There are many elements that make a concert work, but I?d like to remind everyone that crowd participation is very much one of them. This night was the perfect proof for how fun an engaged audience makes a gig you know nothing about.

Satan?s Satyrs

The impression was more heavily visual, I admit. While the music languishes in sometimes muddled loudness, there was a clear aesthetic going on, heralding back to the 70s, complete with mullets and leather trousers. I loved watching Erik Larson, their tour drummer, holding it down strong as the rest of the band jumped from rhythm changes to guitar solos.

Unto Others

First on this co-headlining bill, all they were missing was Alicia Silverstone driving a convertible around the stage and we?d have had the 90s revived by the end of the whole 50 minute set. Thanks in no small part to the phenomenal stadium-ready voice of Gabriel Franco, Unto Others succeeds in delivering something both incredibly emotive and hardcore, reminiscent of Tears for Fears. A song like Suicide Today comes movie-montage ready and I’ve had last year?s insanely good album, Never Neverland, on repeat all week. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, their music harkens back to the golden age of rock, while delivering a freshness of sound quite atypical in metal. Sebastian Silva?s stylish guitar shredding and the extremely heavy metal drumming made for something incandescent.

Unto Others Setlist

Venue: O2 Forum Kentish Town, London

Set:

Butterfly
Momma Likes the Door Closed
It Doesn't Really Matter
Jackie
Suicide Today
Raigeki
Can You Hear the Rain
Heroin
Time Goes On
Pet Sematary
Give Me to the Night
Dragon, Why Do You Cry?

Green Lung

Occult metal. Now that?s a genre to alarm everyone?s mother, auntie and black cat, but the experience of Green Lung live was maybe the friendliest cult induction. From an extremely wholesome mosh pit, as wide as the venue could contain, to the fresh tattoos of goat motifs glistening on arms all around, here was a crowd who knew what they were in for and were completely along for the ride.

Drawing inspiration from the mythology of ancient Britain, Green Lung have weaved their own grandiose style, which, while boasting such titles as ?Let the Devil In?, make for musical journeying of the highest level. Taking on various personas, both voice and guitar were hard at work to ensnare, bewitch, enthrall you to the blood-drenched altars and the mounting pyres.

A surprising feminine touch came with the trio The Oosettes, playing a gentle ?The Song of the Stone? with the accompaniment of a great heavy war drum. At first alone, they were joined, one instrument at a time, by the rest of Green Lung and brought the wonderful colour of backing vocals and violin to songs like “May Queen”, making them shine all the brighter.

As part of the encore, vocalist Tom Templar took a moment to acknowledge the importance of small and grassroots venues hosting the youngest talent in London, giving a shoutout to such favourites as the Black Heart and Helgi?s, as well as the Masters of the Riff showcase (happening on 28th of Feb in Oslo Hackney). For Green Lung especially, having come from filling the Black Heart to selling out O2 Forum Kentish Town in just over 7 years, the value of places cherishing and highlighting bands as they start out cannot be overstated.

Success is never inevitable, but by nourishing a close connection to their fanbase, their care and hard work paid back ten-fold, through not only a packed European tour, but by the sense of community in the crowd. A few of us held the mosh back so a guy could tie his shoelaces, there were headbanging circles opening everywhere, there were hugs and tears and so many choruses sang entirely from the pit, all under the gaze of the monstrous heads illuminating the stage. Tell your mother: it was beautiful.

By the end, this mosh voyeur (myself) jumped in. Thank you to everyone who pushed me around. There are days when your skin feels parchment-thin and painful, and then there?s days when one shirtless guy pushes you halfway across the pit and you?re ready to jump right back at him. I?m glad I got my baptism to the tune of “One for Sorrow? . Pretty epic.