Tonight, July 10th, 2025, at Kuudes Linja – nearly sold out for the occasion – we were in for a treat: an intense, sweaty night of aggressive and explosive combination of bands, culminating into the blast beat madness of ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE. Coming for the first time to Finland, the American duo performed last night already in Turku, before heading here to Helsinki. Opening the evening was bestial black/death metal combo HOC EST BELLUM. The young band (only one demo in their discography) set the tone for the rest of the night with a convincing – and loud – show. Despite being a fairly new band, all three members were familiar faces from other projects, like HOLLOW WOODS, QWÄLEN, and BETELZEUS, among others. The trio offered a very fitting warmup for what was to come, while the audience was still filling the venue.
Another relatively new entry into the scene, AEDES has been playing last year at Helsinki Death Fest. They have one EP under their belt from 2 years ago, and like the previous band, they have a few recognizable members, such as the drummer (who also plays in FORESEEN) and the guitar player from FORCED KILL. Their offer is oriented towards a more traditional death metal sound, and perhaps due to the sheer raw intensity of the other two bands of the night, it was received a bit less enthusiastically by tonight’s crowd. They did show some good riffs and some promise in their music, but most of the people were already eagerly lusting after the smashing ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE.
The Virginia-based duo received a warm welcome in this first Finnish excursion of their career. Having witnessed the power and mind-blowing intensity of their shows at Roadburn a couple of years back, we knew already what to expect. With the drums moved to the left side of the stage, so the two can perform side by side, rather than with a song from their latest “Vengeance of Eternal Fire” (still well-represented through their set), the show began with “Cleaved from Flesh” from their debut record “Schism Perpetration.” This demonstrated from the get-go the violent brutality of their soundscape. The chaotic blasts echoing through Kuudes Linja sent the crowd into a frenzy like ants being poked with a stick. While some bulky dude tried to start a mosh pit throughout the gig, albeit unsuccessfully (but at least looked like he had fun!), most people were banging their heads at the frenetic rhythm dictated by the drummer and vocalist SB. The guitarist RZ was riding on that wave with his riffs. Needless to say, the evening became incredibly sweaty, while the band blasted through their anthems – such as the homonymous “Antichrist Siege Machine” – with relentless energy. In the end, when “Chaos Insignia” marked the final moments of the evening, it felt like the show ended almost too early (which is always a sign it’s been a good one!).
It was time to queue to get out of the venue into the drizzling rain of this bipolar early July, and recover some liquids before heading home for the night. Certainly ASM left a mark tonight, and we hope they’ll feel compelled to return to these shores sooner than later! Check our photo gallery here…
HOC EST BELLUM
AEDES
ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE
