LIVE FROM THE PIT: Archers and Henka

Our favourite post-punk Metalcore band, Archers, made a trip from across the pond to bless

our ears with a couple of fans’ favourite tracks, tearing the roof off of The Black Heart in

Camden on the 18th June 2025.

Hailing from Madison in Wisconsin and forming in 2015, Archers have a serious knack for seamlessly blending alluring melodies with thunderous chords and death growls, which is what gives the group their unique edge and attractive sound that fans have come to know and love. Archers have spent a majority of their career honing their craft on the road, most notably playing at Download Festival and the upcoming Summerfest in 2025, they have gained significant momentum following these performances and they aren’t looking to slow down anytime soon.

Fans packed into The Black Heart in Camden in this splintering heat and were greeted by

HENKA, Archers’ support artist bringing whiplash-worthy angst all the way from Portugal.

HENKA fought for the opportunity to represent Portugal in the infamous Eurovision Song

Contest in 2025 with her song ‘I Wanna Destroy U’ but unfortunately did not make it through

to the final televised stage of the competition despite an overwhelming response and a

record-breaking number of votes from the public. She has refused to let this bring her down

though as the sheer level of positive response and love for her music is more than enough to

motivate and inspire her to keep the feral energy and mosh pits rampant at every opportunity that comes her way.

Previously a vocalist for the London-based alternative metal band DERANGE, Cat Pereira

is no stranger to live performance and knows her way around the crowd, which was evident

with her remarkable stage presence and talent for creating the filthiest of mosh pits at The

Black Heart last Wednesday.

The post-HENKA energy was kept afloat by the audience during the thirty-minute break

between the two sets and when Archers made themselves known, the sea of fans went into

a tameless frenzy. Integrating songs from their brand new EP Temporary High as well as a

few old but gold tracks, the band delivered an hour of raw emotion and talent that the likes of The Black Heart had rarely seen before. Archers’ music tells tales of heartbreak and

emotional anguish amidst the angsty facade, and anyone could relate to their lyrics at one

point or another in their lives.

The group threw the audience straight into the deep end, starting off strong with their track

‘Drag Me Out’, which opens with an insane riff from guitarist Ben Koehler. The band then

effortlessly segued into their second most popular track ‘Made For Love’, which has a

reputation for getting the fans deep in their feels with the heartbreaking lyrics that feels like a slap of reality straight to the cheek. This feeling was kept at full force before the band delved into their brand new EP Temporary High with the sombre track ‘Say This Sober’ which

touches on topics of loneliness and longing. Archers introduced Temporary High to the

doting crowd with the tracks ‘Never Enough’ and ‘Better Off’ before they ended their set with a couple of tracks that had received the greatest response from fans, ‘Bitter’ and ‘Perfect Strangers’. This was the audience's last chance to show their admiration to the band before the night came to an unfortunate end, hair was flying around the venue and pits were being mosh-ed to the extreme.

Archers are no strangers to putting on an incredible show, and despite the size of the venue,

fans flocked from every direction to see this amazing band during one of the most incredible

years of their career.

Temporary High was released on 13th June 2025.

Words: Billie Wheeler

Photos: Amy Smyth