Each year, as summer threatens to start peeping round the corner, Incineration Festival descends upon Camden Town for a full day of extreme metal heaven (er, sorry, extreme metal HELL!!!, obviously). From the historic, stunning Roundhouse to the sweaty, storied Underworld and beyond, by late afternoon, four of Camden's venues are under siege from black-clad metal fanatics, eagerly bouncing around the half-mile strip as the very best in black, death, thrash and doom takes over London's alternative capital.
This year's lineup was an all-time classic, with everyone from fast-rising, genre-splicing black metal mavericks to returning cult metal icons doing their best to steal the show. That all said, here are the seven bands that, when all was said and done, won the day at Incineration 2025.
Warbringer (Electric Ballroom)
Warbringer aren’t the biggest band to have come from the 2000s thrash metal revival, but their set opening the Electric Ballroom proved they understand their genre. The Californians only had half an hour to excite their turnout for the day ahead, and they filled it with an all-adrenaline series of riffs, shouts and breakdowns. The auditorium was a whirlpool of bodies, with the pit getting its steps in from the off, while vocalist John Kevill gleefully encouraged the bedlam. By the end of the day, they were still one of the highlights. Matt Mills
Spectral Wound (Electric Ballroom)
Spectral Wound’s cardio regime must be fucking insane. The Ballroom was literally overflowing when the Québécois unit took the stage (a one-in-one-out system had to be enforced), and the five-piece charged through 45 minutes of lightspeed black metal. Drummer Jordan “Illusory” Kelly flaunted the stamina of a marathon runner via his incessant blast-beats, and guitarists Andres Arango and Patrick McDowall kept pace with tones as harsh and loud as a million bees. Though there was little banter from frontman Jonah Campbell, the invigorating music and the band’s theatrical presence lent more than enough spectacle. Matt Mills
Múr (Roundhouse)
The Roundhouse opened just five minutes before Múr played their first note. Sadly, this meant that more than a few fans missed Iceland’s post-metal enigmas. Both they and the band, who marched onstage to a quarter-full venue, deserved better, given the recent Century Media signees delivered a cinematic, groove-packed onslaught. Frontman Kári Haraldsson brandished a blade-like keytar as he and his bandmates unloaded dense, boot-stomping riffs, backed by a huge video screen and columns of fire. For a stage opener at 4:30 in the afternoon, who only have one album to their name, it was pretty much perfect. Matt Mills
Blackbraid (Electric Ballroom)
That Jon 'Sgah’gahsowáh' Krieger and his cohorts packed out the Electric Ballroom for only their second ever UK show speaks volumes of the continuing hype around his acclaimed indigenous USBM project. Any fears Blackbraid's live show wouldn't measure up to the fire and fury of their studio output evaporated within seconds of the band striding on stage and launching into The Spirit Returns; bathed in red light and carrying the kind of swaggering stage presence that made Watain scene standard bearers, they looked and sounded formidable. Hell, Krieger even made a flute solo look badass. When we finally get a full headline show on these shores, we should prepare for something very special indeed. Merlin Alderslade
@metalhammeruk ♬ original sound - metalhammeruk
Trivax (Black Heart)
Iran-founded blackened death metallers Trivax have been on the scene in one form or another for over 15 years now, anchored by frontman and founder Shayan. While their battering, gnarled noise did a fine job of getting heads banging upstairs at the Black Heart, he was undoubtedly man of the match, his frenzied glares and Undertaker eye-rolls giving him the look of a man who's a) possessed and b) not very happy about it. Do not spill this lad's drink. Merlin Alderslade
@metalhammeruk ♬ Extreme Metal - Obscure Detail Terror
Blood Incantation (Roundhouse)
Blood Incantation have long been hailed as among death metal’s most fearless explorers. The Coloradans are equally unafraid of balls-out extremity and cosmic, synth-fuelled grandeur, and last year’s Absolute Elsewhere converged those extremes into a mind-boggling whole. The two-track, 40-minute odyssey was played in full in the Roundhouse and given the kind of warped visuals it deserves. Videos of intergalactic travel and alien wastelands emphasised each of the band’s cross-genre leaps, and it made for a transcendent experience. Safe to say, plenty of attendees will be back when the band headline their UK tour in October. Matt Mills
Triptykon (Roundhouse)
Tom G. Warrior has been in a reflective mood lately, celebrating portions of his near-45-year career across various live formats since 2022. For his Incineration headliner, the frontman zeroed in on Celtic Frost’s output, and the setlist was spotlessly selected. Where such mid-80s aggressors as Procreation (Of The Wicked) and Circle Of The Tyrants incited the Roundhouse’s circle pits, there was just as much room for the band’s more daring material. A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh received its live debut and proved an instant, dynamic standout. Both casual fans and loyalists were catered to with this retrospective. Matt Mills
