Live Review: Unto Others - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
24th June 2025
Support: Lowen
Words & Photos: Nic Howells
It’s been barely 4 months since the last Unto Others show on UK soil, and the upgrade in proceedings has been substantial for them. They are now in the headline slot once again. They have levelled up quite some was since last they played one the UK’s best independent rock bars in Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms. In support of their latest album Never, Neveland, they rocked up for a late June romp that the UK’s humidity seemed a bit too ready for.
Bloodstock alumni and southern act Lowen kick off the evening in a heavily theatrical setting that the no frills fans of Unto Others are very appreciative of. This opening slot for Lowen is in support of last years album Do Not Go to War With the Demons of Mazandaran. Where a lot of Unto Others’ show is based around the guitars doing the talking, Lowen’s Nina Saeidi is a siren on centre stage from the opening notes of ‘Najang Bah Divhayeh Mazandaran’. Guitarist Shem Lucas and live bassist Faust Perez are lively, but exist almost outside of the high cinema that is the restrained movements of the vocalist.
The act has a number of set pieces in props accompanying Nina on stage. During ‘The Fortress of Blood’ from their 2018 EP see them brandish a ceremonial mace, whilst ‘Corruption on Earth’ sees this traded for a curved dagger and sheath, each used mostly to minimal physical effect, but adding to the drama portrayed in Lowen’s songs. The offering for Nottingham would be considered thin to some, with the set only being 4 songs, but those songs are jam packed with room for praise.
By their final song, ‘Ghazal For The Embrace of Fire’, Nottingham has been shown to be a force in terms of riffs, as well as the vocal ability of the act. As one final act of theatrics, the song features both the use of the daf, which is an Iranian frame drum, as well as Nina holding a book to the sky, concluding the set with a sumerian incantation. It doesn’t feel like listing the aspects of the set quite does it justice, and Lowen is an act we’d implore people to see more of at the first chance possible (Perhaps even a Bloodstock return?)
By Unto Others’ own admission, three years ago they played to perhaps twelve people in Nottingham. The turnout this time round is vastly better, and the room is lively as sin as the four gents arrive onstage. As mentioned, Unto Others let the music do the talking, with some posturing and old school goth rock posturing thrown in between set pieces. This is a more than proven formula, and not just by Unto Others. They begin with last years lead single from Never, Neverland ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Momma Likes the Door Closed’, the same one-two punch opener as their last tour.
The extra few months on the road has really cemented the new material in the set though, and here's where the little extra flare of a headline set gets sprinkled in with ‘Nightfall’ and ‘Fame’. Gabriel Franco is a man of only a few words unless they are sung, but he explains how he and Sebastian came together 8 years ago in search of something unique, and this is the journey it's taken them on. It’s the perfect anecdote for them to briefly roll back through the years with ‘Jackie’, as well as ‘Double Negative’ from their first full length, Mana.
This set is a truly comprehensive walkthrough of the latest album, as ‘Time Goes On’, ‘Flatline’ and the cover of the Ramones ‘Pet Sematary’ are all played back to back, with a definite case of double point from the crowd when they announce the cover as part of the set. Classic genre, playing a classic track, from a classic band, it was never really going to go wrong. Though this does conclude the tracks from their latest record for the evening, as they then move into ‘Give Me To The Night’ from Mana. Fans are well aware they have a few tracks they’re yet to play, but Gabriel is deeply sarcastic when he said “We have one song left. You can choose to believe that, or not, I guess”. The final track for the main portion of the set is ‘Dragon, Why Do You Cry?’, during which Gabriel properly introduces the full band, and asks for the loudest scream Nottingham can manage for birthday boy Sebastian before the band walk off stage, and definitely don’t come back…
Shockingly, each of the members walks back on, one finger aloft, questioningly. Gabriel instead promises three, to the dismay of literally one person at the back of the room. The begin with one he admits they don’t often play, ‘I Feel Nothing’ from the original Don’t Waste Your Time EP in 2018. The final offerings again come back to the Mana album, both ends of the spectrum in terms of energy with ‘A Single Solemn Rose’ and ‘Cosmic Overdrive’, with Gabriel wailing the introduction to the latter as the final track of the night.
If there’s one thing that is clear with Unto Others, whether they are opening for titans like Behemoth or Carcass, or sharing duties with Green Lung as they had earlier this year, you are getting arena level music ability, up close and personal. For your money in Nottingham on this night, this would’ve been the best show in town. A celebration of eight years of Unto Others, a birthday, and a city’s rediscovery of its gothic-metal heroes.
Photo credits: Nic Howells
