Review: The Raven Age & Empye

Islington Assemby Hall (November 30^th 2025)

Photographer – Phil Honley

This was the last night of The Raven Age’s ‘The Monarchy Tour‘ celebrating a decade of the Raven King and to invite Empyre to open each night for them was an added bonus.

I really like Empyre and drop everything to catch them live whenever I can. They are classed as a prog band but they are so much more. The beautiful vocal of Henrik Steenholdt on ‘Only Way Out’ is worth the ticket price alone and when you awake the following morning to that as a resident earworm you just have to re-visit the band’s debut album ‘Self Aware‘.

The band bravely opened with a new song ‘We Didn’t Like You First‘ and boy what a belter of a song it is. The powerhouse rhythm partnership of Grant Hockley and Elliot Bale on bass and drums respectively and effortless power chords of Did Coles on guitar teased our tastebuds for what is sure to be a new album in the making. Everything you would expect to get at an Empyre gig followed apart from the normal and encouraged by the band, appreciative boos from the audience. Instead when leaving the stage all you could hear was the chant “Empyre, Empyre, Empyre“. 

Empyre

Setlist:

1. We Didn’t Like You First 
2. Waking Light
3. Parasites
4. Relentless 
5. Homegrown
6. Stone 
7. Titanium (David Guetta Cover)
8. Only Way Out 
9. New Republic 

The melodic rockers The Raven Age, comprising of George Harris (Guitars), Matt Cox (Bass), Jai Patel (Drums), Matt James (Lead Vocals) and Tommy Gentry (Guitars) were formed in London in 2009 but had managed to evade my radar until a few years ago. That isn’t such a bad thing as I have made up lost ground by fully investigating the band’s catalogue.

Not only was it the last show of the tour but founding member George Harris’ last show with the band tonight so they were determined to put on a show. You could feel the emotion within the band and hopefully George will return at some stage.

Saw these guys at the Maid Of Stone Festival earlier this year and it was an easy decision to catch them on this tour especially with such a great support in Empyre. As good as they were at Maid Of Stone they were on a different level this time around.

Their debut EP, ‘The Raven Age‘, in 2014 was referenced only once with the excellent ‘Angel In Disgrace‘ bringing the main set to a close. The set list included numbers from each of the band’s three studio albums, ‘Darkness Will Reign‘ (2017), ‘Conspiracy‘ (2019) and most recent ‘Blood Omen‘ (2023). There was no ‘The Death March‘, but ‘Fleur de Lis‘ and ‘Parasite‘ are staples in their live set, giving the appreciative gathering the opportunity for a singalong. 

The band has released a number of singles since ‘Blood Omen‘ and ‘Hangman‘, ‘The Guillotine‘, ‘Stand In The Fire‘ and latest release ‘Vision‘ were all included in the setlist and well received.

Tony Maue joined them on stage for first encore number ‘Serpent’s Tongue‘. Tony of course was guitarist with the band having taken over the role from co-founder Dan Wright in 2017 until he departed in 2022 to become a vocalist and joining Defects.

George’s final solo guitar to ‘Grave of the Fireflies‘ was a magic and fitting way to bring this fabulous night to a close. 

The Raven Age

Setlist:

1. Forgive & Forget 
2. Hangman 
3. Parasite 
4. The Day The World Stood Still 
5. The Guillotine 
6. Stigmata 
7. Betrayal Of The Mind 
8. Visions 
9. Tears Of Stone 
10. Wait For Me 
11. No Man’s Land 
12. Angel In Disgrace

Encore

1. Serpents Tongue 
2. Drum Solo
3. Stand In The Fire 
4. Fleur de lis 
5. Grave Of The Fireflies 

Managed to catch sight of the night’s setlist and loved the handwritten addition which read “A sperm has 37.5mg of DNA data that means an ejaculation is a data transfer of 1,500tb. That’s a lot of information to swallow…..an interesting piece of information but begs the question noted on the setlist.

©All photographs are copyright of Phil Honley – Gigsnapz. They may not be altered or used without express permission.