Fourteen years ago, in the heart of Denmark, a band called Siamese Fighting Fish was founded by the vocalist Mirza Radonjica. Although the band’s name was quickly shortened to Siamese, the highly acclaimed four-piece, that also features Christian Hjort Lauritzen (guitars, violin), Marc Nommesen (bass) and Joakim Stilling (drums), has sky-rocketed in popularity almost instantly, and has been an important part of the European heavy metal and rock scene ever since. The band released its seventh full-length studio album Elements last year, currently just wrapped up supporting Bury Tomorrow across the UK and played a headline show at the infamous New Cross Inn in London.
Their set at the New Cross Inn was almost sold-out and pretty lively, as the band had the British Rituals, Scatter The Tribe and Assurance as its support bands.
Assurance
The opener of the night, Assurance, brought in passion and energy right from the start. The modern metal band, who already has two EPs under its belt, is an organiser of the British Grassroots Modern Metal Festival The Sanctum and has quite few songs on its repertoire already, including the latest single Entropy. The members Cuba Stanley (vocalist), Joe Hammond (guitars), Ashley Cooke (bass, vocals) and Martyn Nicholson (drums) have taken to the stage in front of the decently filled venue and brought their aggressive riffs, together with raw screams, that filled the room immediately. Met with a visible appraisal from the crowd, the band surely delivered a set that was a perfect fit for an opening act.
Scatter The Tribe
Second band of the night, Scatter The Tribe, has not fallen behind with the set as they brought even more dance moves and sick riffs. The four-piece’s hometown gig was very popular with the audience, as they gave their favourites moshpits, singing and lots of interactions, and the members Javi (vocals), Dante (guitars) and their drummer and bassist created an unforgettable impression on anyone, who had never seen them before with their groovy, but unapologetic performance. As the band was the second in the line-up, they unfortunately did not have much time to fully show off their song repertoire, but that did not stop them from bringing their everything to the stage and etching themselves into people’s minds as a band who is not bound by any genre or musical conventions.
Rituals
As the evening swiftly progressed, it was time for the main support band, Rituals, to take onto the stage. This was not their first time at New Cross Inn and it was obvious not only from their set, which had kicked off immediately with heavy melodies and emotional fry screams, but also from the crowd’s excitement, as they welcomed their favourite band back once again. Originally from the city of Nottingham, the four-piece band, featuring Lewis MacRae (vocalist), Matt Dix (drums), Dom James (bass) and Ewan Lee (guitar), has achieved many milestones since they were fully formed in 2021, including playing the iconic Download Festival in 2023 after winning the Kerrang! Radio’s “The Deal”, getting their name even more spread across the British Metal scene.
The band’s frontman MacRae not only reminded the fans why he is one of the best modern vocalists, but also, together with his band-mates, showed his more human side, as he persisted to kick-off a person, who was causing unwanted trouble during their set, out of the venue, followed by a widely appreciated “Free Palestine!”. The set was filled to brim with good music, excellent performance and emotions, and Rituals were absolutely an incredible choice for the last support act.
Siamese
After the three amazing sets, the time finally arrived to welcome the Danish legends Siamese onto the stage and it was a big and loud welcome indeed, since the band’s last time in the capital was this year’s February. Starting off strong with two guitars and a bass, the band managed to make the whole New Cross Inn’s floor shake almost instantly, as the fans formed a big moshpit in the middle of the venue that was moving around for the whole duration of the set. Lauritzen took out his signature violin almost instantly, creating the unique sound the band is so well known for, and had his time to shine in songs like The Shape of Water, Can’t Force The Love and Holy, where the sound of violin complimented the vocals of Radonjica. The band’s bassist Nommesen did not fell behind with his performance, as he was often times hyping up the fans and interacting with them throughout the evening, and the same can be said about the drummer Stilling, who captivated the crowd with his on point beats and quick reactions.
As many of the songs Siamese played were from their latest full-length album Elements, the performance was bound to reach the point when the band played one of their most fun tracks to this date This Is Not a Song, solemnly based on the fact that their fans love to moshpit, as the lyrics “This is not a song, it’s a motherf**king moshpit.” imply. And the moshpit during this song was indeed one of the most memorable and brutal ones of the night. The night ended up with an undying applause from the crowd, as the Danish four-piece proofed themselves as an important part of the heavy scene once again.
From the legends that are Siamese to all three incredible support bands – Rituals, Scatter The Tribe and Assurance, the evening was filled with excitement, understanding and quality music. New Cross Inn once again proved to be on top of its game with the organisation and only confirmed that it is indeed still one of the best small venues London has to offer.
