Ad Infinitum + Skarlett Riot + Secret Rule at The Underworld, Camden: live review and photo galleries

As London wound down after a heated day of marathon running, Camden was limbering up to get stomping at The Underworld with euphonic metal band Ad Infinitum and support from Skarlett Riot and Secret Rule. A night of symphonic metal awaited the enthusiastic crowd, especially for the fortunate handful who scored a meet & greet pre-show and were exponentially hyped up. With the barrier crowd packed tightly and the fans locked in, the cheers started just at the light tech checks – a sign of the intensity to come.

Hailing from Italy, Secret Rule are still riding the high of their March album release, their tenth album aptly named X. With crystal-clear, operatic vocals, singer Angela Di Vincenzo delivered an electric performance, calling to the crowd to jump along with her, throwing horns in the air as she belted out across an incredible octave range. It can be risky trying to perform clean vocals over a resounding wall of metal noise, but Di Vincenzo doesn’t shy away from Diego Devizia’s shattering double-pedal heavy drums, whipping her hair round dramatically in time to Fabrizio Sclano’s thudding bass. Di Vincenzo conserved her energy for her potent vocals, only betraying the stamina spent up on jumping around the stage when she stopped to thank the crowd for their energy, launching back into the setlist and playfully sharing the mic with guitarist Andy Menario before he tore into another intricate solo. We couldn’t put it better than one fan who emphatically yelled “bellisima!”.

Staying in the mighty territory but moving from operatic toward melodic metal, Skarlett Riot kicked the night into a higher gear with singer Chloe “Skarlett” Drinkwater excitedly swaying and stomping on the stage to the beat of Luke Oglesby‘s locked in snappy drums. Weaving from rich, clean notes for raw pig screams, Drinkwater traded off screams with guitarist Danny Oglesby, both jumping together and demanding an all-too-willing crowd to jump in time with them, inciting the first vicious mosh pit of the night. Tim Chambers made his presence known with a dominating bass as Drinkwater fist-bumped everyone in the front row with a beam on her face. Slowing down only slightly for one song, Drinkwater proclaimed that everyone in the room was one big family, bidding everyone to put their arms round each other and hold lights up to illuminate the harmony in that meaningful moment. If you asked the crowd who had the most fun that night, Skarlett Riot would take the crown.

With the crowd amped up after a pre-show play of Toto‘s ‘Africa’ (the most metal song ever made, of course), the cheers filled the packed venue as strings thundered through the air, announcing Ad Infinitum’s entrance one-by-one until singer Melissa Bonny took to the stage, switching up from heavenly, clean notes and vocal runs to guttural screams so seamlessly it felt like auditory whiplash. Ad Infinitum may have looked like they were having an absolute ball with the crowd, but they didn’t come to play with their technique, guitarist Adrian Theßenvitz lashing out elaborate solos while spinning and donkey-kicking, Niklas Müller pummelled the drums for a beat that felt like gnashing teeth, and bassist Korbinian Benedict taunting the crowd that he doesn’t “think London can dance” before having a dance-off, or in his case a ‘shimmy-off’, along to his ferocious bass line. Calling to devoted fans and newcomers alike to “have fun altogether”, Ad Infinitum continued to bring powerhouse songs without letting up, delivering classic fan favourite ‘Marching on Versailles’ and immediately followed up with 2025 single ‘Regicide’, effectively showing how they’ve evolved in sound and impact. Bonny shared a laugh with the band and crowd after missing her cue on ‘Euphoria’ due to “how loud the crowd is”, launching straight into her transcendental vocal runs and transporting the audience to another plane of appreciative existence. Ad Infinitum have every single right to take over the metal world and stay at the top forever more.