Orbit Culture w/ Gaerea, Atlas – Stylus, Leeds: Live Review

By Andy Pountney on 14th November 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Orbit Culture, Gaerea, Atlas – Stylus, Leeds – Wednesday 12th November 2025

The annual flurry of autumn shows continues unabated. This time I made my way to Leeds University for a highly anticipated evening of melodic death and black metal courtesy of Orbit Culture and Gaerea respectively. The black clad masses arrived early and thankfully were able to queue inside the University building out of the rain, attracting curious glances from students and academics who were making their way to the Old Bar.

ATLAS

However, before we got to the aforementioned bands, there was the intriguing prospect of Finland’s Atlas and their self proclaimed “northcore”. The band have two previous albums, both absolutely magnificent, but they have now entered a new era, kicked off by two recent and well received singles, Salt And Sulfur and I Whisper Your Name Like A Curse, so I was really looking forward to the chance to catch them live.

The band took to the stage to a backdrop of white noise and strobes scanning the venue before launching into new track Tower, and building a set which was roughly half from their sophomore Ukko and half from more recent singles including the two mentioned above. The music was dark and brooding as dense atmospheres swirled around the confines of the Stylus. Special mention should go to a sublime rendition of Anodyne which was a highlight of the set with its emotive melodies and gothic, doom tinged post-metal sensibilities. I suspect Atlas were a new proposition to large sections of the crowd, but I’m sure many were converted to the gloomy cause by the time Atlas’ time came to an end.

GAEREA

After a short turnaround it was the turn of Portuguese enigma Gaerea. In recent years, Gaerea have deservedly built an enviable reputation in the metal underground with their impressive back catalogue and energetic live shows, and this was reflected in the enthusiastic crowd who had made their way into the venue early enough to catch the band.

The stage had the bands sigil split in two, half on either side of the stage with the drum kit in the middle as the band appeared with their trademark masks hiding their identities, launching into vitriolic renditions of new singles Hellbound and Submerged. The vocalist was as flamboyant as ever, full of exuberance and confidence as he writhed and spasmed awkwardly while delivering his sermons to the faithful crowd.

The band are rooted in black metal but this a far cry for the genre’s roots with large chunks of post-metal and atmospherics making up the band’s sound giving a contemporary, modern take on the genre. After the opening two singles, the rest of the set was drawn from the Coma and Mirage opuses, building a claustrophobic sound with the pulsating maelstrom hard to resist culminating in Wilted Flower and Mirage. This was a relentless barrage of nihilistic beauty!

ORBIT CULTURE

In recent years, Sweden’s Orbit Culture have catapulted out of the underground and into the mainstream metal spotlight on the back of stellar releases and consistently impressive live shows. This popularity was clear from the size of the queue for merch as the venue filled nicely by the time the band took to the stage and launched into Death Above Life. The opening trio all came from the latest album, but it was on the monumental North Star Of Nija that the crowd really found their voice and then energy levels went up.

The crowd were challenged to be louder than the previous night’s crowd in Glasgow before a pummelling rendition of Bloodhound kept the momentum going until the set drew to a close with the mighty Vultures Of North. Orbit Culture deliver an angular, modern take on melodic death metal which perfectly captures the zeitgeist and tonight further pushed up their reputation in the metal world.