Will Marshall
Despite being a short hop outside of London, the evening is almost still until you breach the doors of The Horn, at which point battle jackets, tattoos and revelry are the order of the day before the doors to the venue – a small room at the back – open.
A stage draped in chains, a duo dressed like they’re from Norway in the 90s mixed with Kiss and a sound ripped straight out of the 80s; it could only be synth space rockers Zetra. Their otherworldly sound is mesmerising, with ethereal harmonies and soaring synth lines. The tiny venue doesn’t stop them from pulling out whatever stops they can, with smoke machines and multiple small screened visuals either side of the duo to truly create an alien atmosphere. It’s a sublime multisensory feast and reiterates just how special Zetra are – even the sky isn’t the limit.
Where Zetra are calming, synth-laden exploratory compositions, Burner are a spleen-venting, murderous hybrid of death metal and hardcore. They’ve seen a vision of the end and they’re here to share their fury whether you want it or not. The frenetic ‘Rat King Crown’ and ‘Ingsoc’ open with blistering pace and set the tone for their set. Mic issues rear their head intermittently but the band plough through regardless; if anything it only adds fuel to their fire. ‘Death Worship’s’ titanic groove is amplified tenfold and the new material off their first full length due 2023 that they tease takes the significant promise of their yet-to-be-released debut EP A Vision of the End and delivers on it.
Employed To Serve emerge to cheers from the packed crowd and open with the first track from their latest album, Conquering. The gargantuan ‘Universal Chokehold’ does just that, taking a firm hold of the crowd and bringing seriously sweaty mayhem. They follow it with the album’s lead single ‘Exist’ and the blistering fretwork of ‘Twist The Blade’, a grin permanently plastered across their faces as they incite all manner of chaos.
Related: Employed To Serve – Conquering | Album Review
‘The Mistake’ delivers its message of overcoming personal demons to a fray of constantly moving bodies that turns the already warm room into a seething sweatbox while ‘Force Fed’ goes off like a bomb made all the more potent by the room’s confines. It’s simply undeniable that Employed To Serve are one of the UK’s finest, their incendiary blend of groove, classic heavy metal and hardcore going down a storm to cap off a night that shows just how much depth and talent there is to the scene.