Without hyperbole, 2025 may have been the greatest year for live heavy metal in a generation. At the epicentre was Back To The Beginning: the spectacular that cast the world’s gaze onto Birmingham as Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath called it quits. But there was so much more as well. Bands from Ice Nine Kills to Killswitch Engage cemented their arena status, Sleep Token grew even more enormous by headlining Download for the first time, and Iron Maiden and Linkin Park conquered stadiums in victorious fashion. As the New Year looms, we got Metal Hammer’s pool of writers to wax lyrical on the best gigs they attended over the last 12 months.
Knocked Loose (Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium – March 24)
Hardcore was never supposed to be this heightened. It was never supposed to be experienced in rooms of this magnitude, either. But the fact that Knocked Loose managed to curate a show this emotional and gripping while still feeling dangerous indicates just how far the genre has travelled in recent years. An unrelenting joy from start to finish, each bludgeoning track was intricately woven into the next and every breakdown was delivered with diabolical intent. The quintet dealt out as many spinkicks and flying fists as the tireless masses before them, making this the sort of show that gets talked about for years to come. The definition of generational. Jack Rogers
Satyricon (Inferno festival, Oslo, Norway – April 19)
Satyricon might be divisive in black metal, but their Inferno headline show was a unifying experience. It wasn’t just down to Oslo’s Rockefeller being rammed to the point of critical mass; frontman Satyr has a remarkable knack for bending audiences to his singular will. Kicking off with Now Diabolical, Repined Bastard Nation and Black Crow On A Tombstone, these were massed robot-army marches that made you feel alive and delirious. They zeroed on something essential, and the tribute Satyr paid to late Inferno founder Jan-Martin Jensen added an emotional dimension that made its way into their indomitable anthem, Mother North, every soul in the venue singing along as one. Jonathan Selzer
Nine Inch Nails (O2 Arena, London, UK – June 18)
My birthday’s in June, and one of the best celebrations was in 2022, when I saw Nine Inch Nails twice at Cornwall’s Eden Project and once at London’s Brixton Academy, within the space of a few days. So when I saw they were playing Manchester and London on consecutive dates this June, I had to go. Starting with piano on a central B-stage, moving through the hits on a strobe-and-shadow-filled main stage, and including a dance remix section, these gigs showed a band still at the top of their game and unafraid to fuck with their own conventions. Eleanor Goodman
Back To The Beginning (Villa Park, Birmingham, UK – July 5)
An obvious pick? Probably. But how can anything compete with the most epic, star-studded and emotional metal gig of all time? Heavy music’s Live Aid wasn’t just a brilliant tribute to the band that started it all; it was the perfect, crystallised celebration of the genre itself. If all we got were the likes of Lamb Of God, Alice In Chains, Metallica and Slayer smashing out the classics, it would have still been an all-timer. To then bid farewell to Black Sabbath was the icing on the cake. Little did we know, just over two weeks later, Back To The Beginning would have an even greater, devastatingly poignant legacy. Merlin Alderslade
Die Spitz (Downstairs At The Dome, London, UK – July 10)
The best gigs aren’t about flashy production, but the exchange of energy between artists and fans. On that score, Die Spitz’s first UK show was truly special. Performing two months ahead of the release of their brilliant debut album Something To Consume, the Texan quartet lit up north London. They melded badass attitude, head-caving riffs, genuine personality and an admirable-verging-on-alarming disregard for their own safety, with vocalist/guitarist Ellie Livingston and bassist Kate Halter both stage-diving and crowd-surfing. This is the kind of band that Motörhead would have brought out on tour, purely so that Lemmy could have watched them play night after night, and I can think of no higher compliment. Paul Brannigan
Trivium (Bloodstock Open Air, Derbyshire, UK – August 8)
Ascendancy was the first modern metal record I heard (and the album that set me on the path to… well, all of this), so seeing Trivium play it in full in January was going to take some beating. But then what do they do? They put on a masterclass in how to headline a festival. Guest slots, covers, anthems – the Floridians delivered the lot, hammering away with an earnestness that shows they’re still the metal-loving kids they were 20 years ago. I’ve seen some legendary performances this year, but Trivium proved a show doesn’t have to be once-in-a-lifetime to be magic. Rich Hobson
Green Lung (Arctangent festival, Bristol, UK – August 15)
Any gig so chaotic that it forces you to retire from moshing is worth celebrating. That’s what happened during Green Lung’s set at Arctangent this year. While the doomsters seemed surprised to be on a lineup typically reserved for prog bands, their self-described “well-researched lyrics on folklore”, theatricality, and riffs as weighty as monoliths secured them as my gig of the year. Between swigs of red wine, the party-starting setlist and my attempts to dodge the many elbows during One For Sorrow, it couldn’t have been more fun – even if I did almost re-deploy the contents of my stomach after getting bashed about in the pit. Liz Scarlett
Blackbraid (Brick By Brick, San Diego, California – September 18)
The prospect of seeing Blackbraid kick off their new tour had me chomping at the bit, and one step into Brick By Brick confirmed I wasn’t alone. The club buzzed with anticipation, bodies packed tight and eyes locked on the stage like a pre-riot staredown. I’d been immersed in Blackbraid III for months, but live it became something more volatile and physical. Sgah’gahsowáh blew me away as a frontman: pure kinetic energy, mic stand swinging, hair flying, delivering every scream as if he were standing on the rim of a black hole. I left wrecked and exhilarated. Nothing else in 2025 came close. Joe Daly
Lowen (The Underworld, London, UK – December 4)
In their last hurrah before they disappear to cook up a new record, Lowen decided to blow the bloody doors off of The Underworld in Camden Town. The stage was laden with Persian fineries, including beautiful carpets and exotic plants atop amps. The setlist was a blistering tour of their work so far, and vocalist Nina Saedi was in spellbinding form. And did I mentioned the belly dancers wiggling in time with the tempestuous music? I’ve seen Lowen play many shows since the early days, but this one marked their apotheosis as a band. Amazing. Kiarash Golshani
Gojira (LDLC Arena, Lyon, France – December 10)
The second I saw the setlist that Gojira had on their French tour, I started packing my bags. The extreme metal titans were celebrating 20 years of fan-favourite album From Mars To Sirius by dusting off some long-untouched deep cuts, so I knew I was in for a spectacle, but even then what I experienced blew my mind. As well as my favourite band playing gems I never thought I’d hear live, there were literal flying whales circling the arena and enough blasts of pyro to raze the city of Lyon. It was a nonstop extravaganza: easily the best gig of the year, if not my life. Matt Mills
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