Live Review: Sinsaenum with Dendera, Damim, and Die Ego at The Underworld, London (17/10/25)

Could Sinsaenum have picked a worse day to play in London!? Over in Islington, doom icons Paradise Lost are regaling the masses with tales of woe. Over in Wembley, Killswitch Engage (and some hefty support) are bringing the heavy fire, and across the city, numerous other shows of varied sizes are happening. All of which means getting the masses into The Underworld is one hell of a task, and it shows. Even though by time the headliners do hit the stage, the venue has at least filled out enough to not make it awkward.

It’s no reflection the quality of the band, who bring the fire, the energy, and the intensity in a ripping and roaring showcase of death metal, it’s more a reflection of the insane UK gig calendar that exists right now.

There’s no band hurt more by this then opening band, Die Ego, who start their set to a handful of people in the room. It doesn’t help that they’re on super-early too as it’s a club night at The Underworld, which means the show must be wrapped up by 10pm. Credit to the trio though, they throw their all into this and deliver a hefty crashing and smashing of thrashing, head banging, death and doom with an aggressive modern twist. Alas, as enjoyable as it was, they’re also hurt by a guitar cable issue and while they were able to ‘deal’ with it eventually and carry on like pros, there’s no denying that it’s not the best day at the office for the band.

No such issues for Damim though, who continue to delight with their nihilistic, blackened progressive death metal sound. There’s something so sinful about experiencing Damim live, and their sound is on point here. Shrouded in darkness, they arrive on stage with a bit more fanfare (always nice to see) and deliver a captivating display of heaviness. It’s impressive to see the meagre crowd bolstered at this stage, but I am convinced that it was because Damim’s sound reached the streets of Camden and hypnotically ushered in some fence-sitters.

Though, if we’re talking about bringing the crowd in, Dendera can hold up their heads very high. Not only standing out from the pack with their more melodic sound, but effortlessly causing wild bouts of head banging, some pitting, and horns held high. They’re an awesome band, well-respected in the metal scene, and take as much enjoyment out of performing here as the crowd do seeing them do their modern melodic metal thing. It’s almost a show-stealing effort.

Almost. As bang on 9pm, here’s the extreme metal supergroup Sinsaenum, hitting the stage like heroes (it has been seven years), and kicking straight into the title track of their latest album, In Devastation. It’s an immense start, the band looking and sounding so comfortable on stage, and delivering the new stuff like it has been part of their setlist for years already. So strong are these tracks, that it’s a bit of a shame that we only get a handful off the new album, even though I find it hard to complain about hearing the likes of Sacred Martyr, Ashes, and Army of Chaos.

It’s a class setlist, so strong, that they even manage to tempt me into the pit briefly. A personal highlight is Spiritual Lies, but there’s a lot of emotion in the room with Last Goodbye and the huge finale of My Swan Song.

It’s all over too soon. Just short of an hour, but damn it, if it wasn’t satisfying. Londoners might have been spoiled for metal shows that night, but all of us in the Underworld really ate well.