Home Gigs Gig Review : Infected Rain, The Underworld, Camden

Gig Review : Infected Rain, The Underworld, Camden

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Review by Sheri Bicheno for MPM

First gig of the year and though it’s on a school night, it’s promised to be an absolute immense one!

Representing a small corner of Eastern Europe, Moldova’s answer to some truly jawdropping metal kickstarted their Motocultor Across Europe Tour with some special guests in tow on 10th January.

Infected Rain over the years have steadily caught the hearts of the UK metal scenes fan base, not just with an extraordinary energy they bring with them but also, their downright wonderful vibes in who they are.
Sometimes, when you see artists interact with their followers or just people who come to enjoy them, how they are on stage, you can tell when there’s a good bunch of people stood in front of you.

So for this time back in the UK, Infected Rain brought with them a line up of pretty unique caliber.
Heading to one of my favourite venues in Camden in London, I’d sadly missed Berlin’s hard rockers Skin On Flesh due to the usual problems with getting into London after work. I have however, given them a good listen and absorbing their punchy, unapologetic tones, lyrics full of ferocity and representation of inclusivity, I feel that those who haven’t come across these guys NEED to check them out.

Catching the tail end of Australian Melodic/Blackened Death outfit, Miruthan, the energy was completely intoxicating across the packed Underworld. Entwining themes of darkened folklore and apocalyptic carnage, this kicked off my night perfectly.

The total chunkiness of the guitars and blast beats of the powerful kit sent heads flying amongst the darkened stage. 

The energy is intense with a cloaked stage presence and ushering in vocals that make the floor tremble with devastation, it’s a performance I hope I will be able to catch in it’s entirety – this band has everything you’d want in a raw Blackened edge with unforgiving Death genres.

Next was a band I’d not seen live before and when I say that this was a unique line up, I was not exaggerating. After the pure force of Miruthan, a twist in energy was sprung from the stage in the shape of French outfit Elyose.

With dark but elegant and powerful genres surrounding their performance, this was like walking into a Nightwish meets Spiritbox realm.

Grove laden guitars packing punches with avant-garde Gothic notes was a really good texture that just seem to work so well with the right aims.

Justine Daaé is a mesmerising front woman – her voice engulfs the stage and emits such a beautiful tone that invites operatic vibrations to go hand in hand with cinematic, djent fuelled guitaring and synths.
Vendredi Noir serves as a stunning example from the 2023 album Déviante which starts out as a haunting synth tone and lowers itself until you’re smacked in the face with an almighty djent fuelled riff from Anthony Chognard entwined with some utterly mind blowing power from behind the kit.

Justine’s vocals take on an ethereal tone and haze their way through the song with injections of powerful notes, fuelling the theatrical elements of Elyose.

The utterly dynamic guitaring that is partnered with Justine’s voice is done so that neither overpowers the other and with the heaviness of the drums combined, delivers one of my favourite tracks of the set. It has filthy headbanging vibes and beautiful enchanting tones to combine the styles that Elyose carve for themselves.

The crowd are raising their fists in the air and are submerged in the energy from the stage.
With a new album Évidence released just a few days ago, this tour is going to be insanely awesome for this band.

What a way to kickstart it!

Tonight’s support act came storming into the Underworld through Brazilian Melo-Death Semblant.
Echoes of cheering crowds peeked through the dusky stage with a beautiful ambient intro of echoing vocals and gorgeous synth keys trickling under the brutal force of the intro riffs and blast beating kit.
Intro track Incinerate is a bludgeoning force that comes in with maddening riffs and dual vocals of scorching growls from Sergio Mazul and beautiful chimes of Mizuho Lin that create a magnetic chemistry through the vocals blending together.

Sergio employs every atom in his vocals with remarkable energy and fearlessness and Mizuho uses a range of striking tones that injects pure beauty and power into the melodics of the vocals.Dark of the Day gives a sinister edge within the intro’s melodics. Julian Ribero harbours some of the filthiest groove edged riffs driven by powerful rhythm sections that fold into some utterly neck snapping grooves amongst the intense double kicks behind Thor Sikora’s kit. 

Announcing it’s been 10 years since the release of fan favourite Lunar Manifesto, we were launched into a stunning performance of The Shrine.The melodics remain dark and heavy but there also pulls in a whole lot of speed and gothic style elements into the track. This really reminds me of a nostalgic Lacuna Coil in places – Mizuho’s beautiful vocals underlying the intensity of Sergio’s energetic screams that blend into the mesmerising riffs and Piper’s intricate basslines provide the perfect sense of familiarity whilst leaving absolutely no prisoners.

Ending on the beautiful ripples of keys and riffs on What Lies Ahead and the blast beats of Enrage to inject some AWAKENING energy through the ground of the Underworld, Semblant have reminded London exactly what they are made of and leave the stage smiling and with a crowd that is ready to take on the full force of what their headliner is about to unleash…

The Underworld is totally brimming full of bodies – and for a Monday night, this is a wonderful sight to see…

The stage plunged into darkness with blue and green soft hues of light seeping through, the mystical tones of intro A Second Or A Thousand Years sees the crowd into a mysterious ambience and thought provoking melodics. Right before we dropped straight into a vortex of staggering riffs and beats as Infected Rain take to the stage and unleash a monstrous energy.

The Realm Of Chaos crashes in with perfectly orchestrated groove riffs of Vadim Ojog that balance with the sheer velocity of power from Eugen Voluta’s kitwork right before Lena Scissorhands unleashes the most visceral and spellbinding vocals of the night. Lena is without a doubt, one of the best vocalists and front women in modern metal. Her spirited aura on stage is totally encapsulating the energies that go on in this venue and she flawlessly delivers her ranges of vocals into both absolutely stunning and filthy notes that go hand in hand with the band’s core.

Pandemonium offers up a mystical injection of synths and beautiful melodic clean vocals amongst the face melting growls and tech infused direction of guitars.

There are huge dimensions to this track and I absolutely am loving absorbing this in it’s live setting. Imagine going through the heaviest beats and breakdowns set in front of you but then being lifted into a soundscape of beautiful ambience.

“Are you ready to have some fun!?” Lena addresses the crowd and is met with the Underworld positively vibrating back to her.

Next song from newest album Time comes along as beautiful synth drenched ripples and some seriously striking bass work from Alice Lane.

The bass notes act as the backbone to this track, offering chuggy but low frequency and filthy tones that command the pace of the guitars pulling in different directions.

The grooves and tech notes here are so strong and also see’s the drums work more with the pace of Lena’s vocals.

The synths are really really stunning here too and highlight the effects of the visceral energy in the track by balancing the ambience of the lighter tones.

A really beautiful track and has an outstanding stage energy to match with the there being so much movement and Lena and Vadmin’s headbanging locks that can be seen from the back of the venue.


“I want to tell you a story…”
Remember when I said earlier that this is a band that has personality and in that, comes some really humble and warm moments you see sometimes in humans that work to where they get to be…
“Two things happened here last time we were here..

A girl fainted in the crowd.

And i was headbanging so much, i caught my hair in the ceiling a ripped my hair. One of my locks fells out… RIP one of my locks.

So we encourage movement and feeling alive!”

And with that, Fighter is unleashed into the crowd below. This is one of my favourite tracks of Infected Rain as its totally consuming and such a killer track to represent them.

Vadim and Alice work so well here with the melodies and harmonies of this track and in a blink of an eye (or more like a smack in the chops) the direction drops into a maddening drum tempo change from Eugen and there’s a steep roll down into a Djent and groove fuelled pummelling.

Lena uses her range of stunning vocals from gutturals to cleans and back to barking growls here to shift the energies of the track and emit the crowd into a frenzied state.Lena then commands the room split into two – so of course the Underworld opens up leaving a few of the nutters in the middle 100% calling to get bulldozed.

On 123 and the tirade of riffs on THE ANSWER IS YOU, the room reunites in the form of smashing bodies in a wall of death and soaking the energy from the stage.

With a touch of a cultural metal with NEVER TO RETURN, this track entwines some hypnotic rhythms and interludes over some softer vocals before dropping into one of the night’s most powerful tracks of the night.
The guitars are huge and underline Lena’s vocals with catharsis. This is my favourite track of the newest album and honestly, I was hoping it would pop up in tonight set. One of the most beastly and beautiful tracks that Infected Rain has offered of late, crafted with different inputs of moods and a whole dimension of energies that fold between insanely heavy to gorgeously ethereal.

Finishing on BECAUSE I LET YOU and 2014’s Sweet, Sweet Lies left the Underworld positively shaking and II love that this set has most of Infected Rain’s newest album to see live – seeing their energy in person for Time has been nothing short of stunning and by far one of my favourite performances of the last couple of years.
The energy the band put into their stage work, interaction and overall really positive vibes gives you as the watcher, or a fan, the opportunity to feel like part of what they are doing.

Infected Rain are hands down, phenomenal and I cannot wait to see what unfolds for them in the next year or so. They are on a peak at the moment and going stronger.
They deserve every single bit of their success.
PHENOMENAL.

Photography by Artur Tarczewski for MPM

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