Live Review: Gaerea with Conjurer at Islington Assembly Hall, London (18/09/2026)

Portuguese black metal band Gaerea brought their Loss tour to London on Friday, 18 September, with Conjurer providing support at Islington Assembly Hall.

The masked collective, Gaerea, bring their dark and emotionally charged take on black metal to London, with Conjurer joining them for what promises to be a seriously heavy night at Islington Assembly Hall.

Formed in Porto and now approaching a decade of existence, Gaerea have steadily carved out their own space within the extreme metal scene, evolving from their post-black metal roots into something broader. Their fifth album, Loss, sees them continue that evolution, combining crushing extremity with haunting melodies, powerful choruses and an increasingly expansive sound. Following the acclaimed Coma, it represents another step forward for a band that has never been afraid to push themselves creatively.

Joining them tonight are Conjurer, one of the UK’s most respected modern metal bands. Their latest album, Unself, saw the band evolve once again, bringing a more melodic and emotional side to their already savage sound. It is an album that explores identity, belonging and finding your place in the world, while somehow retaining the crushing heaviness that has always been central to Conjurer. Having called it their finest work to date when we reviewed it, I’m excited to see how that evolution translates to the live setting.

On paper, these two bands should make for a very natural pairing. Both have evolved beyond straightforward definitions of extreme metal, balancing crushing heaviness with atmosphere, emotion and a willingness to push boundaries.

Its been a little while since I have been to Islington Assembly Hall and it is a venue I like a lot. Good size, great sound and a high stage making for good visibility. They might want to look at their beer prices though. Over £9 for a pint of Neck Oil is pushing it, even by London’s standards. They do a lot of other things better though and their “Support the Support” drive that sees early arrivals entered into raffles to win free drinks, merch and the like is a good idea.

Waiting for Conjurer to come up with their backdrop looking great on stage with dimmed lighting and wafting smoke, it’s pleasing to see that the venue is half full long before they are on stage, and 75% full as they are about to come on. Such is the quality of the bands here tonight that even those that prefer Gaerea wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to catch Conjurer too. With such atmosphere generated, the venue decides to complement it all by playing songs like Tubthumping and Come On Eileen – god knows where these venues get their ideas from!

Conjurer

Out in support of Gaerea but also in support of their excellent latest album, Unself, Conjurer sound amazing. The heavy rhythms reverberate through the floor and walls, immediately creating an intense atmosphere that only gets stronger as the set progresses. The setlist is packed with songs from Unself, starting with All Apart before moving into Hollow, where we get to see their very own Slaughter to Prevail moment as the vocals are shouted out without a microphone. The vocal power from all sides is immense, while the rhythm section absolutely crushes.

The intensity and emotion continue through There Is No Warmth before we reach a personal favourite, Let Us Live, which is dedicated to the Trans Community. It is another example of what makes Conjurer so impressive live. They are incredibly professional and so impressive to watch, with their musicianship unquestionable and their songs hitting hard constantly, whether through straight-up heaviness, emotional weight, or often both at the same time.

Hang Them in Your Head brings the Unself material to an end, with the band taking a moment to thank Gaerea and the crowd before heading back to Pathos for It Dwells. It is a killer way to end the set, with the bassist heading into the centre of the pit and helping keep the crowd engaged as Conjurer once again prove why they are so highly regarded within the British metal scene.

Gaerea

Any remaining space has been filled by the time Gaerea are ready to come on. I saw them a fair few years ago playing in the middle of the day on the Sophie Lancaster Stage and was impressed back then, but the recent releases, especially the immense Loss, have seen them expand their sound and welcome in a whole new crowd without losing too many of their post-black metal original fans. On top of that, their performance is now honed to near perfection.

Arriving on stage one at a time, with the drums introducing each member, the atmosphere is set from the off. Our masked band, backlit so they look like shadows, take to the stage and immediately have the room’s attention. This tour is in support of Loss and so, of course, we get a lot of songs from that album, kicking straight off with a personal favourite, Luminary Gaze.

The whole band are superbly talented and watchable, but the frontman does what frontmen should do by being immense on vocals while constantly entertaining too. Whether through dynamic movement and dancing theatrically, or by engaging the crowd, getting claps, fists in the air and phone lights on, they seem to have it all. A Freddie Mercury-esque “follow my vocals” section sees them run from one end of the stage to the other, testing which side is the loudest and getting pits going. They are instantly entertaining and never release their hold on the crowd for even a second.

Musically, they sound brilliant, with songs like Uncontrolled and Hellbound showing that, yes, they have polished their sound, but they are no less heavy and almost ritualistic in a live environment. This doesn’t feel soft; it feels black and heavy and important. Their expansive catalogue now allows for softer moments that still carry plenty of emotion, with Cyclone being one such song. Starting with clean vocals, it sounds great before we get the electronic LBRNTH, with vocals from the guitarist, leading us into the big hit, Nomad. The crowd are in raptures and the band and crowd seem to have connected on another level.

We do head back in time, not too far, to Coma for a few tracks. The excellent World Ablaze, Hope Shatters and Wilted Flower all get an outing, while we also head back to Mirage for Laude. A song the band dedicate to us, their fans, sees the entire room join in singing back “We Are Gaerea” to them. It feels so uniting and so like we are part of something more than ourselves.

A live variation gets added to the start of Submerged and Phoenix again sounds absolutely perfect, and heavier, live. The band leave the stage near the end, but the crowd chant them back on for their encore, Stardust. A song that really shows how much Gaerea have evolved now, with a very clean start sung beautifully, harmonising vocals between the vocalist and guitarist, with lights behind them making them appear like mythical shadows on stage before the instruments crash in to take us home.

I left giddy with what I had experienced. And it felt like an experience too, like watching a band at peak levels. The performance, that something to watch, is there. The crowd interactions and conversations are warm, funny and engaging and musically, they killed it.

I found it quite telling when the frontman asked who had been a fan of Gaerea before the last couple of years and half the crowd cheered. He then asked who had become a fan recently, through Loss, and the other half cheered.

They seem to have found the perfect balance between heaviness, but not so heavy that you scare off half the audience, while having an extremely likeable frontman and performance and a music catalogue to be proud of. This was near perfection. What a showing.

Overall, this was a seriously good night, with Conjurer and Gaerea both delivering sets that were heavy, emotional and hugely engaging in very different but complementary ways. Conjurer showed just how powerful the Unself material is live, combining crushing rhythms and vocals with real emotional weight, while Gaerea took things to another level with an expertly crafted performance, an instantly engaging frontman and a catalogue that now balances atmosphere, melody and sheer heaviness.