Unholy Trinity Tour (Behemoth, Satyricon, Rotting Christ) – O2 Brixton Academy, London 12.04.2025

The Unholy Trinity tour. Three giants of doom. A triple threat of sheer heaviness. However you choose to frame it, the description fits. This Saturday night brought together a lineup that reached across Europe to unite three of extreme metal’s most influential forces. I don’t often venture outside my home turf of Manchester for gigs, but the chance to finally see Behemoth and Satyricon live—and to once again witness the raw power of a Rotting Christ performance—was impossible to pass up. The venue? London’s O2 Brixton Academy. Which meant a train down and an overnight stay in the capital. A new venue to me, and despite some anxieties about navigating the London Underground, I found this to be a lot easier than anticipated. The venue itself was very impressive, too, given the gentle gradient to allow for optimal viewing from most spaces, as well as the visually pleasing architecture. It was almost time for the opening act after securing a spot at a barrier right in the middle of the venue (and saving our backs and knees in the process).

Rotting Christ (RC)

Firstly, it’s a minor miracle that RC was still able to perform this evening, given that they had been involved in a serious road traffic accident a few days prior in Germany! Even without any physical injuries, it would be entirely natural for them to feel a bit rattled. Yet, fresh off last year’s world tour celebrating 35 years of their dark legacy, the Greek melodic black metal veterans proved their resilience by stepping onto the stage tonight with undiminished energy. Their performance was a testament to the global admiration they command—bold, sweeping, and cinematic in scale—as they unleashed a powerful set drawn largely from their latest album, Pro Xristou. Within seconds, the crowd was hooked and letting the band know of their appreciation as they sang along in what felt like a religious cult ceremony. Others showed their appreciation in different ways, via the medium of a good old-fashioned mosh pit only a few songs in. It was Saturday night in London, after all. 40 minutes felt like a crazy short set but one that would be difficult for any band to follow.

Satyricon

The stage now warmed up in more ways than one (it was fucking hot!), Satyricon would have a tough job in following up RC. Though they have decades of experience to draw on and made every single one of them count tonight. See, my first exposure to the band was when I was a teenager and checking out “Volcano”. To be honest, I wasn’t fully sold on them, but I know by now not to assess a band until I’ve seen them in the flesh. My assessment? This was incredible and top tier! Everything about the live mix was sublime, giving the blistering assault from the drums, the atmospheric qualities of the keys, and the scorching lead guitar melodies all the attention they deserve in the mix. They seem to take a slower, more groove-laden approach to black metal, but live in the flesh are as intense as any other in the genre. Many others around me were fully locked in too and were singing along to their hits, especially during ‘Now, Diabolical’.

“Nah, I don’t think we’ll see any pits,” I thought. How wrong I was. The circle pits were still in operation, and some took to the sky and ascended towards the barriers in one of many crowd surfs. We learnt that this was the first time the band had played at this venue in 25 years. Let’s not leave it another 25 years, yeah?

Behemoth

The main event! Seminal extreme metal band from Poland who have played every festival worth playing across the globe. Whilst they may be divisive in some ways, there’s no denying the impact they had on this night.

This was scorching in more ways than one, giving the stunning use of pyrotechnics as if the band had been summoned from hell itself! The use of the kabuki drop added another layer of impressive theatrics and visual engagement with segments from official videos playing. Musically? Well, this was ferocious from start to finish. From Nergal, he seemed like a man possessed as he ordered the already red-hot and feral crowd into further frenzies! Every note seemed perfectly in place in a glorious mix. All of this was encapsulated wonderfully by the sadistic, intense opening to ‘Ov Fire And Void’ with each instrument locking in with military precision and the strobe lights adding to this spectacle. An excellent blend of older and newer tracks, as well as many from “The Satanist”, arguably their magnum opus, as well as the very first song Nergal wrote for the band (the name escapes me, however). If you get a chance to see Behemoth, do so. There’s no question of their fearsome live performance, and I feel honoured to have finally ticked this band off my bucket list.

We ducked out slightly early in the middle of the encore to beat the rush and make a quick trip to the merch stand (my patch collection grew by one). The cool air of the streets of London was refreshing after being in the hottest and sweatiest gig of the year so far, a sentence I’m sure has never been uttered before in the history of mankind. There we go, then. My first trip to Brixton was a success, with 3 world-class artists doing what they do best. What’s more to say?