LIVE FROM THE PIT: Sylosis, Heaven Shall Burn, The Black Dalia Murder, Revocation, Frozen Soul, Distant and Life Cycles

What happens when you combine two great nights of metal into one? You get a truly special night of seven bands showcasing what they can do and why metal is not going away any time soon.

Doors for tonight’s gig open at four, this early start is to accommodate every band being able to play. The majority of bands tonight only get half an hour, with the longest set only being an hour. The first band to take the stage is Life Cycles, who bring a more hardcore-based approach to metalcore. They hit the stage at 4:30, and the crowd do take a little while to warm up as it is so early, but once they get into it, we see the first pit of the night open, complete with a few spin kicks. It’s a hard job opening to a crowd this early, but they smash it out of the park with their charm. This is the band’s first time in Londo,n and if they come back, it’s likely most of this crowd would go to see them again.

Second on the bill is the European deathcore band Distant. Their sound is that distinct modern deathcore sound, complete with the typical extreme vocals and modern guitar tones. The guitar work features significant use of harmonics, and at some points it does feel somewhat excessive, but it’s what defines the band’s guitar stylings. The band’s frontman takes a lot of time during the set to encourage moshing, as even as they take the stage it’s only 5:15, their set is just enough time to fill your need for deathcore this evening while still leaving you wanting a little more.

Then, it's time for some modern death metal, and Frozen Soul hit the crowd hard. A special shoutout needs to be put into for the microphone stand made out of chains. Custom stage decorations always make a band more memorable. Their take on death metal is everything you want to mosh and headbang to. The crowd starts to build up its intensity as they have had enough time to warm up and get into a metal mood. The band bring the right kind of metal energy onto the stage, a celebration of the emotional catharsis the genre can get, and make sure to shout out, looking out for you and your friends' mental health. It’s early in the evening, and the crowd is becoming intense.

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The middle point of the night sees technical death metallers Revocation play. Their sound is forward looking and still has the elements of traditional death metal that help make great tracks. The band are tight on stage and help send the crowd into a head banging mood. It’s another short set, so the band spend very little time between songs and uses the limited time to showcase what they can bring to metal. Chunky riffage and masterful guitar work help the set to deliver a punch, especially after following three great sets. It has the energy of a festival set rather than a traditional support slot.

Oddly low down on the lineup is legendary The Black Dahlia Murder. As the gig Is already a duel headline event, The Black Dahlia Murder make it feel as if it’s a three headliner event. The band are just simply wonderful live. They don’t take themselves too seriously and bring some absolute banger tracks with them, played perfectly. Current frontman Brian Eschbach brings a very unique stage presence which is somewhat laid back for the intensity of music on display. It feels as if a significant portion of the crowd are out to see them play as the band haven’t had a UK tour in a fair while. Their three quarter of an hour set feels short just because of how big the band are. The crowd left wanting so much more and will likely have to wait till the band’s next tour.

Heaven Shall Burn are the first of the two headliners of tonight, despite being a headliner, they only get an hour to fill the hunger of their fans. Their sound touches on metalcore, death metal and general extreme metal. The band has been around since 1995 still feel so modern in sound and fit completely into place with the rest of the lineup. The band take the time of their set to showcase everything that makes up their approach to metal, and it allows the set to have built in diversity, which helps every song stand on it’s own. The only unusual thing about their set is that a few tracks have longer intros, which means the band spend time off stage to let the intro happen. This is not normally an issue, and especially won’t be if they get a normal headline length set but it does feel a little out of place in a short set. But the set is great, and the crowd has become a ferocious beast of crowd surfers and circle pits for every track.

Ending a night of highs on another high is Sylosis. Sylosis are hard to categorize as they have elements of so many sub-genres, so they can best be described as simply metal. Tonight is the release of their new album, The New Flesh which does feature in their set, but they take time to play something from every stage of the band’s history.

The band create a wall of metal as they become one to take the crowd on one last hour-long blast of metal. The crowd has built to its most intense moment of the night. Circle pits form with high levels of speed. Wave upon wave of crowd surfers take flight. The band play track after track with pure passion for craft and the audience. After six other band's they have a challenge to keep everyone interested, but as soon as their first notes ring out on stage everyone in the crowd is on side. They have an hour to fill, and that hour is crammed with as much musical joy as they possibly could have. A set of pure jubilation. Every track is treated as a classic, which is in tonight’s set. It’s a truly career-defining moment of metal magic.

Seven bands in one night is truly the only way you should spend a Friday.

Words: Will Freeman

Photos: Kat Stepanikova