Live Review: Trivium & Bullet For My Valentine w/Orbit Culture at The O2 Arena London!

North Greenwich is tonight’s destination as “The Poisoned Ascendancy Tour” has arrived at the O2 Arena in the heart of London. A special occasion that celebrates the 20th anniversaries of two iconic albums released in the same year, as if the title didn’t give it away, the tour finds Welsh Metal heads Bullet For My Valentine playing “The Poison” and Florida natives Trivium playing “Ascendency” in full. All of that makes tonights show a highly anticipated return to the capital city of our green and pleasant land…

Swedish Melodic Death Metal act Orbit Culture [9/10] open the show and are given thirty minutes to prove they’re worthy. For them it’s a festival length set so they bring out the big guns with “North Star of Nija“, “While We Serve” and “Vultures of North” surpassing 20 million Spotify streams alone. Each one is of course nailed to perfection with thunderous percussion filling the arena followed by razor sharp riffs and barked vocals. There’s even a few moments of synchronized headbanging from the quartet during the mid set which gets an obligatory circle pit from the band in response. Guitarist and vocalist Niklas Karlsson stalks the stage during each tune, using all three microphones so the whole arena receives the full force of his venom. All that’s lacking is some pyrotechnics because in comparison the light show feels a little tame.

In front of the stage there is a triangle shaped VIP area, a walkway around it being opened up as Trivium’s crew prepare their gear. That means those who paid for it will be surrounded by their heroes with additional microphones laid out. Between sets the audience are treated to an array of era classics on the PA with cuts from Still Remains, Avenged Sevenfold and Disturbed keeping the crowd in good voice. The lights are dimmed as the PA blazes the Metallica classic “Hit the Lights” before Trivium [10/10] take to the stage and tearing through 2005’s Roadrunner Records debut “Ascendancy” with the verve and swagger of a band in their element. Tonight every single song is a sing-a-long anthem while circle pits go off left right and centre, an epic rendition of “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” simply awe inspiring. Drummer Alex Bent may be the only member of the band that wasn’t famously at the bands show at The Garage in London in 2005 that earned them and opening slot at Download Festival but he makes his presence felt. He gets his own moment in the spotlight with a drum solo while the others towel down later in the set. All the songs are treated like classics tonight but the next stand out is “A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation“, swiftly followed by “Like Light to the Flies” the cuts back to back jewels in the Florida Metalcore heroes crown. Intertwining solos bring that touch of the virtuoso to the performance, Heafy expressing the bands gratitude for the past 20 years while also asking if the four piece could be a Download Festival headliner in the future. You know the answer to that one with everyone grinning ear to ear as they tear through the songs, each one sounding better than ever. “Dying in Your Arms” is absolutely stunning, everyone in the audience in full voice when they’re not jumping. Matthew K Heavy talks about Mental Health and last year being a rough one, thanking the fans for being his guiding light before introducing “Departure“, the arena lit up by phones and lighters during the song. It’s a soul stirring moment, that sends a chill down the spine, confirmation that we are all human, flesh, blood and bone. Believe it or not, there is time for one more and we get treated to a brilliant rendition of “In Waves” to bring the curtain down, that classic introduction getting the crowd going.

After an interval, the lights dim once more and a short yet sickly sweet nostalgic reel of memories flash before our eyes on the big screen behind the stage. Each one serves as a reminder of just how quickly Bullet For My Valentine [10/10] rose to prominence with “The Poison“, playing Download Festival and touring the world over. As soon as it stops the band appear from the darkness hammering straight into “Her Voice Resides” with vocalist and guitarist Matt Tuck wearing a sleeveless Cradle Of Filth t-shirt as he leads the four piece and a choir of a crowd through “The Poison” as if it was as fresh as a daisy. “4 Words (to Choke Upon)” and “Tears Don’t Fall” were the pair of cuts that took them into the stratosphere and Tuck acknowledges the fans love of those songs and encourages everyone to use their voices. The rarely played live “Hit the Floor” is nailed to perfection, making you wonder why it was ever left out before a rousing rendition of “Hand of Blood” gets arguably the biggest single circle pit of the night. We get pyrotechnics as well as a light show and video wall as Michael “Padge” Paget lands solo after solo like punches from a prize fighter, Jamie Mathias’s harsh backing vocals giving Tuck the opportunity to breathe. Both the title track and “Cries In Vain” are special moments, the band once again thanking the crowd for allowing them to spend the past 20 years dedicating their lives to writing, recording and playing music around the globe. It seems they already have the next few years mapped out with the promise of a new album and tour in 2026 music to our ears before not one but two cuts in encore with a vicious rendition of “Knives” swiftly followed by “Waking The Demon“. What more could you possibly want? How about ticker tape cannons going off and chants of “Bullet! Bullet! Bullet!” As they throw their guitar pics in the the crowd?