Live Review: Kill-Town Death Fest – Saturday
6th September 2025
Words: Sam Jones
If people were already hungover to begin, Sewer Haul, a two-piece, shatter the peace. These guys are your real caveman death metal; sheer unga-bunga metal where a single chord has more strength behind it than whole tracks do. There’s nothing nuanced or fancy with these guys; they openly state they’re hungover which garners numerous laughs from the crowd as the sun breaks through the clouds. I’ll be forever impressed by drummers who can perform vocals at the same time, especially when that said drummer is ripping blast beats out of his kit like it owes him money. But then are instances where their tempo comes to a crawl, and the weight of their sound amplifies thrice over, only to rise steeply, driving us into a newfound frenzy.
Ruinous Power I’ve often described as the live child between Vektor and Voivod. These guys portray a more dissonant and archaic variation of sci-fi inspired death metal, though there’s a strong blackened quality permeating their performance. You have these rapid fire sequences where the blackened aesthetic comes with force but then the guitar employs tapping solos, more avant-garde sections whilst their drummer goes to town on his kit, simultaneously belting out these breakneck-tempo vocals. Often a drummer slows his performance down whilst singing but not Ruinous Power, this might be the fastest vocal performance I’ve ever seen while also drumming at the same time. Though the sun still shone with renewed strength, the band evoked a strong atmospheric immersion with songwriting that never outright pointed towards visceral aggression. Ruinous Power could have easily destroyed the main stage.
Maceration might look like a bunch of Danish Dads got together to play some death metal, but truth be told these guys formed many decades ago and only recently have they returned in force, releasing two full length works. I’ve had the astute pleasure to review both said records and they’ve only gone from strength to strength, but that strength is conveyed many times over with their live performance as they destroy everything. They may be among the eldest band members Kill-Town will see this weekend but Maceration take everyone to school, showing us how it’s truly done. Maceration’s style takes after the Swedes with their ripping death metal as we’re subjected to these seamless riffs that slice and stab with zero abandon. But things only increase to eleven as Benediction/ex-Bolt Thrower vocalist David Ingram makes an appearance, performing a cover from each said band. The synergy achieved with so many names of so many bands on stage at once is cathartic, bolstering the community vibe this festival possesses.
Caustic Wound burst onto the stage with little fanfare but the maximum detonation. The band’s signature Grindcore style is firmly at home amongst crowds eager for something more punishing aside from the already great atmospheric, ripping or trudging forms of metal we’ve already beheld. Though their savagery has rapidly grown infamous especially following their latest album, throughout their live performance you can see the incredible discipline they’ve undertaken through practise again and again to ensure their playing is tight and controlled so audiences understand everything they throw at them is tightly organised and deliberate. Nothing is left to the wayside.
There’s definitely a theme today with drummers being the primary vocalist, as Italy’s Miscreance take the Black Stage come ten in the evening. Stylistically Miscreance are a needed break tonally from all the death metal we’ve had today as they bring a technical thrash attack akin to Coroner before the heralded masses of the Black Stage. These guys are only young but they launch into their set with instant energy and people are behind them headbanging, beers in hand. The band have their technical, grounded moments for sure, but they also have these whiplash-inducing sequences where speed overtakes all other drives in their playing.
They might not be as “heavy” as other acts here today but they’re an excellently talented band who give us that needed break prior to Rippikoulo and Morpheus Descends. Bass drums rupture the air with abandon as basslines thicken their tracks, their bassist can evidently play at speed; just watching his fingers gives my eyes motion sickness. Kill-Town is renowned for its old school aesthetic so when you see people stagediving freely and carried away by the crowd it really demonstrates the complete spontaneity feasible at such a festival.
Rippikoulu are Finnish death metal legends, they have one major Demo apart from other small releases to their name, but Musta Seremonia continues to bring legions of fans in. It’s the sheer tone these guys possess; just looking at the bass played you can feel the power reverberate. We reached the point in the night where the drinks, the hype, the occasion, truly takes hold of people as the pit only intensifies, it never wanes and we knew cradling the very stage whilst Rippikoulu played that pit churned and continued to suck new people in its vortices. For some of my friends here, it was their first time and you can’t help but feel ecstatic for them, getting an opportunity to see legends live in the flesh. Rippikoulo always put on a great show.
Morpheus Descends. I cannot believe that I can cross this band off my bucket list, for I never thought in my life I’d get to see them. Once Rippikoulu finished we simply did not leave the hall until the band’s set was done. Acquiring final beers of the day, we waited. And waited. We heard Execration finish downstairs and knew the time was nearing, the hall filled up and before long, Morpheus Descends certainly lived up to their name. Old school New York death metal, brought to Copenhagen for an extremely rare Outside-The-US performance and it didn’t take long for the occasion to send people into a frenzy for the pit was simply unstoppable. People there understood the rarity, the event, of Morpheus Descends’ presence, and made the most of it. I don’t think there was a moment throughout their whole set where the front half of the crowd was still.
There’s nothing overly complex about Morpheus Descends’ songwriting; it’s the sheer riff baring down on us that keeps people going as you get these moments of ripping speed only for it suddenly cease and those singular notes carry us forth to obliteration. Once they were finished we called it a night, ecstatic we lasted so long until Morpheus Descends began their set at one in the morning, finishing a little before two, eager for some rest towards the last day of Kill-Town.
