Live Review: Employed To Serve - KK's Steel Mill, Wolverhampton
Support: Burner, Celestial Sanctuary
21st April 2025
Words & Photos: Tim Finch
It’s been a wet and miserable day in the Black Country but as evening draws near the sun breaks through, just in time for and explosive evening of the best metal talents the UK has to offer. With their new album, Fallen Star, in the bag, Employed to serve kick off their headline tour in the best venue on these fair Isles, KK’s Steel Mill.
Burner let loose the opening salvo with ‘The Night Does Not End’, and with it, any remaining trace of calm in the room evaporated. The track’s dense, suffocating atmosphere was the perfect introduction, immediately hurling the audience into Burner’s vicious blend of hardcore, blackened sludge, and chaotic intensity.
The stage lit a solid, dark red as the band progressed through ‘Prometheus Reborn’ and ‘Hurt Locker’. Frontman Harry Nott commanded the stage with an unrelenting presence, his snarling vocals cutting through the wall of noise like a blade. Every crushing riff and blastbeat was delivered with surgical precision, the rhythm section particularly shining in ‘A Vision of The End’ which shifted from oppressive doom to frantic aggression in a heartbeat.
The closing track ‘EF5’ brought it all home in a storm of blast beats and feedback-laced chaos, leaving a trail of sonic destruction in its, and the bands wake.
Following the furious onslaught of Burner, Celestial Sanctuary took the stage, and if Burner brought the fire, these guys brought the slow, crushing weight of the tomb with them.
Kicking off their set with primal intent, the Cambridge death metal unit instantly shifted the tone of the evening into something darker, denser, and unapologetically old-school. Their sound is pure buzzsaw death, delivered with the confidence of a band that knows exactly what they are.
Frontman Tom Cronin’s guttural roar never faltered, sodomising our ears with his every breath. Between tracks, the band kept the chat to a minimum, this was all business, and the business was riffs.
As their set closed, the room felt like it had just survived an extinction-level event. Celestial Sanctuary might be flying the flag for the UK’s “new wave of old school death metal”, but tonight proved they’re not just part of the wave, they’re one of its heaviest hitters.
The opening night of a tour always carries a special kind of energy; a mix of anticipation, nerves, and sheer excitement. In Wolverhampton, Employed to Serve took all of that and detonated it into a relentless experience that left no doubt: this band is operating at full force.
From the first crushing notes of ‘Atonement’, the tone was set. The room instantly ignited, bodies moving as one, feeding off the band's unstoppable momentum. ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ and ‘Force Fed’" followed, each song tighter and more vicious than the last.
Vocalist Justine Jones commanded the stage with brutal charisma, her vocals slicing through the dense wall of sound. Meanwhile, guitarist Sammy Urwin’s backing roars and frenetic riffing gave the set its feral undercurrent. Tracks like the brand new ‘Fallen Star’ and ‘Sun Up to Sun Down’ added a melodic edge without ever softening the impact’
Mid-set highlights ‘Owed Zero’ and ‘We Don't Need You’ saw the crowd turn chaotic, fueled by the band's relentless drive. Newer material like ‘Breaks Me Down’ felt right at home alongside established anthems, each delivered with ferocity and conviction.
As the set raced toward its climax, ‘Mark of the Grave’ and ‘Whose Side Are You On?’ pushed the energy to even greater heights, the breakdowns hitting with bone-rattling intensity. Closing with the devastating one-two punch of ‘I Spend My Days (Wishing Them Away)’ and ‘Party’s Over’ Employed to Serve made it clear: their reign over the UK heavy music scene is far from over.
Photo Credits: Tim Finch Photography
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