LIVE FROM THE PIT: Burn It Down 2025

Burn It Down Festival is where music becomes physical, emotional, and unavoidable. Over two intense days, Torquay’s intimate venues and salty seaside air transformed into a crucible of sound: guitars slicing like knives, drums rattling through floors and chests, and vocals screaming with both fury and precision. This isn’t a festival for casual listening — every breakdown, tempo shift, and dynamic change is designed to move the audience, bodies and hearts alike. From fragile shoegaze introspection to full-scale hardcore chaos, Burn It Down 2025 was a masterclass in tension, release, and raw energy.

The festival thrives on contrast. Early acts draw the audience in with quiet tension and melodic nuance, mid-tier bands ignite the pit with controlled chaos, and headliners manipulate dynamics and pacing to orchestrate full-blown catharsis. Every song, every riff, every pause is a tactical choice, transforming the weekend into a living, breathing organism — unpredictable, immersive, and unrelenting.

UNINVITED

Uninvited opened at Apple & Parrot with “Fallen At My Feet,” establishing a jagged, urgent tone. Guitars cut sharply across the room while vocals shifted from hushed intimacy to raw intensity, pulling the audience into every phrase. “Surrounded By Pain” layered syncopated drums and dissonant riffs, provoking movement in the pit even early in the day. Their closing track, “Uninvited,” built tension and released it in a final explosive chorus, demonstrating their mastery of dynamics and emotional pacing. Even as a first act, they commanded attention through tactical use of rhythm, melody, and controlled chaos.

SPLIT CHAIN

 Spilt Chain followed at The Foundry with industrial-infused hardcore that felt like controlled anarchy. Opening with “God Complex,” mechanical riffs and pounding drums built a tense, relentless energy. “Knives” unleashed abrupt tempo shifts and precise breakdowns, pushing the pit into full-scale chaos. The finale, “Split Chain,” combined tremolo-picked riffs with harsh vocal stabs, creating a physically immersive wall of sound. Every note and rhythmic accent was engineered to move the crowd, making the band’s technical aggression feel both intentional and kinetic.

GLARE

Glare’s performance leaned into contrast and suspense. “Tropic Gold” began with atmospheric, reverb-drenched guitars, pulling the audience into quiet tension. The sudden eruption mid-song into shrieking vocals and jagged riffs provoked a surge of movement in the pit. Later, “Split Chain” introduced angular rhythms and off-beat accents, keeping listeners off balance. Their strategic use of dynamics, silence, and sudden release transformed each song into a visceral journey, eliciting both awe and exhilaration from the crowd.

Static Dress

Static Dress closed Friday in full force with Rouge Carpet Disaster. Opening with “Fallen At My Feet,” melodic clean vocals layered over distorted screams, creating spatial tension. “Sweet Dreams” showcased syncopated riffs and polyrhythmic drums, while “Uninvited” featured perfectly timed breakdowns that ignited the pit. Throughout their set, the band manipulated dynamics, pauses, and vocal phrasing to guide the audience through highs, lows, and cathartic release. By the final note, the room was a unified organism of sweat, sound, and exhilaration — a textbook example of musical strategy meeting raw emotional power.

SLUNG

Saturday morning began with Slung’s dreamy shoegaze. “Graywave” shimmered with delay-heavy riffs, drawing the audience into a reflective, almost hypnotic state. Later, “Slung” built to a cathartic, harmonized chorus with subtle tempo shifts, creating tension-and-release that primed the crowd for the weekend’s heavier acts. The set’s quiet dynamics and textural layering offered a brief, meditative counterpoint to the preceding chaos.

MOUTH CULTURE

Mouth Culture combined emo sensitivity with hardcore punch. “Bruise Control” started with clean chords and measured vocal phrasing, building tension gradually. “Feed the Rhino” unleashed distorted riffs and dynamic breakdowns, while “Mouth Culture” layered melodic choruses over punishing intensity. The audience moved and screamed in perfect response to each calculated moment, proving the band’s mastery over emotional pacing and physical engagement.

BLOOD COMMAND

Blood Command’s set fused hooks with controlled chaos. Opening with “Still in Love,” playful melodies masked underlying rhythmic aggression. In “Throwaway Scene,” call-and-response vocals and precisely timed breakdowns drew the crowd into frenzied interaction. “Xile” closed the set with tempo shifts and layered dynamics, balancing euphoria and disorder. Every song displayed careful planning, showing how tactical musical design can generate communal excitement and pit mayhem simultaneously.

GUILT TRIP

Guilt Trip’s metallic hardcore exploded with “Bind,” immediately removing the barrier between band and audience. “Break Fifty” pushed the crowd with syncopated riffs and off-beat accents, while “Native James” ended their set with brutal breakdowns and calculated tempo shifts. Through rhythm, dynamics, and vocal timing, the band orchestrated an immersive chaos that left the audience both exhausted and exhilarated.

CANCER BATS

Closing Saturday, Cancer Bats commanded with a masterclass in dynamics and pit control. “Fallen At My Feet” opened with swampy riffs, followed by “Surrounded By Pain,” blending punk stabs and syncopated grooves. The climactic “Uninvited” drove the pit into full-scale frenzy. Strategic pauses before breakdowns and deliberate vocal phrasing manipulated anticipation and energy, creating a shared, euphoric chaos that left the festival on an emotional high.

Burn It Down Festival 2025 proved that musical tactics matter as much as raw energy. From Uninvited’s tension-and-release mastery to Guilt Trip’s rhythmic chaos, and Static Dress and Cancer Bats’ dynamic orchestration, every setlist was designed to move the audience both emotionally and physically. Two days of controlled pandemonium confirmed why this festival is one of the UK’s most vital underground showcases, where music isn’t just played — it’s engineered, felt, and survived.

Words: Mia Gailey

Photos: Ollie Hayman