HAWXX – The Star Inn, Guildford (Live Review)
Special Guests: Augmentia & Take Flight
Date: Sunday, 25 October 2026
The Aftershock
On a rain-soaked Sunday in Guildford, HAWXX turned The Star Inn into a room full of riffs, resistance and raised hands. Led by the unstoppable Annouli, the band moved from Greek folk melodies to ferocious metal without losing sight of what brought everyone together. Fierce, fearless and often beautiful, this was a band performing with purpose and refusing to be silenced.
The Full Review
Rain had been falling across a storm-battered Britain all weekend, and HAWXX had spent much of it travelling through the weather. From Bournemouth to Newport in Wales and back down to Guildford, the band arrived at The Star Inn for the penultimate date of their The World Splits Open tour. After tonight, three days off awaited before the final show at London’s Signature Brew Haggerston on Thursday.
Tucked away in the heart of Guildford, The Star Inn feels like the kind of place every town should have: a welcoming pub with a proper atmosphere and, at the back, a dedicated room for live music. An intimate setting for independent bands to make some serious noise. Tonight, three of them were ready to do exactly that.
Augmentia
Southampton four-piece Augmentia opened with “Devoid” from their Static EP, showcasing their technical djentcore and Will Bennett’s mix of melodic and harsh vocals. “Drift” raised the intensity, while “Shattered Being” highlighted a powerful rhythm section and “Egoist” showcased some impressive seven-string guitar work. Bennett’s highest clean notes on “Frostbite” occasionally tested his range, but his harsher vocals sounded assured. Closing with an unreleased track, Augmentia showed plenty of promise and are a band worth watching.
Take Flight
If Augmentia set the wheels in motion, Take Flight made sure the room was ready for take-off. The Guildford band have been releasing music since 2019, and their experience showed across a thoroughly enjoyable 30-minute set. Opener “Rope” quickly established their mix of big riffs and emo sensibilities, with frontman Zander Dale looking completely at home leading the room while guitarist Mike Thomas added clean vocals.
There was plenty to enjoy across the stage: guitarist Matt brought a lovely tone and some elegant lead work to “C.H.O.K.E.” and “The Inconsistent”, while bassist Meg added her own presence and vocals to the mix. Two unreleased songs, “Crack in the Sky” and “Silhouettes”, offered a glimpse of what’s coming next, with the latter a particular highlight: an exciting, emotionally charged track dedicated to the band’s drummer on his final night with them. If this is a taste of what Take Flight have on the way, we’ll be listening.
HAWXX
Earlier in the evening, members of HAWXX could be spotted watching the support bands from a distance. A small detail, perhaps, but a lovely one: a headline act taking the time to see the bands sharing the stage with them.
When their turn came, they opened with “Bite” from their 2023 debut Earth, Spit, Blood and Bones. Within moments, their combination of filthy punk energy, metal weight and unwavering conviction filled the room. Most of the set would come from their latest album, The World Splits Open, beginning with “Arm the Animals”, an animal rights anthem that imagines the hunted turning on their hunters. At its centre was vocalist and guitarist Annouli Papadimitriou: a force of nature, throwing herself into the performance like a hurricane with a microphone.
Before “Resistance Is Justified”, Annouli’s cries of “Free, free Palestine” rang through the room. HAWXX’s politics are impossible to separate from their music, and that conviction is refreshing in an industry where artists can feel pressure to keep quiet for fear of losing followers or corporate support. Music has always had the power to challenge, unite and change things. HAWXX understand that, and they’re not afraid to use their voices
On “Bind” and “We Are Nature”, guitarist Hannah Staphnill brought a sharper metal edge to the band’s sound, her Jackson guitar cutting through the weight with elegance and precision. Behind her, Jessica Dann gave the songs their pulse, combining power with technique, while Paris, joining the band on bass for this tour, completed a rhythm section capable of making the small room feel considerably larger.
From Greek Folk to Extreme Metal
The most striking moment came with “Sacred Water”, a song born from Annouli’s experience of seeing sewage discharged into the water around her home. It mourns the damage done to the natural world, but it also reaches for something older: it opens with words from “Thalassaki”, a traditional Greek island song she remembers from childhood.
In Guildford, that opening gave Annouli space to sound like a Greek goddess before she climbed into soaring clean notes, descended into a darker register and finally unleashed a roar worthy of an extreme metal record. She sounds even more powerful live than on the album, moving from tenderness to fury without ever losing the emotion behind either. At the end, she and Hannah faced one another and shared a microphone, their voices meeting a cappella. After all that noise, it was a moment of extraordinary beauty.
There was room for joy in the chaos, too. During “Macho Bullshit”, the crowd was split down the middle for what looked like a wall of death, only for both sides to come together exchanging high fives. A wall of friendship, perhaps? Either way, it summed up the spirit in the room rather nicely.
“Be That Whore” brought the main set to a close, a song that reclaims a word historically used to shame and control women. For Annouli, the figure at its centre represents a kind of freedom that threatens the structures built to contain it: a woman who refuses to be defined by someone else’s rules and has the power to imagine a different world.
HAWXX delivered "Death of Silence" on the encore, giving Guildford one last burst of energy before the night was over. Outside, the rain was still waiting. Inside The Star Inn, HAWXX had given Guildford something warmer, louder and far more powerful: a reminder that heavy music can bring people together while still standing up for something.
Jose Crespo for The Riff Collective
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