Electric Brixton, London, 05/12/25

Playing a sold-out show at South London’s Electric Brixton on Friday night, djent legends, Loathe, delivered a gritty performance, full to the brim with hellish fry screams and dooming gutturals.

Opening up the evening with 90s-sounding alt-rock, shoegaze is Love Is Noise. A fast-rising quartet who are making a name for themselves with their boisterous breakdowns and emotionally-penned lyrics. The lads get straight to the point.“Circle pit, I know you want to”, frontman Cameron Humphrey says, before thrashing into ‘Hole in Me’, which is met with insane blast beats from drummer Joe Pink.

Although still early into the night, the crowd are active, and carnage breaks loose for their obliterating ‘Jawbreaker’. A fan on the barrier stands headbanging, gripping frantically onto their laptop as they record the entire show. We’ve seen iPhones, Androids, iPads, even, but a laptop? Clearly, anything goes at a metal show…

Setting up a mirror on stage with intergalactic visuals is glam rock duo Zetra. Arriving in iconic silver face paint, Jordan Page (keyboardist) rocking his skillet takes his place on a mini platform, while Adam Saunderson, barefoot, follows behind. Zetra are a major contrast to the first support act as their set offers synth-heavy loops, atmospheric reverb, and industrial metal hooks. Their setlist includes anthems ‘Sacrifice’, ‘Starfall’, and ‘Shatter the Mountain ’, all taken from their self-titled debut album.

Waltzing onto stage, Loathe’s lead singer, Kadeem France, initiates an immediate split in the crowd as he motions an ‘open it up’ with his arms. The band kicked off the show with their newest single, ‘Gifted Every Strength’ – a devastatingly brutal introduction to say the least.

Taking things back to their 2020 record, Loathe jump into ‘Screaming,’ mellowing the mood as fans sing-along longingly. Contrastingly, the fury of ‘Aggressive Evolution’ lights a fire in everyone, as scarves are thrown, and heads vigorously bang. “This is the biggest show Loathe has ever played in the UK. Thanks for being a part of it, it’s unreal,” says Kadeem.

Black and white spotlights bounce off the stage, while a faint fog clouds the room for ‘Two-Way Mirror.’ It’s a stunning, cathartic moment as fans hypnotically sway side-to-side. Of course, the quiet never lasts, as a mosh pit quickly took over the entirety of the bottom floor for the heaviest song they’ve performed yet, ‘Heavy Is the Head that Falls With the Weight of a Thousand Thoughts’, which blends in Slayer’s iconic ‘Raining Blood’ riff.

Since its release, ‘Dimorphus Display’ has hardly made it to the stage, but this London show was a special occasion. The group followed it up with the still unreleased ‘Revenant’.

“London, thank you so much”, says Kadeem. “I just wanna say, this has been a very special show. This has been a very special tour,” he continues.

After a night of merciless chorus lines, sombre ballads, and everything in between, Loathe ends the show with the beautifully melodic ‘I Let It In, and it Took Everything’, before following up with two encores. “If you’ve seen loathe before, this one’s for you,” Kadeem says, before locking into the gut-wrenching ‘Is it really you?’ By this point, Electric Brixton is lit with phone torches, from the top balcony, right down to the bottom floor. It’s an emotional singalong, but of course, not the energy Loathe were going to end on…

Kadeem commands fans to open the room “as wide as it can go”, for the heavyweight ‘Gored’, which translates as the ultimate finale for what had already been a rollercoaster of a show.

Loathe remains undefeated live. They teeter along the line of being unnervingly melancholic, while gut-punchingly ferocious. With every song they transition into, they unearth a gripping emotion out of their crowd. You never want to miss a single beat. This is Loathe at their best.