LIVE REVIEW: Poison The Well @ The Electric Ballroom, London October 1, 2025Sash Vee

HARDCORELIVE REVIEWSMETALCOREPHOTO GALLERIESREVIEWS


Camden’s The Electric Ballroom braced itself for a night of unrelenting hardcore, as the legendary innovators Poison The Well returned to London. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of their seminal album, The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation, the evening promised a journey through the scene’s past, present, and future, with support from two rising acts: KILLING ME SOFTLY and BODYWEB.

Killing Me Softly live @ The Electric Ballroom, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Opening the night with a disarming backtrack of eerie screams, Leeds-own KILLING ME SOFTLY launched into a full-frontal hardcore assault. The vocalist, channelling the spirit of Bryan Garris but with a deathcore-adjacent range, commanded the chaos. Their sound was a potent mix of ‘proper’ metalcore riffs punctuated by discordant breaks that used silence as a weapon, creating some prime two-step material. While this tactic was effective at commanding attention, the pauses inbetween songs felt disarming in a way that suggested the band was still refining their stagecraft for audiences beyond the size of a local show, despite presently performing in one of London’s iconic mid-sized venues. The guitarist, clad in a surprisingly casual white jumper and blue jeans, brought infectious energy with sporadic two-stepping and high kicks. Alongside an impeccably synced drummer, the pairing were a joy to listen to.

However, the band as a unit lacked a cohesive stage presence, struggling to convert the uninitiated beyond the occasional headbang. An unfortunate 13-minute technical issue forced a long, silent wait, but to their credit, the team recovered well, making up for lost time with a renewed intensity. Despite a disappointingly static crowd, their diverse set of influences could easily mark them as a promising opener for the likes of KNOCKED LOOSE and THORNHILL, with a little more work on stage presence. They ended their set in a flurry of instruments performing Knelt Before The Summer Sun, leaving a strong auditory impression that slightly outstripped their visual performance.

Rating: 7/10Bodyweb live @ The Electric Ballroom, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Where the first act relied on discord, BODYWEB brought unadulterated, moshable, and danceable heaviness. From the first note, vocalist Louis Hardy’s great tone beckoned a call to the pit that, sadly, never fully materialised. The band functioned as a well-oiled machine, seamlessly integrating live mixes of industrial sounds run on a laptop by Nihiloxica, while their guitarist Tom Hobson borrowed the occasional nu-metal riff, all without straying from their hardcore roots. After opening with back-to-back with high-energy songs like no faith, incest and shadowboxing, they showcased their sonic range with synthetic, blending grungy shoegaze verses with a hardcore chorus, though the effect felt somewhat disjointed. A poignant highlight of the gig came with pull the plug’s rousing speech, dedicated to the victims of the ongoing Palestinian genocide, proving the future of hardcore still has strong roots in politics.

Drummer Luke Thompson proved himself a man with feet of speed, driving the relentless pace of BODYWEB’s catalogue seemingly without a double kick pedal. While songs like sugarcoated offered a slower, more introspective change of pace, they fell a little flat compared to their heavier counterparts. As kings of the breakdown, BODYWEB’s energy was undeniable, but they often relied too heavily on frontman Louis, with the rest of the band needing to engage more with the crowd. Closing with dead wire earned them the first crowd-surfer of the night, although an earlier, heavier track might have been a more powerful and impactful finale for a still largely static crowd.

Rating: 8/10Poison The Well live @ The Electric Ballroom, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

When POISON THE WELL took the stage, they immediately demonstrated why the headline slot was rightfully theirs. Their sound was mature, extremely polished, and required no fancy frills to impress – just a back-to-basics approach that was, literally, heavy on the bass. Guitarist Ryan Primack ripped across the stage with the vitality of someone half his age, still executing perfect jump kicks whilst riffing with perfection. This energy proved infectious, finally stirring the London crowd to life, who clearly were only interested in seeing these classic songs live. POISON THE WELL are complete professionals; when singer Jeffrey Moreira’s mic started to drop in volume 10 minutes into the set, it was played off without a hitch. Their sound remains a sexy, smooth blend of classic 90s guitar scrawls and undeniable hardcore weight, and this gathering felt like a true homecoming for an unmistakably older, cologne-scented crowd (though the youth were represented by a steady stream of surfers).

As the band delved into a back-to-back rendition of The Opposite of December, Moreira spoke warmly of the lifelong friendships forged by the record, cementing the night’s nostalgic atmosphere. A new song released last month, Trembling Level, carried the same ferocity as their classic material, but it was clear the audience was primarily there for the nostalgia. And while their performance was stellar, a slight monotony crept in over the relentless set; the pioneering sounds of 2000 began to blend with those of 2025. The highlight of their set was a welcome change of pace with Meeting Again for the First Time – the crowd softly sang the opening verse back to the band in a moment of palpable connection, proving that POISON THE WELL’s power isn’t just in their nimble speed, but in their soul.Poison The Well live @ The Electric Ballroom, London. Photo Credit: Sarah Tsang

Despite the band’s talents, the crowd’s energy was often lacking. After alternative bands play The Electric Ballroom, the crowd usually leaves as a sweaty horde, but tonight was left curiously drip-free. Additionally, when the band asked who had seen them at Outbreak Festival or some of their other UK performances, the response was largely silent. For a band of their tenure and perseverance, it felt like a bigger, more engaged audience was deserved than the one POISON THE WELL received. Fortunately, the night ended on a high, with the final songs showcasing a welcome variation in temperament and a glimpse of the Moreira’s higher register, before closing melodically with Nerdy. Even if the London crowd took a while to truly meet them in the pit, POISON THE WELL delivered a masterclass and undoubtedly secured their legacy.

Rating: 8/10

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

ALBUM REVIEW: Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration – Hooded Menace

Although they have a career spanning close to two decades, Finland’s HOODED MENACE have enjoyed a spike in notoriety in recent times. Largely, this is due to 2018’s excellent Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed and 2021’s stellar follow-up, The Tritonus Bell, cementing the band as a genuine heavyweight in death-doom. Now, four years later, comes album number seven, Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration, and it’s arguably the band’s magnum opus.
Live Review Service





Largely, this is due to the fact that Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration isn’t a bog-standard death-doom record that never moves into second gear. That crushing essence is still there of course, acting as the foundation of HOODED MENACE‘s weight as the skull crushing riffs in Pale Masquerade can attest to. However, throughout the album runs a clear influence for the flare and elegance of vintage 80s heavy metal. A trait first explored on their previous record, here, it feels like the band have embraced it into their DNA and the result is simply outstanding.

Metal History Book

Largely, this is due to the lengthy compositions that HOODED MENACE have created here. With additional runtime to truly breathe, what we are treated to is sublime epics, passages of music play that hit with such conviction it’s hard not to get swept up. Tracks like the aforementioned Pale Masquerade and Portrait Without A Face are prime examples of this, with the latter demonstrating expert musicianship from band leader Lasse Pyykkö, whose playing consistently impresses, and the additional cello provided by former bassist Antti Poutanen is a subtle but incredibly effective play.
Online Music Store



Additionally, the way in which the band cleverly utilise dynamic pace changes, moments where Pyykkö unleashes the shackles and drops killer riff after killer riff and the accompanying chaos that follows is world class. Lugubrious Dance – arguably one of the album’s highlights – contorts and evolves over its near seven and a half runtime, offering passages that crawls at glacial pace before unleashing a vintage heavy metal assault full of killer headbangable riffs and slick solo work that just speaks to the heart of what it means to be a heavy metal fan. Such is clear with the surprise and eyebrow raising cover of DURAN DURAN‘s Save a Prayer. On paper, this should be a steaming bag of crap and has every recipe for a weird misfire, but it’s arguably one of the finest moments on the record as HOODED MANCE deliver a reinvented goth masterclass in one of the album’s biggest highs. It’s lightning in the bottle moments like these that helps elevate Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration, and indeed HOODED MENACE, into stratospheric heights.


Live Review Service

And for all its heavy metal pomp and flare, HOODED MENACE still know how to sound utterly ferocious. Harri Kuokkanen delivers a career-defining performance here, his gutturals punchy and able to cut through the noise like a hot knife through butter. They keep you grounded as mourning riffs cascade in over the growls in epic finale Into Haunted Oblivion, or lending their weight to make a slick passage of play all the more cool as hell in Pale Masquerade. The delivery is spot on, elevated by a superb mix and production job.

With Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration, HOODED MENACE have delivered an outstanding heavy metal record. Establishing their death-doom traits as a bedrock allowing for their more creative muscles to flex is a move that has paid dividends. Jam-packed full of hooks and memorable moments, and devastatingly heavy, Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration is HOODED MENACE at the top of their game.

Rating: 9/10


Metal History Book



Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration is out now via Season Of Mist.

Follow HOODED MENACE on Instagram.

Thundermother sign with Napalm Records

Photo Credit: Jenny Lund


Swedish rock’n’roll powerhouse THUNDERMOTHER have signed a worldwide record deal with Napalm Records!



Founded in 2009 by guitarist Filippa Nässil, the band is renowned for their electrifying rock anthems and relentless touring, with highlights including supporting SCORPIONS across North America and Europe, performing on the KISS Kruise, and appearing at major festivals such as Wacken Open Air. Earlier this year, the band unleashed their sixth album Dirty & Divine, their first with the new lineup featuring Filippa Nässil, vocalist Linnéa Vikström Egg, returning bassist Majsan Lindberg, and drummer Joan Massing.



Now, they are ready to take this new era to the next level by joining forces with Napalm Records. Speaking about the signing, guitarist and founder Filippa Nässil says, “Napalm wanted to sign us for a long time, but we were under another contract. Now it feels really good to finally join them, because they’ve shown us they have the fire. They share strong visions like we do. We already started working on the next release and we’re stoked!”

Napalm Records Managing Director Thomas Caser adds, “we are thrilled to welcome THUNDERMOTHER to the Napalm Records family! The band represents pure, high-energy rock’n’roll like few others, and we can’t wait to open the next chapter of their success story together.”

For more information on THUNDERMOTHER like their official page on Facebook.

iron maiden : Somewhere In Time (1986)

Somewhere In Time was Iron Maiden’s ultimate overdog challenge, where expectations of excellence had to be met. The classic line-up faced their fans and critics in a situation of success and stability unlike any they had ever known, and now they had to prove themselves.

Somewhere In Time
Produced by Martin “Masa” Birch
Released 29 September 1986

1986. The world was at Iron Maiden’s feet. The double whammy of Powerslave (1984) and Live After Death (1985) had seen Maiden conquer the globe, including the notoriously diffcult-to-break North American market. The World Slavery Tour in 1984-85 had been a gruelling triumph, and the Live After Death concert album was Maiden’s third consecutive platinum seller in the US.

Click here for the making of Powerslave and the dizzying tale of Maiden’s five-year plan to become big in America!

What Iron Maiden achieved in the mid-80s is still the stuff of legend for up-and-coming bands, and it’s also the shadow that Maiden themselves stood in when they set out to forge their path in the late 1980s.


Eddie looks into the future of Iron Maiden.

Steve Harris might have felt great pressure at other crucial points in Maiden’s recording career. There had been the previous challenge of creating The Number Of The Beast (1982) with new arrival Bruce Dickinson, and there would be the later challenge of doing The X Factor (1995) when Dickinson had left. But their situation in 1986 was unique: Maiden’s line-up was stable and they had to deliver when everyone expected them to succeed. This is very different from feeling pressure to deliver when everyone expects you to fail.

Which makes the 1986 album all the more impressive.

Everyone even remotely interested in metal music was waiting for what the biggest metal band of the mid-1980s would come up with next, and it’s been heavily publicized that Bruce Dickinson had envisioned a drastic departure in style that the rest of the band and their producer Martin Birch rejected out of hand. What we got instead was Somewhere In Time, a classic Maiden-sounding album that clearly built on its predecessors but still sported some new and surprising elements.


Time travel! Maiden riding high in 1986.

The biggest change is immediately apparent: Synthesizers! Dickinson famously stated a couple of years earlier that you «can’t play heavy metal with synthesizers», but that is exactly what his own band does when they launch into Caught Somewhere In Time. The track is lengthy, among Maiden openers possibly most comparable to Where Eagles Dare on Piece Of Mind (1983), and relying heavily on guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray to weave soundscapes around the simplistic chord patterns.

To a large extent, this is Adrian Smith’s album, his playing and writing taking center stage like never before, exemplified by the excellent and uplifting first single Wasted Years:


Indeed, without any songwriting contributions from Dickinson, who had all his semi-acoustic songs ditched, a heavier burden rests on Smith’s shoulders to come up with both music and lyrics. In addition to Wasted Years, which is surely one of Maiden’s most commercially inclined tracks, he also delivers the metallic Sea Of Madness, featuring one of the greatest Maiden guitar solos ever, and the brooding and groovy second single Stranger In A Strange Land.


Eddie on his way through space and time, searching for those wasted years.

At the same time, Birch’s production is far removed from the bare-bones aesthetic of the previous couple of studio albums, and the more lush and layered sound sits well with the new songs. Somewhere In Time was crafted at Compass Point Studios in Nassau and Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum in the first half of 1986, and it was the longest-gestating and most expensive Maiden production to that point.

In many ways the effort to modernize Maiden’s sound paid off. The droning synthesizers are certainly a sign of the times, but they also suit the material. Somewhere In Time has a unique identity in the Maiden catalog and enjoys a great deal of love from Maiden fans, as guest writer Pål Ødegård elaborates on in this essay.


Iron Maiden’s classic line-up photographed by Aaron Rapaport as they get ready for the release of Somewhere In Time, their 1986 “synthesizer album”: Dave Murray, Nicko McBrain, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith.

On the other hand, some of the material might have fallen through if it wasn’t for Birch’s skills with the knobs and faders. Heaven Can Wait is strictly filler in this reviewer’s opinion, despite the middle section that features the first (and best) of Maiden’s many football stadium chants. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner is also rather middle-of-the-road as a composition, but the tasteful guitar work from Murray and Smith, as well as the frenetic pace of Nicko McBrain’s drumming, elevates it to the type of Maiden song you always enjoy hearing again.

Deja-Vu, a Murray composition with lyrics and melodies by Harris, is a liberating burst of short and sweet Maiden metal. It is not as memorable as previous rockers like Aces High or The Trooper, but it is certainly of a type that fans of the band would come to miss in later years.


The Somewhere In Time show on tour in 1986-87.

By this point one had come to expect the closing track of a new Maiden album to be the patented Harris epic. There had been Hallowed Be Thy Name, To Tame A Land and most memorably Powerslave‘s inimitable Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. On Somewhere In Time the epic tradition continues with Alexander The Great.




It does struggle to live up to the immense legacy of the previous Harris epics, closing the record on a fine if somewhat diluted note, but this has more to do with the standard that the band has by now established for themselves. In short, Maiden have made themselves hard to beat.

Bruce Dickinson had written great things for Maiden before, and despite being a no-show in the songwriting here he would do so again. In a similar way Harris’ material for Somewhere In Time, while certainly good, would be bested by his efforts for the next Maiden album.

Click here for a review of Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (1988)!

The theme of the Somewhere In Time album, as the song titles imply, is loosely tied together by most of the lyrics relating to travelling, space and time. With that starting point, long-time illustrator Derek Riggs delivers a truly classic sleeve that really makes vinyl worth it:



The current black vinyl reissue is faithful to the original packaging, but the Somewhere In Time concept, lyrics and artworks lend themselves to the gatefold treatment, and the 2013 picture disc takes advantage of this. The gatefold opens to reveal shots of the band on and off stage in 1986-87.

But just when you thought the picture disc reissues were going to nail the actual pictures (unlike the notoriously period-confusing 1998 CD remasters), here comes the first fuck-up with a shot from the wrong tour in the bottom left corner. And the once celebrated Maiden quality control takes another nosedive with the new black vinyl edition, where the stereo channels are flipped into playing Murray on the right and Smith on the left…

Anyway, on with the good stuff, the picture disc itself is adorned with Riggs’ Wasted Years and Stranger In A Strange Land illustrations, the latter of which cleverly continues the tale of the album cover:



Taken as part 3 of an artwork trilogy that began with the Wasted Years single and continued with the album cover, also spinning off with the Somewhere On Tour illustration, this is Maiden and Riggs at the height of their visual storytelling, an embellishment of the music that inspired countless young bands in the 1980s.


In sum, Somewhere In Time is an album that’s very sophisticated as a concept and a production, but a little less compelling as a collection of songs. Some are strong, chiefly the excellent Smith entries, while Harris’ tracks disappoint slightly in light of what he delivered on Piece Of Mind and Powerslave.

INTRODUCING: Cwfen

With a gleam of enthusiasm in the eye. Agnes, holds up a phone to the camera of the zoom meeting. “Just look at all these!” She exclaims before scrolling, seemingly endlessly through a litany of names. All of which potentials for what would eventually become the final agreed upon name, CWFEN. What began as a light hearted question about how many times they’ve been asked on the exact pronunciation, (it’s ‘coven’) has turned into a rabbit hole of a discussion about what’s in a name, but also highlights just how much care and attention the quartet put into their work.



Agnes Alder – vocals, rhythm guitar and Guy DeNuit – Backing vocals, lead guitar form half of the engaging powerhouse that is CWFEN and despite all of the passion and emotion they pour into the music are perfectly relaxed. At peace in their living room, conversing with a manner suiting two musicians who, while new to this project, are very familiar with the territory of the music industry.
Portable speakers





For those that have heard the current singles from debut Sorrows, the laid-back atmosphere that surrounds these two musicians seems at odds with the emotive weight and passion that comes through in their music. However, there is no sense of underestimating either the talent or experience contained within CWFEN. As Agnes explains when asked about the seeds of this project. “Both of us have been in bands and playing music for a very long time. Yet it had been a while since I had played live, I had been writing in secret for a while with no intention of anyone seeing it.”

With this outlet aspect, it’s clear that the soul of the music is a passion project and that fits with the intensity that they have subsequently weaved into their latest releases. However, the origins were not clear-cut metal in terms of genre identity. “I was doing some kind of electronic stuff initially,” is how Agnes describes the germination. Turning to Guy, “then I let you hear it.” Through nods of agreement and a knowing look. It appears that CWFEN may have originally been heading down a darkwave route. Discussing the first rehearsal and the preparation he went through with equipment, “I brought a lot of equipment. Synthesisers, drum triggers all set to get electronic, then I went away on tour with the band I was in.”
Portable speakers
Album release



“And I ruined it,” says Agnes with a chuckle. With no hesitation in agreeing, Guy confirms “yep, I get back you said right, ditch the synths we’re a metal band now I’ve written new demos.”
Album release



From this point forward, the idea of what would become CWFEN formed very quickly. Rös Ranquinn was in place on drums. Guy says of him “he’s a long-time collaborator with myself. We go back to high school. So long term friends and playing together our adult lives.” The final piece of the CWFEN puzzle is bassist Mary Thomas Baker. Again, a previous collaborator of Guy‘s “Mary was at my birthday party and heard some of the demos and wanted to contribute. So, the three of us, Rös, Mary and I have all played in bands previously.”

With a group now assembled, with the added bonus of previous understanding of influences, playing styles and creative influence Guy continues, “the four of us got in a room, you brought in the seeds of ideas [gesturing to Agnes] and we got the ideas down quite quickly into what is heard now.”


From having fledging demos recorded, the next logical step for CWFEN was gigs. For four seasoned musicians live is where they can hone their collective sound and allow the preconceived ideas to flow. “Everything with this band happened really quickly, at that point we thought we should try and get some gigs,” Agnes explains before adding, “we had the demos down before we’d played live. What we found, quite quickly, after playing live is that we’re much, much heavier (than the demos). That has shaped the sound and made it’s way back into the style.” This is born out by the reworked versions of Embers and Bodies both of which were on those demo recordings and are now fully realised on Sorrows having been through this evolution process.

The organic nature of how CWFEN have come to be, is one of the clearest things that come through in their music. Even though Agnes undertook a hard pivot from an electronic idea into metal, many of the songs owe their origins to this singular outlet of creativity. The subsequent combination of working with friends who are all accomplished musicians within the field of metal has helped nurture the music. Agnes sums it up succinctly, “I had a clear vision initially with how I wanted these some of these songs to sound, the natural chemistry of playing with these really good friends has translated beautifully.” Adding with a shared laugh with Guy, “it’s surpassed all our modest expectations!”a