Live Review: The Monstrous Sabbat at The Indigo O2, London (29/10/22)

This Halloween, something dark and devious crawled from the depths of Hell to entrance London. It’s the Monstrous Sabbat and for one night only, The Indigo at the O2 hosted the wickedness of Cradle of Filth. Alongside the atmospheric misery of Alcest, the powerful and punchy groove of Red Method and the intense heaviness of Naraka.

Metal doesn’t often take over a venue inside the O2 Arena in London, so this gig has a unique feel to it. The Indigo is a cool venue with some the most eye-watering and wallet-busting beer prices going. Visually and sonically impressive, you can see every part of the stage from any angle and the sound is loud enough to make you worry about your long-term hearing.

It’s a wall of noise that greets as we arrive to catch the second half of opening act, Naraka. Delivering a furious explosion of modern death and thrash, the venue may be barely half full but Naraka don’t care. They have one mission and that’s to get those who are watching, head-banging with all their might.

Speaking of getting heads-banging though. Red Method can do this in their sleep. The death groove that this ever-growing band offers is consistently heavy, exciting and infectious. It’s been an incredible few years for Red Method and their size and stature continues to grow. So much so that the Indigo is absolutely rocking for the brief time they are on stage. Which does end up causing a bit of a problem for Alcest.

Moody and atmospheric, the tone for Alcest is completely different compared to the first two bands and that inadvertently sucks the life out of the crowd. It’s a shame really because Alcest are stunning and on any other night, their music is utterly captivating. It’s just a really big ask to go from the energy of Red Method to the blackened gazey sound of Alcest.

It’s up to Cradle of Filth to re-animate the crowd though and unsurprisingly, they do this in their own incomparable way. A stage show filled with wicked imagery, pyro and a collection of a songs that show their longevity. It’s a set filled with more modern Cradle songs but each sounding as impactful as some of the classics. Maybe not the setlist many would have chosen for this night but one that is still mightily satisfying.