JILUKA live in London: Electro-gothic metallers sell-out UK debut

Electro gothic metal group JILUKA made their London debut on June 26th; a sold out headline show at Camden’s iconic The Underworld.

Formed in 2013, JILUKA have undergone numerous sonic evolutions within the metal genre over the last decade. Embracing the visual kei aesthetic, the band consists of Ricko (vocals), Sena (guitar), Boogie (bass), and Zyean (drums). Their music spans J-pop-infused metal, metalcore, djent, and most recently, intense electro-gothic metal. This new style, characterised by grandiose samples, epic electronics, lightning-fast drums, guttural growls, razor-sharp guitar riffs, and relentless breakdowns, has been making waves for them since 2022.

Last year, ‘VENΦM’, the band’s third single under their new EGM style, went viral online after being picked up by several TikTok pages and YouTube channels praising its bombastic metal/dubstep breakdown. Prominent music reaction figure Nik Nocturnal even dubbed it “the heaviest breakdown of the year”. With the momentum of their new material and a dedicated fanbase, JILUKA took their sound global for the first time with their K4RMA World Tour, featuring seven performances across Europe.

Last week, England, and a good chunk of Europe, was experiencing a summer heatwave, with the heat more concentrated in areas like London. But that didn’t stop the dedicated metal and VK fanbases turning up for JILUKA’s first ever UK show, and the last non-festival date of the European leg of the tour. Many fans were fully decked out in black PVC, pleather, and velvet, looking fabulous, but suffering somewhat in the 30 degree heat, sun pouring onto them while queuing outside The Underworld.

It’s worth noting that JILUKA sold out every single date of their European tour, with promise online that if they sold out London they’d have a surprise for us. London is notoriously tricky to sell out, especially for bands making their live debuts in the country and within the visual kei niche. But they did it. Thoughts started swirling; maybe a new song would drop, maybe a new video, a new look? We wouldn’t find out until later though…

The band’s pre-show playlist reverberated through the venue, featuring Knosis, Girugamesh, lynch. and DIR EN GREY to name a few, while a large queue formed for their merch table.

Surprisingly there was a support band for the night, in the form of Liverpool’s Detroit Run. Seemingly new to the world of VK, the band were somewhat stunned by the crowd’s various looks for the evening. They did a decent job at warming the crowd up, although it was obvious that JILUKA were the only thing people were there for.

Before starting, Zyean appeared on stage to set up his drum cam, to much applause and screams. With a quick smile and wave, he disappeared again, leaving us waiting a little longer while their equipment continued to be set up. Eventually, it was time. The band appeared to deafening screams, and quickly got into the first track of the night, latest single ‘S4VAGE’. And what a start.

It may seem odd to start a set with your latest single, but the electro-metalcore banger with its boss battle vibes fired up the crowd no end. Leading into the next track, Ricko yelled “GIVE ME WHAT YOU GOT!” before launching into 2022 single ‘BLVCK’.

The venue by this point was starting to heat up considerably, many attendees using hand fans to cool themselves and each other down. Impressively, JILUKA were still giving it their all despite the heat, in their black pleather outfits. Crowd members at the front fanned the band members as much as they could, especially Boogie, in addition to the old aircon units in the venue working overtime, and the large fans on stage blasting air at the band.

‘OVERKILL’ came next, an insane wall of sound- a barrage of rapid-fire drums, dramatic electronics, scorching guitar, and a metallic wubbing breakdown. The crowd lapped up every moment.

Next, Ricko encouraged the crowd to chant “Hey!” before launching into the massive sound of their viral hit ‘VENΦM’, rounding out the 4 singles released under the band’s EGM signature genre.

‘BaLa-DeDa’ followed shortly after this, slowing down a little for a nice change of pace, and featuring more rapping from Sena, the band’s guitarist and main composer. The crowd were extremely receptive to this, with even the hardened metalheads nodding along to the more rap-metal style track.

Ricko called for a wall of death and circle pits, ahead of ‘Obliterator’ from 2018 album ‘Metamorphose’, and the crowd delivered in spite of the heat and The Underworld’s infamously strange layout. True to its name, it felt like we were getting obliterated by sound, sweat, and swinging hair from the headbanging. JILUKA went HARD with this.

During ‘Faizh’, Sena’s guitar solo was both beautiful and impressive, although I couldn’t help but find myself thinking that he as a lot of faith in his little shorts. Honestly, I’m just jealous that I’ll never be that confident (or good at guitar).

Later came Zyean’s moment to have the spotlight on him, with a long drum solo. The rest of the band took their leave, the audience’s gaze now focused solely on Zyean. The solo had multiple segments, the first parts without any backing track, and the later parts with. It was really damn good, and great to see a band give their drummer a whole section to be in the limelight.

The rest of the band returned, and continued playing older tracks, including ‘Raison D’etre’ and ‘Twisted Pain’ from 2015 album ‘DESTRIEB’, much to the delight of the long-time fans in the audience. Their sound back in 2015 was considerably different, but the electronic metal elements were still there, a logical evolution across the past near-decade.

Between many tracks, electronic interludes played that perfectly ran one song into the next, never leaving an awkward moment of silence. A nice touch, and something I haven’t seen often from metal acts.

Finally came time for the last song, ‘SUZAKU’ from 2021’s ‘IDOLA’. JILUKA continued to perform at max capacity, not letting the heat get to them. Once the song was over they quickly left the stage before staff appeared to begin furiously towel-drying the incredibly wet stage.

Encore chants began almost immediately, although as time went on, the chants turned into “It’s too hot”, and for some unknown reason “circle pit”. The staff were still trying to dry off the stage- possibly a fruitless endeavour.

Regardless, JILUKA reappeared, this time wearing their tour shirts, and Ricko holding a JILUKA tote bag. He began to introduce each piece of merchandise, followed by yelling “BUY IT! BUY IT!”, like some kind of visual kei QVC. The crowd eventually began to excitedly yell “Buy it!” back at Ricko. And it worked, because the queue for merch after the show wrapped from the merch stand, through the bar, and round the main part of the venue. This was not only proof of JILUKA’s charisma, but of their performance as a whole.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Once done with the home-shopping-like segment, the band went on to play ‘Last Faith’. Then came an MC segment, where each band member spoke a little to us, finally letting us hear from Boogie, and Zyean. They each thanked us, and spoke about how much fun they have had. And it felt genuine. It’s rare to see a VK band sell out an entire European tour, and they seemed so happy and grateful to be here.

After the MC, JILUKA had time for one more song, so they played us out with ‘S4VAGE’, bookending a great setlist and great night. I’ve been to some shows where the crowd seemed disappointed to hear a song from earlier in the night again, but not this time. Everyone in the audience gladly took the opportunity to go wild once more, showing JILUKA the love they deserve.

So, about that surprise announcement. Before leaving the stage for the last time, Sena took a moment to talk to us again. He excitedly announced that JILUKA would be back again in September, before thanking us again, and taking his leave. What a way to end an amazing show!

In spite of the heatwave, and it being their very first European tour, JILUKA absolutely smashed it. Ricko, Sena, Boogie, and Zyean have truly left their mark on both the VK and metal worlds, as well as on London. It would be an understatement to say I’m just looking forward to September.

Photos by Charles Shepherd

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