Aviana at The Cathouse, Glasgow – A Night of Unmasked Emotion and Unrelenting Metalcore Power

Review By Darren McIntyre. Images By Scott Anderson

Gothenburg’s own Aviana have come a long way since emerging from the Swedish metalcore scene in 2016. With three acclaimed albums—Polarise (2017), Epicentre (2019), and Corporation (2022)—and a fourth, Void, on the horizon, the band has built a formidable reputation for crafting music that fuses melody, atmosphere, and aggression in equal measure. Tonight at The Cathouse in Glasgow, the masked quartet deliver a performance that reminds us why they’ve become one of Europe’s most exciting modern metal acts.

The night begins with a powerhouse lineup of support from Diamond Construct, Atena, and The Gloom In The Corner—each band upping the ante with their own brand of chaos and precision. By the time Aviana are due to hit the stage, the venue is alive with anticipation. The Cathouse, renowned for its raw, sweat-soaked atmosphere, feels like the perfect setting for what’s about to unfold. A crunching sound system and a blistering light show of deep reds, blinding whites, and pulsating multi-colour strobes turn the room into a furnace of energy before a note is even played.

When the members of Aviana — Death, Fear, and Dark — take the stage, their all-black attire and haunting masks give them an almost ritualistic presence. Then comes Joel, bounding into view with the confidence of a frontman who knows he’s about to destroy every inch of this stage. The opening track, Delirium, explodes through the speakers like a warning shot — a tight, thunderous statement of intent that instantly whips the pit into motion.

From there, it’s a relentless onslaught of emotion and brutality. Illuminate and Coming Back For More showcase Aviana’s uncanny balance between melodic introspection and savage breakdowns. Joel’s vocals oscillate between guttural roars and tortured, melodic passages that hit with genuine emotional weight, while Fear and Death’s twin guitar assault cuts through with surgical precision.

The mid-set run — Rage, Storm Ablaze, and My Worst Enemy — is pure catharsis. Each track bleeds into the next with seamless ferocity, the band commanding the stage like a dark congregation leading its followers into chaos. Dark’s drumming is especially punishing, anchoring the performance with machine-like precision and unrelenting force.

As the lights flash and the crowd chants, the energy inside The Cathouse grows almost uncontainable. There’s a strange beauty in the way Aviana transforms sorrow and loss into something communal—their music is as much about release as it is about despair. Tracks like ‘Father’ and ‘Obsession’ capture this perfectly, shifting between haunting ambience and skull-crushing heaviness.

By the time they close with Anomaly and Red Sky, the band have completely conquered the room. Joel’s final screams echo through the venue as the last breakdown crashes down like a thunderstorm. The crowd erupts, drenched in sweat and adrenaline, knowing they’ve just witnessed something special — a performance that’s equal parts theatre, therapy, and pure metallic power.

Aviana’s show at The Cathouse isn’t just another stop on a European tour—it’s a statement of intent from a band still evolving, still experimenting, and still capable of leaving a mark wherever they go. As Void looms on the horizon, one thing is certain: Aviana is not here to follow trends or play it safe. They’re here to burn the mask into metalcore history — and tonight in Glasgow, they did exactly that.