Infected Rain @ Motocultor / The Underworld, Camden

As my first gig of the year, It had to start with Motocultor Festival Across Europe Tour 2025, bringing a blistering very diverse set of metal bands from all around to bring energy to the week at the Underworld, with the following set of bands: Skin on Flesh, Miruthan, Elyose, Semblant and the headliner Infected Rain.

Skin on Flesh

Opening the night was Germany?s Skin On Flesh from Berlin. I?ve arrived at the middle of their set, but was clear that this was going to be a great night, with a lot of energy coming from Laura Jimen on the vocals with her bright green hair, bringing their songs with heavy influence on the 2000s punk rock genres.

Miruthan

For a change, then came Miruthan, bringing some melodic black metal and powerful theatrical visuals, with masks and clocks, with vocals being shared by Nzambi and Mvumbi alternating the growls and cleaner (but not too clean) vocals and the other mysterious members of the band. Both vocalists interacted with the audience during the whole show, even getting down from the stage to sing with the crowd, adding even more dimension to the gig. It was my first time seeing them live and I was pleasantly surprised.

Elyose

And again for another change, this time the French band Elyose, with very clean vocals and even symphonic elements. The vocalist Justine Daaé even joked about how great was to sing in French to a British audience, playing new and old songs, including ?La Veuve Noire?. After the darkness of Miruthan, it was great to hear something cleaner for a period that definitely could?ve been longer.

Semblant

Keeping up with the symphonic metal, came Semblant, all the way from Brazil, with again a great combination of the clean and beautiful vocals from Mizuho Lin and the growls and darker tones from Sergio Mazul. Their set was quite impressive, with loads of interaction with the crowd, showing how their work is paying off and the international recognition too, with crowd members singing some of their songs along, such as the most recent ?Incinerate?.

Infected Rain

Headlining the night was Moldova?s Infected Rain, which is not new to any of us, and has been consistently great live for years. This is the second time that we have been able to see Infected Rain live in such a short period, and once again, they did not disappoint. Earlier on the set Lena Scissorhands made an acknowledgement of a previous concert where someone passed out because of the heat, but noted that although cold outside, the venue was quite warm, and made sure to ask for everyone to enjoy their time and have fun

There were many familiar faces in the audience, which seemed to be at every Infected Rain concert and added to the energy of the concert.

Infected Rain?s setlist featured ?The Realm Of Chaos? and closed with ?Sweet, Sweet Lies,? among other tracks, keeping the perfect blend of nu-metal, alternative metal, groove metal, and melodic death metal at their high during the whole concert. Lena?s stage presence, as usual, has been remarkable, going all around the stage, interacting with the crowd and of course, having the dreads flying everywhere.

For one of the first concerts of the year, this tells me were up for a promising 2025.

Artists: Infected Rain