Brixton Academy, originally a cinema converted into a concert venue, is a glorious South London playhouse for bands of all types. This is where AC/DC filmed their video for Thunderstruck in 1990. Tonight, the bands bringing the thunder are legends of the Thrash era in the shape of Kreator, Carcass and Exodus, supported by Nails, on the Krushers Of The World tour.
Kreator – Carcass – Exodus – Nails
O2 Academy Brixton – 27 March 2026
Words: Sean Titley
Photography: Dominic Beaven
Kreator
The show began by opening with an animated collage, on a huge digital screen, of violent historical imagery bringing to life the revolutionary rabbles in Imperial Rome, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the American social upheaval of the ’60s and through to the reactionary revolution of today with the death of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of Trump’s ICE agents.
This was all set to the anti-war protest song Eve Of Destruction, completely uncharacteristic of this super fast night, but maybe the most emotionally powerful song and with the current threat of war, escalation and nuclear weapons, maybe the most meaningful.
Kreator are not just here to give you the craziest night of your year but to make you think. Being a German band, this stance is perhaps a conscious reflection on that country’s complex politics as well as the world’s.
This added an unexpected layer of moral depth to the intense sound of Kreator and meaning to the crowd, locating them in time and space with the most creatively destructive and rebellious forces that the anarchy of Satan can raise.
With the fury and anger bar raised, it was no longer the eve but the night of destruction with the opener Seven Serpents from their new album Krushers Of The World, as the band tore through a set list of non-stop hits, sending the fans absolutely loopy for seventeen songs of beautiful madness.
The stage set had two demons at either side of the stage, recognisable from the 2024 Kreator/Anthrax/Testament tour plus a huge model of their demon’s head logo lit up mostly from behind with jewel-hard, red and blue eyes behind them.
A horned drum riser framed the pounding drumming of Jürgen ‘Ventor’ Reil and mic stands with shrunken decapitated heads spiked from the base upwards, reminiscent of the film Cannibal Holocaust, giving the great vocalist, Miland ‘Mille’ Petrozza a suitably malevolent look as he menaced with his trademark snarls and screams.
Having first seen them (with Raven, in 1989) when people were still allowed to dive from the stage, at a tiny club called The Majestic in Reading and where for no discernible reason the main glamour was added by strippers on stage, seeing them with a big stage show at O2 Academy Brixton is a remarkable transformation.
Long streamers fired into the air, air cannons firing confetti, smoke jets, and constant pyrotechnics blasted heat at you with the stench of gas, all upping the craziness as the hordes pogo into each other.
Highlights, for me, were chanting with everyone along to Hail To The Hordes and watching the masked hellish torch bearers coming on stage to the glorious punch the air, Hate Über Alles.
Then Mille opened up a wall of death for Hordes Of Chaos and later got half-strangled by streamers fired at the crowd during the super catchy Satan Is Real.
There was then the group buzz of Loyal To The Grave with Mille wearing Devil wings as he waves on his minions to wilder exertions and going mental to the final song of the night, Pleasure To Kill.
This will be hard to top as the gig of 2026. Only one niggle that for a crowd that were probably 60:40 weighted to long-time fans of Kreator that there were not more of the old songs.
In particular, it was surprising to see them leave out Terrible Certainty, Ripping Corpse Attack and Riot Of Violence. The black eye on a mate and the multiple bruises and bumps picked up on the night say that Kreator have still got it.
With such a brilliant back catalogue and modern songs, they are not only one of the greatest Thrash bands ever, but still crushing it.
Carcass
Carcass originated out of the UK Hardcore scene of the mid to late ’80s, along with tongue-in-cheek bands such as Lawnmower Deth, Acid Reign and at the more serious end, Napalm Death.
Basically, the rule then was to include the word death somewhere, preferably in your name. Carcass took this one step further, focusing on, well, carcasses and coming up with legendary song titles such as Genital Grinder, Exhume To Consume, Maggot Colony, Reek Of Putrefaction and a personal favourite, Corporal Jigsore Quandry.
Of course, these days they are a different animal, being loved as purveyors of a style of Melodic Death Metal as well as their Goregrind era material.
The performance was a clinical 45-minute display of precision, packing ten tracks into a set that barely paused for air. Jeff Walker commanded the stage with a caustic vocal delivery and rhythmic bass work, keeping crowd interaction to a functional minimum to ensure the music remained the focus.
The sonic landscape was defined by the exceptional guitar interplay with both guitarists playing counterpoised, aggressive, modern shredding.
The setlist was split pretty evenly between their Goregrind era and the Death Metal era, with the older classics seemingly sending the audience the wildest during what were constant full-on mosh and circle pitting with walls of death crashing together, all overseen by constant crowd surfing.
Later era, more intricate compositions such as the groove-laden Dance Of Ixtab benefited from a clearer sound mix than that afforded Exodus, allowing the band’s technical complexity to shine.
By the time they reached the closing title track of Heartwork, Carcass had successfully demonstrated why they remain a seminal force in the Extreme Metal scene, offering a darker, more calculated intensity that perfectly complemented the faster-paced Thrash acts on the bill.
Exodus
The quality of the bill shows with Exodus coming on third, which surprised me, against the backdrop of the cover of their brand new, giant-sounding and superb new Goliath album.
Rob Dukes clearer, deeper, more aggressive vocals make a welcome return on both the album and live, after Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza’s departure in 2025.
The Exodus set is pretty short but manages to squeeze in all their intensity, power, fun, and dancey Thrash beat, including debuting 3111 and Goliath and playing classics like Bonded With Blood and Blacklist with the crowd fist pumping “hey, hey, hey” their way through the song.
Later, a homage to Slayer’s song Reign In Blood saw Gary Holt with a cheeky grin, accepting the roars before launching into Toxic Waltz, sending the crowd into a frenzy with multiple mosh pile-ups and then finishing with streams of crowd surfers flying to the overworked security during the final song Strike Of The Beast.
Nails
Nails were an unknown quantity to me, except for a pre-listen online where they sounded excellent. They are a three-piece American Hardcore punk band, led by Todd Jones (vocals and guitar), who came on stage in a no frills, pared to the minimum, black t-shirts and jeans image and delivering what it said on the tin.
Hard as nails, fast, aggressive, short songs designed to ramp the crowd up to the max from the start, which they did with a circle pit immediately kicking off.
Exodus coming on early at 7.15 have them to thank for a crowd that had already turned feral.
