Slaughter To Prevail // Dying Fetus // Suicide Silence // Annotations Of An Autopsy // Live Review // O2 Academy Brixton // London
When an envelope-pushing contemporary act like Slaughter To Prevail brings along genre legends Suicide Silence and Dying Fetus, plus a revitalised British deathcore force Annotations Of An Autopsy, expectations run high!.
The grizzly winter tour represents both a celebration of deathcore’s past and present and is a showcase of the extreme metals underground & their unrelenting hunger for brutality.
Kicking off the evening just after doors opened, Annotations Of An Autopsy stepped up as the unlikely warm-up act. For many in the crowd, AOAA was a revelation, a band whose flame had flickered out over the past decade but now surged back with renewed force. Their riffs were filthy, lurching between brutal death metal crunch and sludgy, almost doom-tinged grooves.
It was a tight, focused set, their stage presence unpretentious but commanding. For those who arrived early, the raw, abrasive assault delivered by the lowestsoft crew set the tone for the night. This bill is stacked not with soft options but with bands committed to visceral heaviness. Sonically, they were the perfect opening band & they warmed the room without trying to outshine what was still to come.
By the time Suicide Silence took the stage, the vast venue had a crowd packed to the walls. The atmosphere was buzzing, half anticipation and half reverence. Few bands have defined the blueprint of modern deathcore like suicide silence, and that legacy was palpable as they launched into their set.
Opening with juggernauts like “Unanswered and Wake Up” and “fuck everything,, the band wasted no time in crushing any polite notions of “warm-up act.” Their performance was ferocious. Even without og member Chris Gaza, the guitar work was razor sharp, the drums punishing, and the vocals tore through the thick London air with unrelenting intensity. bass tones were cavernous, resonating deep in the chest, and the wall of sound they produced felt as authoritative as ever.
The walls of death cracked open the room during the intro to “No Pity for a Coward”, a testament to both the band’s undiminished fanbase and their enduring influence. Even tracks that have been road-tested thousands of times still snapped with life and aggression, proving that the band’s catalogue remains a heartbeat for this community. Throughout, there was a sense that this wasn’t merely nostalgia… It was an affirmation of their legacy.
Following the deathcore pioneers, Dying Fetus brought the night into even harsher territory. Known for their relentless blend of brutal death metal and grind, Dying Fetus don’t take prisoners; they hunt to kill. Their set was short but devastating, trading emotive connection for pure, unfiltered assault.
They didn’t come to make friends; they came to destroy. rage-fueled riffs detonated in rapid succession, grooving technicality refined but never at the expense of impact. The rhythm section was in perfect form, drummer Trey Williams providing a driving onslaught with lockstep precision while guitars jabbed and flayed in layers of dissonant fury. Even listeners unversed in the band’s deeper cuts, like “Praise The Lord (Opium Of The Masses),” could see the DNA of deathcore’s beginnings in the extent to which Dying Fetus’s influence shaped the deathcore sound.
For some, a dying fetus may have been the high point of the night, a primal reminder that metal isn’t always about unity or uplift, but sometimes about confronting sonic extremity head-on. Their performance was a grim smile in the eye of tradition.
By the time Slaughter To Prevail took to the stage, the venue was humming with anticipation. A band that has grown in popularity so quickly & can headline Brixton Academy is no small feat. Still, once the first notes dropped, the focus in Brixton was unequivocally on Slaughter To Prevail as performers. their sound. an actual seismic collision of deathcore’s fiercest elements with tight production.
Even when technical snafus during “Bonebreaker” momentarily broke the audio, the crowd barely faltered. Support from the audience was steadfast, and the band’s recovery was. spearheaded by palpable energy from bassist Mike and the rest of the lineup, pushed the show back into high gear.
The setlist balanced classic anthems with deeper cuts, anchoring the evening in brutal familiarity while still pushing forward. Standouts like “Viking” had a huge pop with the audience, with additional excitement spilling from the crowd during guest appearances and on-stage. The band’s performance was muscular, filled with measured grooves, cavernous lows, and guttural vocals that rarely faltered under the weight of the high-octane environment like a packed Brixton show!
Despite the tumult that has surrounded the band’s public image in recent years, the London crowd responded with vigour, with hundreds of moshers, crowd surfers, and devoted attendees matching the intensity of every breakdown and blastbeat. The unity in that moment, even though it was fraught with differing individual opinions, felt electrifying and undeniably powerful.
Tonight, London night wasn’t just another tour stop; it was a showcase of deathcore and extreme metal’s resilience, its evolution & its deep roots between old and new.
Death metal’s primal roots with deathcore’s newer take on brutality—props to STP for creating such a mammoth tour to start 2026 most sickeningly.
Tickets + VIP Packages on sale here: https://www.slaughtertoprevail.com/tour-dates
https://www.slaughtertoprevail.com
Review: Joseph Mitchell