Photos by: Grey Rhys de Montmorency & Nick Davarias

Camden on Sunday afternoon tends to be a tourist hotspot, but when metalheads start to arrive for the evening shows in its legendary music venues, the vibe immediately shifts. You can tell who is playing by looking at what band t-shirts you see on display the most. This time, Chalk Farm Road was completely taken over by the fans of Cannibal Corpse queuing outside the famous Roundhouse. Death metal legends were finishing the UK leg of their European Tour in London, promoting the new 16th studio album, “Chaos Horrific”, released exactly one year ago. This Euro trip is backed by three great additional acts, delivering evenings full of fast and furious entertainment.

Schizophrenia

Belgian band Schizophrenia opened the night by bursting onto the stage with their high-octane energy. Promoting their debut album, “Recollections of the Insane”, they stirred the fans into the countless circle pits from the first minute of their show. Their confidence and stage presence were impressive, and it’s only a matter of time before these guys will be headlining their tour. I think it was a successful first performance in front of the wild British (and not) audience. London will remember them, and I am sure newly made fans will be on the lookout for their next gig in the UK capital.

Immolation

Second up on the legendary Roundhouse stage was the leading New York death metal band – Immolation. They are regularly touring with the Cannibal Corpse. Their set felt cold and brutalistic, submerged in blue light, which felt just like the streets of New York at night. In the 1980s, they paved the way for the genre within The Big Apple’s underground metal scene. What struck me was the passion of the lead guitarist, Robert Vigna – he was playing with such force and expression that it was mesmerising to watch. The crowd was buzzing and bubbling, not sparing any energy for later and fully embracing each moment of this long evening. Not even randomly flying beer cups could cool them down.

immolation the roundhouse 2024 nick davarias 2

Municipal Waste

Then the time came for Municipal Waste to take the reign, and as soon as they jumped on stage, all hell broke loose. Chaos ripped through the metal lovers, throwing them into a frenzy. This fantastic crossover trash band got us headbanging fast. At points, I could not keep up with the ever-changing rhythms, and when the vocalist Tony Foresta asked if we wanted to go any faster – I didn’t think it was even possible, and then they did it anyway. Blaming that on my lack of experience, however, most London fans managed to keep up. Crowd surfers were up in the air, prop waste buckets got thrown around the pit, and people just partied hard, like Monday was not looming over our heads the next day.

Cannibal Corpse

Cannibal Corpse brought us all to the venue that evening, and they hit their biggest hits loud and hard. With 36 years of experience in the industry, they know how to get things going, even without one of their band members. Their guitarist, Erik Rutan, had to leave the tour for personal reasons. Fans appreciated that the band still went ahead and performed. It was my first time seeing CC live, and I immediately noticed lead vocalist George Firsher’s relentless headbanging for practically the entire one-hour set. I soon realised that I didn’t know the lore. Fellow metalheads around me told me it was his signature move.

The symphony of powerful drumming, fast base and guitars, and killer growling with some literal killer lyrics brought the crowds to the boiling point. You know it was a good concert when you see people coming out of the pit looking shell-shocked. This 4-hour show was filled with incredible performances from all the bands on the bill, and its end came as fast as they played. That is it for the UK, but the tour is still going – please check the bands’ socials for more information.