LIVE REVIEW: As Everything Unfolds, Heriot, CRASHFACE, Camden Assembly, London, 25/02/2022

In 2021, melodic post-hardcore outfit As Everything Unfolds dropped their debut album Within Each Lies The Other, an album rooted in chunky riffs, dreamy electrics and spine-tingling vocals; a breakthrough body of work that promised that As Everything Unfolds would be future leaders of the UK metal scene. Now a year later since its release, the band are about to step out to a sold-out Camden Assembly situated in London, the air electric, the audience waiting in anticipation and the air buzzing to see this six-piece on their fast-ascending rise to metal stardom, gearing up to performing in full the full-length that cemented this bands place as some of the best new blood in the scene.

Preceding As Everything Unfolds comes CRASHFACE and Heriot, two contrasting bands bringing their blend of noise alt-rock garage and fresh feeling ethereal industrial metal to Camden with utter carnage, chaos and colossal noise levels.

Launching right away into set opener Take Me There, taken from the bands respective debut album performed in its entirety this evening, As Everything Unfolds walk on stage to the gentle, eerie and atmospheric twangs of the guitar, vocalist Charlie Rolfe’s voice raising many hairs on the back of many necks in that room only on song one of the set.

Taking attendees through the journey of Within Each Lies The Other continues in blisteringly beautiful effect as set blasts through songs such as Stranger In The Mirror, Grayscale and Hiding From Myself, songs that range live from the simple subtlety of Stranger In The Mirror to the epic grandiose choruses of the likes of Grayscale, anthemic and arena sized for such a small scale venue to the upbeat tempos and pleas of Hiding From Myself getting every packed out audience member in that room to scream those lyrics “Hiding from myself/The shadows, they’re watching over me/Conscious numbing out/But no one, no one believes me” to maximum volume.

Closing out the set with what would be the album opener, On The Inside perhaps the heaviest hitting set song of the night and by far the bands career defining single packs some almighty punches live, chunky guitar riffs, guttural screams and electro melodic metal feel giving one last shot of adrenaline.

Within Each Lies The Other is undoubtedly an important record in the history of As Everything Unfolds and honouring the album that made this band burst into the consciousness of many seems very apt. Pulling out all the stops and putting every single song into the setlist with pure emotion and elation this evening is more than testament to a debut record that has done so much.

8.5/10

Written by: Katie Conway-Flood