CYTOTOXIN // THE ANVIL, BOURNEMOUTH

BOURNEMOUTH SURVIVES NUCLEAR-LEVEL BRUTALITY AS CYTOTOXIN DETONATE THE ANVIL

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

CYTOTOXIN AT THE ANVIL, BOURNEMOUTH
PHOTOCREDIT: CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI

If Bournemouth ever needed a stress test for structural integrity, Cytotoxin delivered it. The Anvil - a venue already accustomed to loud noises and questionable decisions - played host to an evening of extreme metal so intense it felt like a controlled demolition. The German Chernobyl death metal architects headlined a lineup stacked with blast beats, guttural screams and sharp riffs, featuring Cognitive, Osiah and Analepsy. Cytotoxin’s motto for their latest album Biographyte, exploring the biographical story of the tragic catastrophy in Pripyat in 1986, was that ‘humanity is doomed to carry the consequences of the reactor disaster with it for eternity’. And that is exactly what the lineup promised. It was as if they almost said “Hope you didn’t have weekend plans involving a functional neck”. 

Here’s the thing: I go to the massive festivals and the arenas. I find myself in outdoor fields full of £8 pints and 70,000 people pretending they’re not sunburnt or hungover too often to admit. But honestly, give me a compact and sweaty room like The Anvil and a bill of deathcore/death metal bands any day and I will be there. No lasers, no pyro, no queue - just grit, noise and the possibility to be elbowed in the middle of the mosh pit (spoiler alert, that’s what happened). These tiny rooms have a pulse that the big venues can’t fake. 

Starting off on the “how to injure yourself before 8.30pm” challenge was Cognitive, coming all the way from New Jersey to export chaos and technical riffs. Performing in the middle of the crowd, self starting a moshpit and having the entire room relentlessly headbaning by the first scream, Cognitive know what the deal is. They had absurd fretwork and violating blast beats which had the crowd responding immediately: walls of death, moshpits in all directions and bruises to wear like battle scars. Cognitive didn’t let up once, and by the time they left the stage, Bournemouth was primed like a weapon. 

Up next were the UK’s reigning champions of ‘how low can you tune a guitar before it implodes’. Osiah coming from ‘The North’ are one of the most ferocious and visceral deathcore bands in the scene right now. Their set was like bringing an avalanche of precision cut brutal vocals, agonising technical riffs and an emotional soundscape of existentialism all at once. Even though they were not fronted by their usual singer, opting to complete the second leg of the tour borrowing Godeater’s Jam Harrison, they had the PA system questioning its life choices by the amount of brutality they brought. Their stage presence is controlled chaos, they are extremely professional and tight, and they bring a unique sound to the mix that is both technical and emotional at the same time. Despite the lack of a live bassist, the double guitars create a unique combination of calmness and fury in the same set - there are time stamps that feel surprising yet cathartic, the vocals go from low to high only to exaggerate the despair and the atmosphere was less about the pit and more about the ‘standing and staring'. And have we mentioned that they have only just released their latest EP Aion, which was my music of choice on the train after the gig finished. 

If you thought it was enough, you are bitterly mistaken. As Osiah’s set wrapped up, Portugal’s slam titans Analepsy came on stage with a thirst for blood. Continuing on the technical precision and atmospheric brutal slam death theme, they had the crowd again in immediate motion - mostly circular and mostly dangerous. The guitar tone alone was enough to crack the pavement, but their sound is not just that; it has double-kicks, breakdowns, squeals and guttural brutal vox and everything in between. You know a band is good live when the touring bands all come out to watch it, night after night, I could see the predecessors of the lineup not only standing to watch the set, but also jumping into the moshpit themselves to stir chaos. And for a band who had people doing the wall of death from the second song, I didn’t expect anything less.

But how did we actually get here? Cytotoxin, the cherry on the deathcore cake, formed in 2010 with one mission: to blend technical death metal, brutal slam and Chernobyl-themed lore into an intellectually unhinged and musically devastating batter. This unique blend earned them their reputation for nuclear death metal - and their shows consistently prove it. Celebrating their newest album with a UK tour and haunting every single rock bar there is in the UK, the band delivers a show with destructive precision and theatrics that do not usually fit in a gig of this scale and theme. Starting off their set with sirens, smoke and a Geiger counter, the band commences their performance with the smooth discipline of a military operation and the violence of… well, a nuclear event. Concealing their faces behind gasmasks, they are more than just musicians in this moment - they are the bringers of doom. The guitars are a blur of radioactive riffs, the gutturals hit you in your core and the drums operate at BPM levels that technically classify as a hazard.

Equally, the crowd understood the assignment. Behaving like they had just been hit by a nuclear disaster, the audience opened the pits, collapsed into each other and banged their heads like it was indeed their last night on earth before disaster. And yet the vibe remained warm, as the band removed their masks and started on stage banter. Have you ever seen a recycling sign (a very important one in Germany as we were told) being used for circle pit? Have you ever gone into a wall of death with the ferocity of a starved animal hit by radioactive menace? Well, if you haven’t, this is exactly what Cytotoxin bring to their gigs; destruction and delight, exactly as intended. Bournemouth did not remain passive in the spectacle, they went into moshpit survival mode eliciting a few wicked grins from the band. 

Cytotoxin at The Anvil was not for the weak; it is for people who enjoy self-inflicted stress on the body, the ears and who have no concept of ‘acceptable volume’. Yet, the lineup formed a perfect ladder of brutality and the headliner delivered a set that was wickedly satisfying. Big festivals are fun, big arenas are impressive, but nights like this in packed-out rooms and zero distance between crowd and artist are where the music feels the most alive. Did anyone else walk out of that slightly radioactive, or was it just me?

REVIEW + PHOTOS BY: CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI