LIVE REVIEW: Devil Sold His Soul @ O2 Academy Islington, London

“Do you think they’ll sell it out tonight?” a concertgoer muses opposite the O2 Academy Islington at 5:55pm on a Saturday evening. “Looking at the queue, I wouldn’t say so” laughed his friend, as only a handful of punters waited for 6pm doors. It’s the first headline show in London in five years for DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL. It’s their biggest, too. So, can they handle the heat of the big smoke – whether it’s tinned sardines or empty fishtanks in the venue?

Shuffled in as last minute replacements for FRONTIERER, FORLORN feel like they’ve always been part of the bill. Drifting on stage like a gothic edition of Ari Aster’s Midsommar – ethereal vocalist Megan Elliott adorned with flower crown – they waste no time in diving into their set. 

With doors only opening half an hour ago, half of London is still knocking back pints in bars or tucking into their tea. But the few at the front are given the goods, as this promising sextet dishes out their potential. Unfortunately, they’re hampered by a mix that sounds like ‘bring your child’ to work day has gone awfully wrong; vocals and drums collide chaotically, whilst their rhythm section is swallowed in the undercurrent. 

But not all is lost. Recent single Old Wounds melds their metalcore past with their post-metal future, fabricating a dizzying display of beautiful brutality. On a better night, this slot would be theirs for the taking.

Rating: 6/10

It’s no industry secret, the hype machine churns out more bands than it cares to count. But only a handful earn, and live up, to that hype. And URNE are one of them. Bumped up to main support, they slip into the slot like it was always theirs. 

Their five-song set feels like a victory lap for last year’s Serpent & Spirit, and rightfully so. With guitarist Angus Neyra, bassist and vocalist Joe Nally, and drummer Richard Harris all in a row, their sheer musical talent is on display for all to see. Opener Serpent & Spirit suffers none of FORLORN’s mixing mishaps, it’s sludgy metal rising up from the dust like MASTODON going toe-to-toe with METALLICA. 

It’s testament to URNE’s ability that the room truly begins to fill as their set plays out. Whilst the frenetic energy of A Tomb So Frail shifts gears, it’s eclipsed by the airing of an unnamed, unreleased new song that twists their take on metal into sludgy, doomy deliriums.

Joe Nally makes the set as much as their music does, filling fleeting moments with equal measures of seriousness and wit. Closing with the earthquaking Desolate Heart, URNE well and truly set the bar high for tonight’s headliners.

Rating: 9/10

A bar DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL comfortably clear, as if there’s no ring rust to shake off whatsoever. As the last night of their first headline tour in five years, it’s exactly a year since the release of Loss, their first album in nine years, and they’re more than up for giving it the birthday bash it deserves.

Playing the album almost in its entirety – leaving out only Tateishi, Acrimony, and But Not Forgotten – it’s abundantly clear just how far they’ve come as a live act. With both Ed Gibbs and Paul Green on dual vocals, the frontmen throw themselves across the stage, causing just as much havoc as the crowd, without ever sacrificing the consistency of their interchanging vocals.

And it’s those cuts from Loss that stand out as highlights tonight. Opening duo ARDOUR and WITNESS MARKS hit harder live than they do on the album, and sound even more anthemic, as gold light showers the singers in the audience. It’s worth mentioning that there’s no worries about empty rooms tonight, as the O2 is now packed to the rafters with punters singing and screaming their way through the set in unison. It’s a communal outpouring of catharsis.

Whilst Loss remains the focal point, DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL reward their loyal hordes with deep cuts from their back catalogue. The doom-soaked, hardcore crunch of A Fragile Hope’s The Starting gets the crowd frothing for more, whilst fan favourite Crane Lake rivals newer cut Signal Fire’s sensational sing-along. 

DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL skip over post-metal’s often problematic transformation to the live arena, by putting as much energy into every single song as humanly possible. And there’s no time to talk either, as the band drive home their hour and twenty minute set with ferocity, without ever sacrificing the intensity of the songs. When they do stop to rile us up, or thank us for our support, it fits and it flows, just like their shifting set.

In many ways, they’re alchemists of the highest order. One minute they’re melting faces with the pummelling punch of The Narcissist, the next they’re bringing tears to the eyes of everyone by playing just a single section of closer Loss – a true post-metal ballad that bleeds emotion.

For an encore, it’s out with the new and in with the old as they unearth Darkness Prevails and Like Its Your Last from their 2005 EP Darkness Prevails. Draped in red alert lighting, matching the EP”s colour scheme, they work everyone up into one last frenzy, as throats scream, fists pump, and Paul Green crowd-surfs his way to victory. 

DEVIL SOLD HIS SOUL prove once and for all that you don’t need fancy fireworks, you just need a killer setlist and some passion. Delivering a set that few bands in bigger venues could ever possibly muster, it’s alarmingly clear they’re one of British metal’s most criminally underrated bands.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in London from Abbi Draper-Scott here: 

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