Live Review: Fit For An Autopsy – 2022 UK Tour – O2 Academy Islington

Fit For An Autopsy is a huge name in the deathcore scene and when they took over the O2 Academy Islington in May, it promised to be one hell of a show. Enlisting the aid of Sentinels, Great American Ghost, Enterprise Earth and Ingested, the entire night promised to be a slam fest! Here’s what went down.

Opening the show was Sentinels, who captivated the crowd right from the off with their blend of deathcore from across the pond. Extremely heavy and even more aggressive, the band kicked things off the only way they should have been! Subtle melodic harmonies littered their tracks which translated nicely in a live setting. Despite being the first band on, a pit started to form and the band even managed to get a circle pit going. They saved the heaviest track till last sending the entire room into a frenzy. Now that’s how you open up a show!

Following them was Great American Ghost and oh boy were these guys energetic! Singer Ethan Harrison loves a bit of crowd interaction and in the first song, he had already leapt to the barrier to get a little closer. A lot of brutal breakdowns encouraged the London crowd to let loose with the pit getting it most energetic during the track ‘Death Forgives No one’. The intensity only grew throughout their set and it goes without saying that they certainly captured the hearts of quite a few of the fans in attendance.

Continuing the carnage was Enterprise Earth. Needless to say at this point but the band where extremely heavy which instantly went over well with the uncaged crowd. Throughout the band’s set, the fans in attendance continued to mosh as if it was time for the headliner and the band matched the enthusiasm throughout their performance. Despite being one of the supporting acts, the crowd seemed as if they were ecstatic to be seeing them there, so I think we may be due an Enterprise Earth UK headline tour soon…

Travelling all the way from Slamchester UK is Ingested and to say they got the crowd ready for Fit For An Autopsy is an understatement! Walls of death, circle pits and pure unadulterated slam filled Islington Academy’s auditorium throughout this onslaught of a set. Not giving the fans a moment to recover, Ingested kept their set vicious and rapid. The new single ‘Rebirth’ had the room spinning like a merry-go-round and lead singer Jason Evans had the fans eating out of the palm of his hand! Despite suffering from power issues, Ingested kept the crowd entertained with a silent Wall of Death, a Rick Flair Woo and a Slamchester chant before finally getting to finish off their set.

Fit For An Autopsy started their set on a sad note by asking the crowd to give a moment of silence for The Black Dahlia Murder frontman Trevor Strnad who sadly passed away at the age of 41. Once respects were paid the band launched straight into ‘Oh What The Future Holds’ before launching into a set full of nothing but pure aggression. ‘Warfare’ sent the crowd into a frenzy seeing multiple crowd surfers come flying over the barricade as well as creating an extremely unruly mosh pit to match the song’s high intensity.

Following on from that was ‘No Man Is Without Fear’ which only saw the crowd lose themselves into the void of Death Metal more. As the set progressed you could just tell that this was a special show. Nothing deterred the band from putting on a set to remember and the fans just ate everything that was thrown at them. As the set drew near an end, Nate Johnson quoted Trevor once again with the line “We were all fans once” and ensured the crowd that he’d never forget that. Closing out the set was ‘Your Pain Is Mine’ which sent the London crowd into overdrive. Everything from the melodic riffs to the high pitched screams seemed to land perfectly. As the band took to the stage one last time, they thanked the fans for turning a shitty day for them into an amazing one before sending the crowd off with ‘Two Towers’.

As a whole, the night was a death metal fan’s dream. A stunning line up of up and coming bands as well as seasoned veterans was only ever gonna end well but even still, this exceeded my expectations! Often when you have a 5 band bill the show can start to drag at times however that wasn’t the case here. This was a truly spectacular show.