LIVE REVIEW: Cannibal Corpse @ The Roundhouse, London

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It’s Sunday night, and there’s a handful of people wearing corpse paint, standing around patiently at The Roundhouse in the UK capital as they wait for death metal titans, CANNIBAL CORPSE, to take to the stage. Typical of a night out in Camden, really, but very much a home for all four bands (SCHIZOPHRENIA, IMMOLATION, MUNICIPAL WASTE and CANNIBAL CORPSE) and the amassing fans.



Schizophrenia live @ The Roundhouse, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Death-meets-thrash metal band, SCHIZOPHRENIA open up as the first band of the evening, grabbing the attention of fans as they move and play effortlessly across the stage. Drummer, Lorenzo Vissol, stands out with the fact he hypes up the crowd as he plays and is constantly smiling throughout. SCHIZOPHRENIA showed that despite that they are a young band, they have the songs and stage presence to prove why they are on this bill with CANNIBAL CORPSE.



Rating: 8/10Immolation live @ The Roundhouse, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Up next are IMMOLATION, with their brutal riffs and the legacy that this band has, IMMOLATION made sure that each fan – both old and new – knew exactly what they got from the set: heavy in your face noises as well as melody that balanced the set out. Half way through set, IMMOLATION not only gave a shout out to all the bands on the bill, they also dedicated a song to Erik Ruton (who had to leave the tour early due to the damage caused by Hurricane Helene in his home state of Florida). Very respectful and wholesome, indeed.



Rating: 8/10Municipal Waste live @ The Roundhouse, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Main support act, MUNICIPAL WASTE actually wasted no time in making everyone feel involved. Their showmanship throughout their set led to egging on the crowd by demanding everyone to crowdsurf. This led to chaos especially with mosh pits everywhere and the constant stream of crowdsurfers of every moment of the songs, putting security to work. They ended their set with Born To Party, with chants of “MUNICIPAL WASTE is gonna fuck you up!”, it was the perfect way to get fans excited and riled up for the main act of the night.



Rating: 9/10Cannibal Corpse live @ The Roundhouse, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Whatever threatening/eerie image you have in your head of vocalist Corpsegrinder aka George Fisher, it is immediately gone because as the band came on to the stage, a fan from the front row hands a stuffed toy bear to George. Cheers came from the fans as he held it up with a smile as he placed it on the back of the stage.



Following this, CANNIBAL CORPSE immediately transitioned smoothly to their first song – Blood Blind – from their latest album, Chaos Horrific, and it is a sudden reminder of who this band is. The descent into mosh pits is felt from the front row as the band playing just slaps you in the face with excitement and the feeling of dread. The Roundhouse is filled with red and blue colours across the stage, just the way it should be for a death metal band. As a sudden four piece band without the presence of Erik, it didn’t deter from their performance in the slightest.

As a band with a long successful legacy, the setlist spanned material from across 11 of their albums, all flowing well in to each other. As George commands the crowd, the band keep the crowd on their toes and Fisher‘s relentless headbanging with every song encourages everyone to do the same, if they can keep up, is another story entirely. The funny moments of the set comes from when George talks to the fans, his humour to mess around, such as telling all the men off for screaming when he said the band wanted to dedicate a song to the women in the crowd.Cannibal Corpse live @ The Roundhouse, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Near the end of the set, he teases everyone by saying “I’ve decided out of the kindness in my heart, this is still going to be the last song”, which erupted in a mixture of cheers and sounds of disappointment.




Closing the set, there’s a pit opening up as wide as possible, while George screams “I’m sure you know what this song is next, but I’m gonna tell you motherfuckers anyway” and as the intro of Hammer Smashed Face unleashes, the entire venue turns in crushing wave of bodies flying everywhere and into each other. A song so popular that it was played in mainstream movies. Chants of people singing along to the riffs echoes around The Roundhouse is a highlight to see and hear.
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CANNIBAL CORPSE are a household name whether you’re into metal or not. With 36 years under their collective belts and boasting music that is still refreshing and never wavering in heaviness, it’s no wonder that the band have solid out The Roundhouse. After all these years, CANNIBAL CORPSE still have the tenacity and ravenous hunger for aural destruction and to witness their explosive mastery of death metal is a joy to behold. Long may it continue.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Sarah Tsang here:



































































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LIVE REVIEW: Health @ Electric Brixton, London

A broad church descends upon Brixton on a Sunday night as the HEALTH show rolls into town. The band’s unique mix of industrial metal and noise-rock, cut with a bit of synth-wave, has developed a cult following. Amidst the usual cohorts of band T-shirts and goth get-ups are the Extremely Online fans, inspired by the band’s Discord page and Elden Ring meme antics of bassist Johnny Famiglietti (AKA Johnny HEALTH). A few cosplay outfits, cat ears, and brandished anime dolls are dotted about the packed venue. Within five minutes of opening, there is a persistent queue for the merch stand. HEALTH are notorious for provocative merch, including meme-ready T-shirts (“Sad Music For Horny People”), oversized computer mats and some more salubrious items. It’s a febrile atmosphere for this leg of the UK & Europe Tour.
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Zetra live @ Electric Brixton, London. Photo Credit: Chris Hart

Openers ZETRA have had a busy few months – festival appearances at 2000Trees and ArcTanGent as well as opening slots for ZEAL & ARDOR and VILLE VALO (the latter at the Royal Albert Hall) alongside the release of their debut self-titled album. The synth-rock duo takes to the stage atop separate raised platforms, resplendent in full goth face paint and outfits; their microphone stands draped in chains. The early crowd are treated to a succession of thumping slow-tempo goth tunes – crunching power chords underneath soaring synth pads and soft harmonised vocals.



The live guitar and synth-deck combination works well. It helps that ZETRA have an excellent ear for melody and drama, particularly on set opener Sacrifice. The palm-muted builds and widescreen chorus in the likes of The Mirror translate well amidst the backlit fog. There is a flair for the dramatic too – the duo descend their plinths to conduct a summoning ritual from a portal backdrop in a mid-set break. For the most part, the programmed drum backing is unobtrusive, though the blast beats in the closer induce some dissonance to the broader energy of the set. It’s a confident showing from a band on the rise.

Rating: 8/10GosT live @ Electric Brixton, London. Photo Credit: Chris Hart

The fog on stage clears for GOST, samples of Satanic panic radio broadcasts building tension before the band emerge bathed in red light. Frontman James Lollar leads proceedings, dressed up in a Ghost Rider-esque costume, all leathers and skull mask. It’s a kinetic display, eschewing any live delivery of vocals in favour of physical hype, often moving to centre stage from behind the synths to wordlessly rile up the crowd into a frenzy. His only accompaniment on stage is the bassist, relentlessly playing at speed without pause.



GOST blend a mix of dark synth-wave and extreme dance & electronic elements – that 80s throwback PERTURBATOR style, but cut with a little more menace and ambient horror. Live, it presents as an attention-deficit cyberpunk rave. There are frequent and wild shifts in tone, often rapidly and without warning mid-song. It can sometimes be hard to track, but it’s incredible fun, especially when the band hits those rave tempos. The crowd are certainly game for it, regularly bouncing along to the nightmarish soundtrack.

Rating: 9/10Health live @ Electric Brixton, London. Photo Credit: Chris Hart

And so the Rat-Based Warfare begins. The trio of HEALTH present a curious synthesis. Much attention is lathered on Famiglietti, who takes up some 75% of the stage running about, whipping his hair around, the focal point of energy for the band. But there’s an impressive tightness to the musicianship. The precision-tooled drumbeats are replicated without fault live by B. J. Miller, whether in the machine-gun assault on the senses double-time of Crack Metal or the metronomic pace of Ashamed. Jake Duzsik‘s soft vocals sit in juxtaposition to the abrasive sonic instrumentation, at their best when they cut to the heart in bitterness or restrained emotion. That carries through into an introverted performance – equally as compelling as Famiglietti‘s histrionics, a dark complement. His guitar work is excellent, too – mountains of industrial over-compression not killing its brutal impact.




Somehow, the band packs 20 songs into a set lasting just over an hour. It’s an efficient performance with minimal crowd interaction, beyond Famiglietti throwing his cat ears to the crowd. There are cuts from across the back catalogue, including the band’s Max Payne 3 soundtrack and a DEFTONES cover of Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away). The lion’s share of attention is on last year’s Rat Wars, which presents a step up in songwriting and vision. The crowd are in agreement, reserving their biggest reactions for the night for the hands-in-the-air chorus of Ashamed, and uncontrolled moshing and pogo-ing to Hateful.

That lack of crowd interaction does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm, with an enormous circle pit opening unprompted mid-set between songs. The transition at that point into Demigods – the cavernous, epic opener from Rat Wars – kicks off an extreme slow-tempo mosh. Rarely do the energy levels drop. It’s an assured performance from a band moving from strength to strength.

Rating: 9/10

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