“Nothing remains. Nothing is safe. No Mistakes.”
Words by Kiera Falke. Photography by Kieran White, please contact before any use.
Born of Osiris’ current European tour has been a strange one. Touring off the back of 2025’s Through Shadows, the band bring with them three acts that carry the genre-expanding torch BOO once carried in the early 2010s. Larcenia Roe, Aversions Crown, and Within Destruction make up the rest of the bill, creating a tour poster that seemed destined to sell out the entire tour. Unfortunately, with just days to go before the show, it was announced that the London and Southampton shows would be downgraded. Originally booked for the 800-capacity Engine Rooms, tonight’s show instead takes place in the 200-cap Joiners Arms, just across town. While this is definitely a blow for the financial success of the tour, it’s not all bad news.
There’s something special about turning up to a small venue like this, and seeing the stage absolutely drowning in gear that was brought on tour for a bigger room than this. It’s a reminder of the brutal realities of touring in the modern age. It’s also a small silver lining, for the crowd at least. It’s a reminder that tonight is going to be a special show, more intimate and personal than the show we were originally meant to witness.
Larcenia Roe
Larcenia Roe open the night with a grisly barrage of ridiculously heavy deathcore. They waltz onto stage with an informational dental health video playing over the PA. A calm voice instructs the audience to brush their teeth twice a day as guitarist Henry Koster appears on stage with a cheek retractor that’s too big for his mouth jammed in his face, exposing his teeth in a pained smile. This teeth-as-body-horror motif sets the tone, and continues through the set, as impossibly heavy breakdowns are seasoned with band members pointing to the crowd and demanding they smile.
It’s an unsettling presentation that suits an unsettling sound, a blend of deathcore and beatdown that seems precisely crafted to elicit violence or incredulous laughs from punters that just can’t believe how heavy this band is. Breakdowns sprout forth from unexpected corners of the songs, changing tempo and feel with all the grace of a steel bat to the head. With lesser execution, this disregard for song structure could seem amateurish. For Larcenia Roe, however, it’s the entire point. It’s designed to push you off kilter, to make you uncomfortable. The end result feels like witnessing a Jackson Pollock painting be created in front of your eyes, but the paint is dangling, bloody saliva, and the canvas is the filthy pub floor.
Aversions Crown
Aussie blackened deathcore outfit Aversions Crown are up next, with new vocalist Alex Teyen of Black Tongue fame taking point. The unrelenting speed and technicality of the set seems designed with one thing in mind – make the already tiny walls of The Joiners live room become downright claustrophobic. The barrages of atom-perfect blast beats from drummer Jayden Mason bounce off the walls, combining with the now packed floor to make this tiny room feel like it’s caving in.
The highlight of the set comes when Alex announces that ‘it’s time for a fast one’, garnering a kind of shocked amazement from many in the crowd that seems to say ‘those songs you just played weren’t fast ones?’. Of course, Alex is right. New song “A Voice from the Underdark” begins, and what we thought were the limits of Aversions Crown’s relentless ferocity are well and truly surpassed. If this is what the future of Aversions Crown has in store for us, consider me the first in line.
Within Destruction
Within Destruction are in the main support slot, and make their presence known long before they hit the stage. The merch stand is bursting with merch that stands out from the gory tees and hoodies you expect to see at this kind of show. Cyberpunk women and winking nods to classic anime and video games adorn the front room of the Joiners, a full-send commitment into the ‘Animetal’ niche that Within Destruction have been carving for themselves since 2020’s ‘Yokai’.
This aesthetic is carried to the stage, with colourful guitars and an upbeat stage presence bringing a stark contrast to the horrors that the opening bands were striving to conjure up. The title track to their newest release, ‘Animetal’, hits, and the energy in the building feels more like I’m seeing a party-friendly metalcore band than the band that once released ‘Deathwish’. Icy synth leads soar out across dance-able riffs, leading to a sound that is more Bring Me the Horizon than it is Despised Icon. That’s not to say that Within Destruction have traded away their identity for accessibility – if anything they’ve only gained more singularity. This is unashamed weeaboo party metalcore, and whether that’s your thing or not, it’s clear that this is exactly the vision that the band have set out to execute. It’s a hit with the crowd too, which turn from mostly stationery onlookers into active participants over the course of the set, quickly finishing their drinks so they can swing elbows.
Born of Osiris
Born of Osiris hit the stage with the confidence of an act that could handle a crowd ten times the sold-out Joiners Arms. Opening with the titanic throwback jam ‘Bow Down’, it’s clear from the outset that this won’t be a standard new-album heavy set. New songs are here, of course, with ‘Elevate’ working as an early standout that takes the pitting on the floor to a new level. The synth-laden binary code chugs that have become BOO’s signature sound engulf the place, performed with a tightness that invokes the image of a machine that was designed only for performing these riffs. Vocalist Ronnie Canizaro is also on top form, delivering a vocal performance that is less eclectic than that of the opening bands, but with undeniable impact and presence all the same.
Born of Osiris have always occupied a unique space in the metal landscape. They sit right on the precipice of metalcore and deathcore, fusing a moshable accessibility with just the right amount of punishment to follow bands like Larcenia Roe and Aversions Crown. Their performance tonight makes their 20-year presence in the scene seem like an inevitability. A band that performs like this live is always going to be relevant, always going to bounce back from lineup changes and myriad setbacks. The setlist tonight is a long, storied one, spanning 16 tracks from their first full-length right up to 2025’s “Through Shadows”. This mix of new and very old songs alike show a band that is both acutely aware of the impact of their discography, and unflinching in their resolve to move forward to new ground. After tonight’s stellar performance, I have no doubt that they will.