By Jase Walker
In a sudden shift from my usual trips across the Netherlands I’ve found myself on a weekend jaunt off to the Über Kingdom’s capital to catch SikTh on their anniversary show of ‘Death Of A Dead Day’. There wouldn’t be much keeping me from catching the band responsible for one of my favourite albums that helped redefine my music taste so here I am in the middle of London ready for an evening of good loud music. Not just these though as along for the two dates between London and Manchester are noisy upstarts Heriot as well as returning heavies, Ted Maul.
It’s been nearly 20 years since my first run in with Ted Maul at Download 2008 and my music taste was very different back then so I’m curious to see what’s changed for me since then too.
Fuzzy deep guitar begins the show before the singer jumps in with all those disgustingly deep gutturals. Admittedly the sound isn’t particularly strong to start with as it sounds quite muddy on the balcony. I can definitely say my tastes have changed to the point where I’m definitely enjoying the musical style but I can’t say I’m overly keen on the mix for the show as it sounds a bit more like they’re playing in another room rather than directly in front of me.
It’s brave of them to bring on a guest vocalist for a song as an opener too but also quite amusing as his stage presence is a bit awkwardly stiff to the point of being a bit comical. The crowd doesn’t quite seem on board with being prompted to open the room up a bit for some pit action despite their singers protests but can’t blame ‘em for trying at least!
One of their guitarists seems to be having a fair bit of issues with either their guitar or pedal board as between two-stepping he quickly jumps back over to kick it a bit seemingly trying to troubleshoot it on the fly but then kicks off at the singer before bottling him on the head so maybe the guitar issues were part of the show?
Either way it isn’t long before their singer decides if the crowd isn’t going to come to him, he’s coming to them and throws himself down to the barrier to get into people’s faces instead. The other band members seemingly have to keep an eye on him through the show as he’s nearly tripped them with his mic cable a few times or almost wiped them out with suddenly changing pace and direction.
Overall solid but somewhat haphazard performance that I think was let down a bit by a somewhat janky sound mix that I think could have been a bit better but I can definitely say this has refreshed my opinion on them a bunch!
There’s a distinct change in the overall sound mix now that Heriot are going. They kick things off and holy shit don’t I know it. There’s absolutely zero subtlety for Heriot, loud riffs, thunderous bass, plenty of screaming for good measure. It’s little wonder that these caught the attention of Trivium’s Matt Heafy considering how quickly they’ve grown since their notable support slots with Svalbard and Rolo Tomassi years ago.
Their newer material overall feels much tighter and consistent which comes across tremendously well in a live show. It’s not just that which drives home how far they’ve come over the years though, the amount of graft they’ve put in is clearly obvious with how much more confident they appear on larger stages such as Kentish Town Forum. The graduation from smaller stages to ones such as this can often be a difficult one as the approach to how to sound and perform can be jarring but this size show looks great on Heriot.
It’s always fantastic seeing a show where the bass rumbles and shakes my chest and even up on the balcony I can feel every single chug from the bass guitar and every pound from the drums.
One thing is for sure though with these, they’re clearly on a solid rise in stature and the fact that old guard prog acts such as SikTh see it fit to take them on as direct main supports almost feels like a passing of the torch moment. Heriot’s novel approach to aggressive metal has clearly captured the imagination of scene stalwarts and fans alike and coming back to the ÜK to see how much they’re growing on home turf is fantastic.
It’s one thing to see these from a European perspective as it can somewhat skew things due to differences in show sizes and locations but another entirely to watch them dominate a popular venue such as this. Onwards and upwards for Heriot, the road is still long but the speed they’re going at is crazy fast, and I’m sure a ÜK and European headliner tour will be in the bag before long.
For the first time in my memory, SikTh are using screens in their production. It strikes me as odd because SikTh have generally been a band that doesn’t tend to use more advanced production, probably because the music speaks for itself but it’s an anniversary show so why not eh?
It’s time to get things going and opening with ‘Bland Street Bloom’, we’re in the thick of it now with several beers getting launched into the air immediately. The sound mix is a little rough admittedly because it’s a bit hard to make out the vocals with any real clarity so hopefully this balances out a bit. The crowd erupts into rapturous applause, this is how we intend to move for the show and with a crowd that worships this album it’s only going to get more intense.
The extra screens add so much extra dynamics to the light show and make an excellent addition to the overall production of the show. Seemingly the crowd was clearly waiting for ‘Sanguine Seas Of Bigotry’ considering the moment the first riff bits the entire crowd (from what I can see at least) morphs into a maelstrom of movement and people jostling to try and record at least some of the song while joining in with the pit action. Certainly a brave move considering the circumstances but I suppose people need to capture their experience one way or another.
I did think one of the crowd surfers looked a bit older than the rest and clearly Mikee thought the same as he remarks “Fuck me! Bit old for crowd surfing you!” in between his singing duties. I’d like to think the surfing gentleman was more of a spring chicken back in the day of this album release mind.
As much as I love listening to albums in full, I can’t always say they make for a solid live show playlist, however this particular album is a bit of an exception. Clearly this also seems to be the case for how the audience are taking it too, the sheer ferocity of the crowd getting stuck into put antics and crowd surfing hasn’t let up since the start of the set.
Also to note is that the security down the front catching the crowd surfers actually seem to be having a pretty good time doing this too, which is actually a bit surprising to me but good nonetheless.
And before I even know it, the album is over, it’s done, a truly incredible experience hearing it played start to finish. This was a trip easily worth every bit of effort jumping over to the big smoke to hear. A couple of other songs to see us out in the form of the always in set staple, ‘Pussyfoot’ and ‘Skies Of Millennium Night’ but that’s how it rolls.
A truly incredible evening celebrating an album that was transformative for me and continues to be such. What a night, and with some hints of a new album on the way with an unclear timeline, I’m buzzed to see what comes next for SikTh.
- SikTh headline the opening night of ArcTanGent on Wednesday 19 August.
- © Über Röck 2026.