalcore mavens Darkest Hour and industrial young guns Heriot lower down, and you may well get the most exciting underground metal lineup of 2024.
At this trek’s opening night in London, it proves worthy of the hype. Fresh off debut album Devoured By The Mouth Of Hell, HERIOT kick-start in a flurry of riffs. The Swindon/Birmingham pack have already supported Lamb Of God, Architects and other stars, but tonight they look more confident than ever. Singer/guitarist Debbie Gough imposingly stomps and demands nonstop moshing, while bursts of melodic singing flaunt her growth as a vocalist.
DARKEST HOUR are metalcore’s ugly ducklings. Though the Americans were initially overlooked, with peers like Killswitch Engage grabbing the glory, they’re now treasured for their 25-year discography of all-adrenaline bangers. Their half-hour set seems insultingly brief as a result. However, the scathing guitar leads and lightspeed drums will no doubt leave a lasting impression.
This evening’s first headliner, FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY are intelligent people making caveman music. From the moment the five-piece march onstage, bedlam unfurls, egged on by some bowel-shakingly down-tuned riffs and Joe Badolato’s similarly deep roars. Through A Higher Level Of Hate, Red Horizon and beyond, the moshpit never stops. In fact, it multiplies, splitting into twin whirlpools at the band’s command.
For how primal their songs are, though, Fit play them with technical chops. Drummer Josean Orta has the stamina of an athlete as he blasts the hour away, whereas guitarists Tim Howley and Pat Sheridan deftly swap between rhythmic and more callus-shredding lead duties. Badolato even powers through the odd clean vocal with ease. An unapologetic bludgeoning has seldom felt so intricate.
Having formed a stone’s throw away in Reading, SYLOSIS enjoy something of a homecoming tonight. The thrashers are greeted like conquering heroes, pits reopening and beer flying as they gallop through Empty Prophets. The sense of occasion gets amplified a few songs later, when Heriot’s Debbie Gough returns to snarl the bridge of recent single The Path. Former guitarist Alex Bailey, who amicably quit last month, emerges from the blackness as well, twiddling his way through the last four songs of the set.
Even if they didn’t have all these helping hands, Sylosis would still thrive with their exhilarating back-catalogue. Pariahs and other cuts from latest album A Sign Of Things To Come show the band’s songwriting at its tightest, possibly shaped by singer/guitarist Josh Middleton’s stint in arena-fillers Architects. Elsewhere, Teras and Empyreal are full thrash throwbacks, speeding like Metallica in a supercar.
The impact of every song is the same, mind: limb-flailing carnage. By the time finale Deadwood instigates a venue-wide wall of death, London has been bombarded with brutality for four hours and shows no sign of fatigue. If that doesn’t demonstrate how mighty all of tonight’s bands have been, nothing will.
Sylosis setlist: Electric Brixton, London – November 22, 2024
Empty Prophets
Pariahs
I Sever
The Path (feat. Debbie Gough of Heriot)
Conclusion Of An Age
Empyreal
Teras
Servitude
Poison For The Lost
Calcified
A Sign Of Things To Come
Deadwood
