Live Review: Celestial Sanctuary, URNE, Gatecreeper @ London Underworld | 02/07/2022
It’s a special night for London’s metal aficionados; Arizona’s old school death metallers Gatecreeper are in town for the first time in five years and not only that, but they’ve brought two of the UK’s finest rising acts.
Celestial Sanctuary
Celestial Sanctuary declare themselves the “new wave of British death metal” and spend the next half hour backing that claim up. Opener ‘Suffer Your Sentience’ obliterates in a storm of riffs, shifting from mid-paced groove to neck-snapping speed and back. They revel in the punch-racists-in-the-face fury of ‘Rid the Gormless’, as do the crowd with pits opening from the very start of their set and churning constantly throughout. They aren’t inflicted with the opening band’s curse of playing to a half-empty room either; The Underworld is already busy when they take the stage even with it being an earlier curfew and the crowd are more than up for a pit or twelve, warming things up considerably for Urne.
Score: 9/10
URNE
The London power trio are, in the best way, a metal band for people who simply love great metal. They get a hero’s welcome to their hometown crowd, taking a break from the summer festivals to lay waste to an already-teeming room that’s getting sweatier by the minute. ‘Palace of Devils & Wolves’ showcases Urne’s majesty near perfectly in its serpentine licks, hammering riffs and blistering solos, all topped by Joe Nally’s bellowing vocals, while ‘A Tomb So Frail’ goes on a rampage of riffs that are impossible to not mosh to. Simply, they’re yet more proof that the power trio is an unfuckwithable formula, especially paired with their timeless, sound that draws from as many subgenres as they want without ever losing sight of its own clear identity. By the time they close with the monolithic ‘Desolate Heart’, it’s clear this is a band that deserve to be on far bigger stages.
Score: 9/10
Gatecreeper
By the time Gatecreeper enter the stage for their headline slot, the Underworld is teeming and intensely sweaty, the venue’s aircon really struggling to keep up. The Arizonan quintet are here to celebrate two new releases, including the latest An Unexpected Reality and are clearly all stoked to be here. As are the crowd, who make the most of this rare occasion by going apeshit from the start. Stage divers appear almost constantly and the atmosphere is simply electric. It’s a no-frills set, the band peeling off riff after filth-encrusted riff while frontman Chase Mason growls and roars, stalking the stage. There’s brief moments of levity – Chase declaring “this one’s about sucking on toes!” before they deliver another firestorm of riffs to a swirling pit – and it feels like a triumphant return after so long away. Here’s hoping it’s not another five years before they’re back on these shores.
Score: 10/10