Live Review: Beyond Extinction w/Mastiff and Tribe Of Ghosts at The Black Heart in Camden!

There are special occasions and there is the once in a life time opportunity to hear Essex Death Metal act Beyond Extinction play their debut album “Where They Gather” in full. It doesn’t get more raw or real than that because the quartet have made a promise to attract the masses and unlike Motley Crew we very much doubt it’s one that they’re going to break, even if they don’t have a legally binding contract. It may seem hard to believe but despite the album only being released in September, the band have been living and breathing these songs for three years at this point, the first single landing in November 2024, eleven months before it surfaced. They were even performing songs from it live when we witnessed them last August across the road at Camden Underworld as they opened for Australian vegan Deathcore brutes To The Grave…

There is no way of God’s green earth that Tribe Of Ghosts [10/10] should be opening any show at this point of their journey down the left hand path and tonight is very much a demonstration of why. The Industrial Post-Metal act from Brighton ensure that The Black Heart is full from the very start of their set and have the audience eating out of the palm of their collective hands with a set of contrasting textures. Violent mood swings happen like the motion of a pendulum in a Grandfather clock as Becky Blacker’s soaring melodies contrast Adam Sedgwick’s brutal roars, the punchy percussion and buzzsaw guitars pushing against the electronics to create balance like the scales of justice. Scream-a-long angry anthem “Nerve” is a mid set mosh pit mover and where the four piece find the extra energy to cram into the live performance we’ll never know. Sedgwick is an unpredictable force of nature live, dragging the rest of the band along kicking and screaming for dear life in the process. One moment he’s smashing his head against his microphone as he headbangs to his own riffs, the next he’s charging into the crowd with his guitar held aloft like a lethal weapon. “Hive” remains a cornerstone of the bands set and tonight their third ever single is masterfully delivered. Blacker takes her time between songs to make a point of thanking Beyond Extinction for inviting them to be here for what actually feels like an album release show before inciting more violence and the mosh pit accepts her challenge gleefully. The only issue here is how long the band are on stage for because we’d be grumbling at a set twice as long.

For the past 13 years Hull natives Mastiff [9/10] have been carving a name for themselves with blend of Extreme Metal that forces the planets of Sludge Metal and Hardcore to collide. A combination of punishing sounds held together by the blunt force trauma of a brick to the skull, their aggressive tendencies and rhythmical pummellings know no bounds. A couple of songs in vocalist Jim Hodge admits not to have been feeling tonight before they took to the stage but a packed house baying for blood has turned his world upside down. A bone snapping rendition of “Midnight Creeper” hits harder than a juggernaut broadsiding a mini van on the free way. New cuts like “Soliloquy” and the gut wrenching “A Story Behind Every Light” are nothing short of savage assaults on the senses before the fitting “Everything Is Ending” feels like a dedication to the powers that be in the current state of world address. Doing as they did two years ago at this very same venue Harry Nott from Burner joins the party for a vicious rendition of “Serrated” that is so barbed it leaves everyone’s ears bleeding.

The red mist quite literally descends upon The Black Heart as Beyond Extinction [10/10] take to the stage, the lighting and smoke mirroring the artwork of the album the Essex Death Metal quartet are here to perform. The title track “Where They Gather” hits like a building site wrecking ball and the oppressive atmosphere and mid tempo Thrall inspired riffs don’t stop for a second. The four piece are here to grind our skulls into the dirt and they do so with pride, “Traitors To The Ropes” an absolute masterclass in down tuned madness. It would have been nice to have Alex Teyen of Black Tongue reprise his role on “Tyranny” but given his commitments to Aversions Crown it never seemed possible. Instead guitarist Jude Bennett and drummer Niall Ali wage war upon us with “Apache” as the crowd roar, the spine juddering riffs inducing that slow headbang like a snake charmer toying with a king cobra, getting the masses into a hypnotic trance. As with all full album performances there are songs that the band have never played live before and one of those is “Throne Of Antropy“, which goes down a storm as a violent delight that commands the attention. After a brutal rendition of “Winter Sun” vocalist Jasper Harmer takes a moment to thank guitarist Danny Russell for joining the in the wake of the tragic death of Zachary Scott and helping the others through it. He’s at pains to point out that Scott is still part of what the band is and who they are as people, his soul interwoven in the very fabric of what Beyond Extinction are, something that no one should forget. It’s a touching, heart felt moment during a night that people will be talking about for years to come. “The Mines” brings the bloodstained curtain down on the night the band fulfilling their promise in uncompromising fashion and without deviation, leaving Camden in a sweaty heap on the beer soaked floor. Nights don’t get much more triumphant than this. They really should be working with the legendary Buster Odeholm on their next release…