Behemoth & Dimmu Borgir – London (Live Review)
Special guest: Dark Funeral
Date: 17 October 2026 | O2 Brixton Academy
Words & photography: Jose Crespo
THE AFTERSHOCK
Dark Funeral brought the darkness, Dimmu Borgir gave it orchestral grandeur, and Behemoth turned Brixton into a full-scale ritual. With both co-headliners in commanding form and a shared tribute to Cronos giving the evening an emotional centre, this was a major gathering for the black metal faithful.
THE FULL REVIEW
Brixton wore its corpse paint on Saturday night. Beneath the venue’s ornate ceiling, a packed crowd waited for three different shades of darkness; outside, the queue stretched on, with fans still waiting to enter as Dark Funeral’s final notes faded. For those caught on the wrong side of the doors, the night had already begun without them.
Under the In League with Satan banner, Dark Funeral, Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth made an unholy trinity worth gathering for. Sweden’s cold fury, Norway’s symphonic splendour and Poland’s ritual fire would share the same stage — a rare alignment for the black metal faithful. London’s final invocation belonged to Behemoth, with Dimmu Borgir sharing the headline honours and bringing enough grandeur to make the running order feel secondary.
Dark Funeral — God Is Not Here Today
Darkness swallowed the stage. Flashes of white light revealed the musicians one by one, each appearance followed by another plunge into black. Then came the recorded declaration: “God is not here today.”
Dark Funeral had arrived.
“Unchain My Soul” and “The Arrival of Satan’s Empire” followed, mirroring the opening pair on this year’s A Beast to Praise (Live in Stockholm). Their half-hour set was tightly delivered and sounded excellent, with the comparatively subdued lighting giving the performance a colder atmosphere.
Heljarmadr was immense on “The Secrets of the Black Arts”, his gutturals cutting through with extraordinary force. There was no sense of a band merely warming up a room for somebody else.
By “Where Shadows Forever Reign”, he was waving a black flag bearing the band’s logo. The opening announcement had established who would be absent tonight. Dark Funeral made quite sure we knew who was present.
Dimmu Borgir — Darkness on a Grand Scale
With Dimmu Borgir, the evening expanded in every direction. The lighting, production and sheer breadth of the sound raised the spectacle, while Shagrath’s theatrical presence gave it a compelling focal point.
“Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel”, from this year’s Grand Serpent Rising, opened the set before “Mourning Palace” carried us back to 1997 and Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, a pivotal record in symphonic black metal.
The contrast also underlined how much the keyboards contribute to Dimmu Borgir’s identity. Gerlioz’s parts were central to that distinction: sinister melodies and elegant flourishes giving the music its scale without softening its weight. Those keyboards are a substantial part of what makes this band stand apart.
“Council of Wolves and Snakes” brought the night’s first pyrotechnics. Shagrath introduced it on a large drum, with Daray marking the rhythm on his cymbals — a striking image before the song unfolded into its full theatrical sweep.
Shagrath’s changing robes added to the ceremony, but the playing was every bit as impressive as the presentation. Silenoz and Damage gave the orchestral grandeur its cutting edge, their tightly locked guitars keeping the riffs heavy and sharply defined amid the elaborate arrangements. “The Serpentine Offering” landed with enormous weight, the band locked together and Daray supplying both the force and precision behind its momentum.
“Gateways”, from the magnificent Abrahadabra (2010), provided another high point before “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” delivered a colossal finish. Galloping passages gave way to blunt-force blows, rapid keyboards retained their elegance, and grand choral arrangements filled out the sound. It was Dimmu Borgir’s musical identity compressed into one closing statement, crowned by Shagrath roaring “once and for all” at full stretch as the fire returned.
Behemoth — In League, In Memory
A curtain concealed Behemoth’s stage, carrying stark black-and-white projections of Nergal and The Shit ov God imagery. When it fell, “Daimonos” began the final act.
“Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer” and “Thy Becoming Eternal” brought early bursts of fire, felt particularly keenly from the photo pit. Across the expansive stage, Nergal was constantly finding another vantage point: singing at his distinctive microphone stand, approaching the edge for guitar solos and climbing the raised platforms.
His presence deserves its reputation. Corpse paint makes him immediately recognisable, but the direct eye contact, expansive gestures and command of the front rows give that image its impact. One of extreme metal’s defining figures was making a large room feel personally addressed.
The guitar work gave that spectacle its backbone. Nergal and Seth combined sheer weight with precision, keeping the riffs articulate through the barrage and giving the lead passages room to cut through. For all the fire and ceremony, the playing remained a powerful attraction in its own right.
“The Shit ov God” drew a loud response, its title enthusiastically returned by the crowd. Later, a hooded Nergal gave “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” another layer of menace.
For “I, Scvlptor”, a second curtain reset the scene. Its fall revealed Nergal elevated above the stage, without his guitar and holding only a microphone. There were no arm-mounted flamethrowers in Brixton, although the evening hardly suffered from a shortage of fire. There is, admittedly, always room for more pyro.
The most meaningful moment came with “In League with Satan”. Shagrath joined Nergal for the Venom cover, reprising his appearance on Behemoth’s recent I, Scvlptor release. Dedicated to the recently deceased Cronos, the performance gave the tour’s title a deeper resonance.
Two of the evening’s leading figures sharing a song by one of the musicians who helped make this culture possible: the connection between generations was suddenly there in front of us.
“O Father O Satan O Sun!” supplied the monumental final statement. After Dark Funeral’s concentrated attack and Dimmu Borgir’s orchestral grandeur, Behemoth brought the night to a thunderous close.
Hopefully, this will not be the last time these three bands share a bill. For the packed Brixton crowd, it was already a date worth remembering.
God may not have been here tonight. However, the faithful certainly were.
Jose Crespo for the The Riff Collective
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