Words: Rosie Burgess
Photography: Caleb Smith
@ The Exchange 07/02/26
The night opened heavy and stayed there. With a lineup stacked in doom, sludge and noise-adjacent misery, there’s very little hand-holding from the first note onward – just volume, weight, and atmosphere.
Bristol-based Hora kicked things off with a sound they describe as doomgaze. Rooted in Cornwall but clearly shaped by the South West scene, their sound leans on classic heavy metal foundations while pulling in darker influences from black, death and post-metal. The set was thick with low-end weight and slow, deliberate pacing that kept the crowd locked in. Their set felt dense and immersive rather than aggressive, walls of reverb and slow-burn riffs bleeding into one another.
Second support Row of Ashes took things somewhere more oppressive. Blending sludge metal with noise rock, their set feels confrontational and hypnotic in equal measure, quickly sending the crowd into a near-trance. Having previously toured with Helpless, they carry themselves with the confidence of a band used to hostile rooms. Fans of Unsane, LLNN, Neurosis or Will Haven will recognise the appeal immediately: abrasive textures, crushing repetition, and no let-up.
By the time Epimetheus took the stage, the energy shifted. Fresh off the release of Perseus 9, which dropped the day before, there was a sense of momentum behind them, given the material: a confident, expansive sound. Describing themselves as doomgaze, their sound is immersive and expansive, built on layers of reverb, slow-burn riffs and a strong sense of atmosphere.
The crowd was visibly hyped, head-banging along as the new material from the album unfolded live for the first time. Rather than dominating through brute force, the set drew people in, creating a shared momentum between band and audience that never really lets up.
One of the night’s standout moments came during “Coalesce,” where Cillian Breathnach’s soaring guitar solo cut through the haze, briefly lifting the weight before dropping straight back into it. It’s a moment that captured the band as heavy, hypnotic, and carefully controlled.
As album launch shows go, this one landed exactly where it should: a celebration of new material, a locked-in crowd, and a sense that Epimetheus are stepping into something bigger, with Perseus 9 sounding fully realised in a live setting.
// Words: Rosie Burgess // Photography: Caleb Smith //