Sylosis and their mini festival in Kentish Town

On the 20th of February 2026, british metallers Sylosis released their 7th studio album “The new Flesh” via Nuclear Blast Records.

The band has been touring Europe since mid January, and on release day they brought the tour on home turf, hauling half a festival heavy lineup with them onto the O2 Forum Kentish Town stage.

Sylosis joined forces with Heaven Shall Burn who are at the start of their ‘Heimat Over Europe’ tour with support from The Black Dahlia Murder and Frozen Soul, turning the original lineup into a mini festival/extended co-headliner.

An extended set does mean an early start and very quick changeovers, with the first four bands playing 30 minutes sets and having only 15 for changeovers, truly showcasing the grift and talent of everyone involved in making it run as smoothly as possible.

Texan Life Cycles kicked things open with their trashy/hardcore riffs, warming up the crowd. Even though still somewhat new to the scene, having formed in the last six years, they proved themselves on the Kentish Town stage, in spite of an early start and a downright intimidating list of bands due to follow them. Pits started slowly opening up and the mood was set: this one’s going to be a heavy night.

Distant threw on a more classic deathcore and slam approach, heavily incorporating their storytelling in the mix. On that note, everyone should check out Tyrannotopia, especially if you’re a Lovecraft fan!

Up next came Frozen Soul, another texan representative with a death metal focus, but this time it was more about chunky riffs and in your face stage presence, in favour of the super technical stuff. They also get serious cool points for the heavy chain-made mic stand.

Revocation are the last of the half hour sets, blending technically complex guitar riffs and intricate drumming with classic death metal tones. Dave Davidson (vocals, guitar) is a truly talented artist, making insanely complex patterns look downright comfortable to play.

Moving into the first 45 minute set, with a little more room on stage now that most of the drum kits have been moved, The Black Dahlia Murder launch straight into “What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse” and I personally felt like a teenager head-banging to Nocturnal and Miasma way back in the 2000s.

With over a quarter of a century of touring under their belt, a rich and at time tragic history, multiple lineup changes, the band has managed to remain a true staple of the melodic death metal scene, even more importantly, following the sad passing of Trevord Strnad, they continue to push and deliver fantastic performances, with vocals remaining in more than safe hands with Brian Eschbach taking lead.

The first headliner of the night comes from German legends Heaven Shall Burn, who are back on tour after a bit of a break and some health issues which had them pull out of a couple European festivals in the last year.

For a band that doesn’t tour that much, where all it’s member still hold day jobs and insist on living a regular life, their stage presence hit like a bulldozer.

Marcus Bischoff is a hell of a talented individual with an incredible vocal range and energy, and Maik Weichert is a true wizard when it comes to shredding complex riffs on guitar.

After about three decades of playing, the band is still as tight as ever, playing off of each other and using their long song intros to engage with the audience. I do hope that we will see more of them soon, as an hour didn’t quite seem like enough.

After six heavy and complex openers, Sylosis take their stage to finish this thing with a blast. ‘The New Flesh’ is the band’s 7th studio album and already being regarded as their best and heaviest work yet.

Josh Middleton’s vocals are as impressive as always, and their obsession with big riffs, strong lyrics and world class drumming from Ali Richardson are themes you can hear throughout the entire album.

They take the stage with Erased, the first song they released from this new era and the crowd, who one might think might be tired by now, are completely frenzied.

They keep the momentum going, mixing things from all their records, a fairly well balanced setlist. Hoping that the next tour will see more The New Flesh as everything we heard live now, was incredibly solid.

The brand new ‘All Glory, No Valour’ is worthy of a special mention. Heaviest song they’ve ever put together, and some of the best metal/metalcore riffs I’ve ever heard live, especially from a band that takes a more “less cleans, more screams” approach to metalcore.

All in all, it was a long night, filled with great riffs and a lot of head-banging. Whilst some of the openers encountered some sound issues, everyone recovered quickly and never let the energy in the room go down.