Live Review: State of You & Chaos Reigns @ The Black Heart (25/01/25)

On a rather chilly January night London metalcore enjoyers come from all across the city to Camden’s Black Heart to witness the bands State of You & Chaos Reigns perform in the capital. There was another band on the bill, Dogrotten, who were sadly unable to attend but the bands are moving onwards as a 2 band bill so big them both up for that!

Personally, I’m a few beers deep – I was planning to come to this show before I got the call for a review, and I’m here to enjoy the bands, so wasting no time – I’ve been stoked to see Chaos Reigns again since I played with them last year with Fox Womb. I’ve been waiting to catch them in an enviroment where I can purely just watch, and with another banging EP under their belts, named Sweet Violence, I am very excited to see some of these new songs.

All I can see and hear is a wall of feedback and lots of beautiful long hair before their set kicks off properly. First off is a rowdy banger in Fight / Flight as Chaos Reigns kick their set off with their unique blend of thrashey / skramz / hardcore punk noise. They very quickly get a pit moving when their vocalist jumps into the crowd, that combined with that chunky bass tone and those flying double kicks makes for a fast and dangerous song which is – if you’ll excuse me, “music to my ears.”

They have a good mix of disjointed verses and plenty of groovy breakdowns to keep me suitably pleased. They’re a very fun watch and if you’ve got the chance to catch them, they are worth your attention.

I’ve personally not heard anything from State of You previously, they are a completely new band to me so I don’t know what to expect whatsoever – and I can very happily say I was stoked with their performance. Fat guitar licks and cheeky bass drops littered all throughout the set – They immediately caught me as a group of very talented people who deserved this very packed out room.

You should expect a Saturday night at the black heart to be nicely packed, and this it is. People are moving and swaying with their darkened punk grooves. With plenty of catchy choruses and fat riffs alike, they waste no time in curating a very exciting and energy filled set. It’s clear they’ve worked up to this point and are having as much fun as the crowd are having. They’ve got plenty of room for breakdowns and two steps but their huge choruses and catchy verses are where they shine. I can see this band on huge stages across in their future.

Keep an eye on both of these bands, and be there the next time either of them are playing. I’ll be there, come say hey!