German technical death powerhouse Cytotoxin, supported by a monster trio of Analepsy, Osiah, and Cognitive, tore through Newcastle on the fourth date of their explosive Biographyte headline UK tour, unleashing a radioactive night of Death Metal devastation.
Cytotoxin – Analepsy – Osiah – Cognitive
The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle – 16 November 2025
Words: Matty Hunter
Photography: Vision Impact Photography
The venue hosting the weekend-closing mayhem was The Lubber Fiend, a hidden gem of a venue tucked away in Newcastle City Centre. Opened in 2022, they regularly host alternative live music and have become a prime hub for underground culture.
Cognitive
First on the four-band bill at around 7:35 was Cognitive, the technical Death Metal intricate force from Jobbstown, New Jersey, who opened the night with a heavy but precise emotional assault. 
Fresh off a U.S tour with genre heavyweights Nile, Cryptopsy, and The Last Ten Seconds Of Life just over a month prior, the band showed no sign of fatigue.
Their quartet lineup was joined by Tyler Lauer, of Torturous Inception, who was deputising on vocals for Shane Jost. Lauer was instantly captivating, chaotic, charismatic, and constantly in motion.
“What’s up, how y’all doing? We are Cognitive from America,” he exclaimed before throwing himself straight into the pit and powering through their short but impactful set.
The deputising vocalist kept the mood buoyant and energetic throughout from the floor as the crowd began to grow around him, and the band powered through their half-hour set, which consisted mostly of newer material from their two latest efforts – Malevolent Thoughts Of A Hastened Extinction from 2021, and last year’s Abhorrence.
Their segment standouts included A Pact Unholy, Containment Breach and To Feed the Worms. Overall, their clever blend of killer riffs, crushing brutality and intense lyricism added real depth to the Biographyte tour’s chaos, and they were a fitting opener, leaving the crowd impressed with their performance.
Analepsy
One of Portugal’s finest extreme exports, Analepsy, were second up, and they brought their technological sci-fi themed Death Metal chaos. In their first-ever appearance in the city, they made an impression on the Geordie crowd, who were delighted to see a rising force in European Death Metal in their hometown. 
Just after 8:15 pm, Analepsy took to the stage and wasted no time for introductions as they launched straight into their opening number and newest single, Cryogenic Rebirth. Their presence was instantly felt, as the music filled the room with a barrage of thunderous floor-shaking drumming, guttural vocals, and mesmerising riffs.
Despite The Lubber Fiend being an intimate venue, it took mere minutes for a circle pit to erupt in the centre of the floor.
Their setlist drew from across their eleven-year discography, including tracks such as Doomsday Protocol, Stretched and Devoured and Locus of Dawning.
Vocalist Calin Paraschiv worked both guitar and vocals with ease, firing up the crowd throughout. “You know this one – I wanna see you headbang,” he urged before fan favourite Apocalyptic Premonition.
During Genetic Mutations, he split the room with, “I’m gonna be like Moses – parting the Red Sea” triggering a rowdy wall of death and a chant of the chorus for their first song they ever released in 2014.
Analepsy’s set was tight, relentless, and delivered with total confidence, the kind of performance that shows why they have become one of the most exciting underground modern brutal Death Metal bands. Their precision, heaviness, and connection with the crowd made their Newcastle debut feel like a long-overdue eruption. 
Analepsy had only ever played a handful of UK shows before this tour, so I hope they are impressed with the fans over here and we see them back in these parts soon.
Osiah
Osiah were the penultimate slot of the night as the third of the four bands on the bill, stepping onto home turf with confidence and ferocity. 
The North East Deathcore quartet, formed in 2012, launched straight into a crushing opener just before 9:15 pm, unleashing murky riffs, explosive breakdowns, and vocalist Ricky’s impressive vocal range that swung from staggering highs to sonorously low gutturals.
“Newcastle, it’s good to be home,” he declared early, going on to thank both Death Metal fans and those there just to support them on their homecoming alike, before bursting out into the unforgiving single A Great Nothing. 
Those in attendance in Newcastle were only the third crowd on the tour to hear brand-new material from their EP Aion, which dropped on y7jnu8 14 November, with the tracks Within The Web and, later, the fan-requested The Forgotten performed.
As the set intensified, the pit grew and the energy inside the venue surged, with the band performing with excellent chemistry honed through years of touring and major festival appearances, including Bloodstock and Summer Breeze. 
Before closing out their set, Ricky once again thanked everyone for coming out to support local music and hyped up each band on the bill. They closed with Eye Of The Swarm, a devastating finale that left the room fired up and more than ready for the headliner.
It was not just an intense performance from Osiah. It was a reminder of how far they have come, rising from local favourites into a genuinely respected force in modern Deathcore, an untamed beast that continues to grow. It was great to see them back home.
Cytotoxin
Cytotoxin are a German Technical and brutal Death Metal band from Chemnitz, Saxony, who have carved their niche tapping into themes of nuclear disaster and radiated destruction since their formation in 2010. The lineup consists of five talented musicians, three of whom are founding members. 
By 10 pm, it was now nearing the time for Cytotoxin to perform, but not before the stage was meticulously set up, ready for them. The preparations included lining the stage with see-through illuminated canisters, a backdrop with their name emblazoned across it, giant banners with the band’s coined genre on it – “Chernobyl Death Metal” – and gas masks dotted around.
It was clear that Cytotoxin were planning something theatrical here, and it sure was that.
As the crowd cheered and the band took to the stage after 15 minutes of stage preparation, vocalist Grimo appeared with a gas mask on, clutching a box which was designed to look radioactive, teasing the crowd with its contents.
Shortly afterwards, the band blasted into Survival Matrix, the opening track of their sophomore record, Radiophobia.
What followed for the rest of their set was an assault on all the senses, with smoke, props and precision-forged Death Metal, a true spectacle.
Every band member played their part throughout their high-octane performance with little time for a breather, as Grimo prompted a wall of death, headbanging, and crowd immersion.
He even cleverly found a way to promote their newest record, which he told the crowd that the band worked for five years to produce, and that the tour was in support of (Biographyte), pulling the CD out of one of the barrels, suggesting that it was “really hot”.
A set which spanned across their five albums followed, with tracks such as Hope Terminator, Lupus Aurora and Outearthed performed. Grimo took to the floor about halfway through the set and joined the crowd with his gas mask donned, whilst keeping perfect time and vocal precision.
He kept telling the crowd to move as the room heated up, and the energy was palpable. During Condemnesia, he produced sounds that I did not even know were possible by a human, which at one point included the microphone in his mouth.
The final song of the night was Chernopolis, an obliterating song of near seven minutes in duration. Grimo encouraged one last phase of crowd participation as he armed himself in his gas mask and told the pit to get down to their knees and worship him when he joined them.
The crowd happily obliged, adding to the overall spectacle of the show, and this was an excellent way to close out Cytotoxin’s memorable set. 
In truth, Cytotoxin delivered an insane show. One of the best I have ever seen live, every person in that room will surely have been feeling similar after what they had just experienced, and all hoping that it would not be long until the band came back over to these shores.
