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There’s an enormous a part of me that doesn’t need Ithaca to take the stage at the moment. That’s as a result of I do know, the second they step again off in half-hour, I’ll must take care of the emotion of figuring out I’ll by no means see them once more. I’m not prepared.
Since debuting with 2019 album The Language Of Damage, and particularly following the discharge of 2022 magnum opus They Worry Us, these London dissidents have been lauded as one of many UK’s most forthright bands. They’ve stood as much as Nazis, racists and sexists and by no means carried out something to compromise their values. Final yr, they backed out of the present of a lifetime at Obtain, protesting the competition’s then-sponsorship from Barclaycard, who’ve ties to the Israeli army.
After asserting their breakup in late 2024, the five-piece gave their last headline efficiency in February. If that was the funeral, then their swansong competition set at Bristol’s Arctangent is the wake: much less formal, extra celebratory, however each bit as unhappy.
Robbie Williams’ Angels blares over the audio system – establishing the lighthearted tone, in distinction to frontwoman Djamila Azzouz rising in a widow’s veil on the February gig – then the band burst into In The Manner. Quick, full of squealing guitars and unloading loads of female rage (“I’ll wash your blood down the sink, ’trigger I don’t preserve souvenirs”), it’s basic Ithaca, regardless of being merely three years outdated. Ed Gibbs of Satan Offered His Soul and Kate Davies of Pupil Slicer guest-scream on The Future Says Thank You and Cremation Occasion respectively, reaffirming this as a powerhouse victory lap.
They Worry Us affords the most important dose of communal catharsis, everybody within the heaving main-stage tent singing “Bow to your blood, your queen and your god!”, earlier than Impulse Crush sends the moshpit right into a frenzy one final time. Azzouz is in tears as the ultimate chords ring, and who can blame her? As Ithaca stroll backstage one final time, the UK metallic scene has turn into one principled and heavy-as-fuck band smaller. I don’t prefer it.
Ithaca setlist: Arctangent competition, Bristol, UK – August 15, 2025
- In The Manner
- The Future Says Thank You (feat. Ed Gibbs)
- Cremation Occasion (feat. Kate Davies)
- Digital camera Eats First
- Ithaca
- They Worry Us
- Impulse Crush
