LLNN and Pupil Slicer join forces to plunge the year’s darkest nights even deeper into the void. The treacle-thick onslaught of sound at The Bogdea Social Club, Nottingham, is a refuge for Metal’s most inquisitive fans from the oppression of the late November temperature outside.
LLNN – Pupil Slicer – WORN OUT
The Bogdea Social Club, Nottingham – 26 November 2025
Words And Photography: Matt Pratt
LLNN
Where Pupil Slicer breathes life into their latest album, LLNN puts theirs to bed. The band hasn’t seen much of the road in 2025, but return to British soil to kick the year into the dirt with one last spin of their 2021 record, Unmaker.
Compared to the bands that we have just witnessed, there is an immediate sonic difference as LLNN’s intro track plays. The atmospheric tracks feel three-dimensional, as if the band were surrounding you, assaulting you with sound from every angle.
The unique auditory experience pulls you out of a crowded room and places you in your own bubble, glued in focus.
The performance is more comparable with a theatrical display than a concert. While still possessing all of the hallmarks of a classic Metal show, the set is amplified in its drama. This is best exemplified through frontman Victor Kaas, who embodies a sort of zombie, born of the very sludge that seeps throughout their music.
The snarling and stomping of the vocalist is the perfect visual component to accompany the abrasive sound of Unmaker. The apocalyptic compilation, born fresh out of our real-world dance with the end times, leaned not only on the tools of the musical trade in its creation, but also on those of blacksmithery. The grinding and gnawing of industrial machines is as hypnotic as it is tormenting, submitting you to their gloomy will.
With this send-off performance of Unmaker, it has to be assumed that LLNN has something new in the works.
As the year draws to a close, 2026 signifies opportunity and excitement for the future of a truly unique band. And after an incredibly quiet 2025, hopefully, we will see much more from them next year.
Pupil Slicer
This co-headline tour could not have landed at a more appropriate moment for Pupil Slicer. The newest addition to their swiftly expanding discography, Fleshwork, has been in the public eye for less than a month.
So fresh off the press, you might not have had a chance to give the new tracks a listen, but what better introduction than live?
Pupil Slicer spent the afternoon at the local Warhammer World and are about to bring their own declaration of WAAAGH to a Bodega already filled with dystopic aggression.
The band’s introduction may have you thinking otherwise, forgoing any sort of formal introduction to set the scene. Do not let the casual saunter into the spotlights fool you. The four-piece deliver a performance that is anything but laid-back.
Unforgiving, emotive and belligerent, this is not a show for the faint-hearted. The scalding vocals and incessant growl of guitar knock you off balance while the punch of the bass and drums beat you down.
It is easy to get lost in the power of the performance, but the rawness of the music lies not only in its violence.
The songs offer a voice of inner frustration that switches the feeling from music that is happening to you to a communal, cathartic experience.
WORN OUT
Frenetic energy from our opening band, pacing about on the claustrophobic stage as though we had kept them waiting. The early crowd, though strong in numbers, are slow to warm up from the frigid Nottingham weather, but this does not deter the furious four-piece.
Vengeful glares accompany the ceaseless twanging of guitar and battering of drums as the band forego holding out for requited energy.
You would be lucky to escape the wrath of a Hardcore band in as intimate a setting as The Bodega, and the Cork outfit have no plans to lightly accept the stand-back attitude of those in attendance.
Taking the brutality directly to the people, lines between crowd and stage become blurred as the band take a stroll, their frontman even summoning enough participation to be hoisted high above the increasingly engaged onlookers.
The Hardcore scene is as fierce in its support as it is in the pit, and though WORN OUT are early in their musical journey, they are doing all the right things to unearth that cult following.
Their vigour is undeniable. Pair that with their own captive audience on a headline tour, and you might need an ambulance, or maybe even a civil engineer, on standby.
