Live review: Knocked Loose, London O2 Academy Brixton

Knocked Loose are dominating right now – but you knew that already. They have the world of hardcore in the palm of their hands and their fingertips around the neck of the mainstream. To remind you of the dizzying heights they’ve reached since they released Kerrang!'s album of 2025, You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To, they now have a GRAMMY nomination and a slot on Jimmy Kimmel to their name, not to mention giving Slipknot something to worry about when they opened their U.S. tour. They’ve even made conservative America clutch their pearls again.

How to celebrate, now they’re playing their biggest UK show to date? Violence, of course.

They’ve chosen three great bands to pull up alongside them and fill this iconic room with noise. Pest Control are up first, and the Leeds heroes prove just how huge they could be by wreaking havoc barely a quarter of an hour after doors, making the walls rumble with their catchy crossover thrash that sounds genuinely majestic.

Harm's Way follow with a similarly huge, hulking style of hardcore to make your face contort into some ugly shapes, demanding the crowd “fuck this place up” during their finishing move in which they slow their muscular riffs down to a truly disgusting sounding crawl.

Basement’s idea of aggression is to brutally crack thousands of hearts open at once. As down to Earth as the Ipswich quartet might be, their display has Brixton overflowing with emotion. Whole is a beautiful exercise in tension and release, the bombastic one-two of Spoiled and Are You The One are joyful wonders to witness and the almighty closer Covet makes the security staff put even more elbow grease in to catch all the crowdsurfers. With a new song thrown in, we must ask – when’s it dropping, boys?

As the room darkens and bright white light beams from a cross onstage as Knocked Loose arrive, the overpowering first notes of Thirst feel like they could restart a failing heartbeat.

“Are you feeling crazy?” yells Bryan Garris. “Let’s fucking see it!” With a follow-up as savage as Deep In The Willow, anything less than crazy from this crowd would feel insulting. Fortunately, the Kentucky mob get what they deserve. God Knows sends a tidal wave of energy, Deadringer is positively filthy and Don’t Reach For Me feels 10 times as devastating when played in the big room it was made for.

“Are you still feeling good?” The fans cheer, but Bryan says, “I can’t hear you!” A calculated ringmaster of destruction with his arms spread wide, he’s been on stellar form all evening. Guitarist Isaac Hale, wearing a superb black dress, also gets a turn to stir the pot – “I’m fucking sick of you at the sides standing and staring,” he dares, ordering the crowd to put their phones away. “I need you to move – I’m not asking, I’m telling.”

They pull the atmosphere in the room taut like a string, particularly in a jaw-dropping run of massive songs to finish. Blinding Faith, Billy No Mates (featuring Kadeem France of Loathe killing, skinning and gutting the end verse in the best possible way), Counting Worms, Suffocate, and the deeply affecting Sit & Mourn – ridiculous. Properly ridiculous.

Yes, tonight was always going to be a lesson in violence, but it’s also so much more than that. This hallowed hall has witnessed something special, even classifiable as a landmark moment for this band, for hardcore, the underground, and for heavy music.

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