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Nat Sabbath Photography

@nat_sabbath

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Live music photographer | Birmingham/UK
Briefly We Were Infinite
Bands, crowds, atmosphere, aftermath
Shows | Tours | Promo | BTS

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SUNN O))) at the O2 Institute, Birmingham were an absolute force of nature; slow, physical, engulfing. The smoke, the robes, the volume, the sheer presence of it all; it changed the room and everyone in it.

What stayed with me was how still it made people. No chatter, no scramble for the next big moment, just total attention. That’s one of the things heavy music can do at its best: bring people together inside a feeling, and let it speak for itself.

Huge thanks to @supersonic_fest and @therazorsedgerocks for having me there. You can read the review here:
https://therazorsedge.rocks/2026-07-live-review-sunn-o/

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @sunnofficial

#sunno #birminghamgigs #NatSabbath #gigphotograpy #dronemetal taken in O2 Institute Birmingham by @nat_sabbath

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3 months ago

Exorcism at The Asylum, Birmingham.

I went into this gig with high hopes, already knowing what Exorcism could do after seeing them at Death Over Digbeth the previous year. Opening for Crypta they found another gear entirely.

Fast, vicious and full of energy, they seized the stage with the confidence of a band that knew they belonged there. They completely blew me away.

Anyone who came for Crypta and arrived early was given something special: one of Birmingham’s most formidable grassroots metal bands at full force. This is why support bands matter. Exorcism brought their own history, their own crowd, and a set that made the whole night stronger.

Birmingham has exceptional heavy music growing in its grassroots venues. Turn up early. Learn the names. Support them in any way you can. Give these artists the attention their work deserves.

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @exorcismthrash

#exorcismthrash #BirminghamGigs #NatSabbath #GigPhotography #thrashmetal taken in The Asylum Venue by @nat_sabbath

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2 months ago

Misgendered are, without overstatement, one of the most culturally important heavy bands in Birmingham right now, and I’d be tempted to say far beyond that.

They matter because they are necessary. Not polished into safety, or flattened into scene convention, not asking permission to take up space. Their music carries weight beyond volume: rage, tenderness, survival, defiance, and the kind of presence that changes the temperature of a room.

Supporting Flesh Creep at Spoilers, they were fantastic. One of the heaviest sets I’ve heard from them; brutal, alive, and completely locked in.

Birmingham heavy music has always been shaped by people making something out of pressure, refusal and noise. Misgendered feel like part of that lineage, but also like a challenge to it: a band pushing at what this scene can be, who it can hold, and what heaviness can mean now.

Very, very excited for the forthcoming EP 🖤

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @misgendered.hc

#misgendered #BirminghamGigs #NatSabbath #GigPhotography #hardcore taken in SpoilersDigbeth by @nat_sabbath

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6 months ago

The Birmingham metal survey.

Every response & every repost hugely appreciated.

Birmingham metal has had a rollercoaster couple of years: unprecedented highs (Back to the Beginning), existential threats (Digbeth redevelopment) and everything else in between.

It has all left some huge questions. In a world showing a staggering amount of love for the city’s metal heritage, what’s going to happen for the amazing creativity in current small venues? And how can we make sure that the resources poured into celebrating metal’s past genuinely benefit those making, facilitating, and listening to metal right now?

This July was a particularly exciting moment – with Ozzy Day, Children of The Grave’s event at the Museum, and a month of music/talks at venues like The Flapper (thanks to local promoters SYD & PhiltheRoom).

Next July will be at least as big, especially with Ozzfest added to the calendar.

There will be resources put into making Birmingham a metal destination, and it feels hugely important that people in current scenes get to drive the form that takes – to make sure this is a forward-looking celebration of Birmingham metal as well as a memorialisation of its founders.

The council tasked the wonderful Jez Collins (Birmingham Music Archive) and his team with doing the research to investigate what a “Birmingham metal visitor experience” might look like (visitor can mean someone travelling half a mile to the city centre or a suburb as much as someone travelling a thousand). And Jez kindly asked me and Nat Sabbath to put together a survey that we think might help begin the process of making sure nothing that happens does so beyond the reach of Birmingham metalheads and without taking small venues and local bands into account. This, after input from Jez, Patrycja Rozbicka and Lara Ratnraja, is that survey.

The more responses we get the stronger the case we have for proving the passion and vibrancy in a current scene that can’t be ignored. Please do fill it in if you’ve ever been to Birmingham for anything to do with metal or would ever like to sometime in the future. Let’s build the scene we want to see. by @nat_sabbath

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13 days ago

Next up from A Celebration of Midlands Metal at The Flapper: @namelessmusicuk in full force. Flying hair, raised hands and the view from right at the front.

Looking through these brings back why this night mattered. Three bands and a community coming together for heavy music and each other, raising £750 for @heavy_metal_therapy_coventry along the way. A brilliant night to have been part of, and to photograph.

Huge thanks again to Terri at the @themidweekmosh Chris at @syd_music and Dan at @dc_soundattack for bringing everyone together.

Swipe through for Nameless on stage and a quieter moment outside. Give the band a follow and show them some love on their upcoming new single, Obliterate.

Mantis Defeats Jaguar and the panel photographs are still to come 🖤

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @namelessmusicuk

#namelessmusic #BirminghamGigs #NatSabbath #GigPhotography #numetal taken in The Flapper by @nat_sabbath

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21 days ago

Looking back at a brilliant night for Midlands metal 🖤

Three bands, a crowd giving it everything, and £750 raised for @heavy_metal_therapy_coventry a Celebration of Midlands Metal at @theflapper brought together so much of what I love about this scene: the music, the friendships and people supporting each other.

Starting my galleries with @denied_legacy go and give their new track ‘Letters to My Therapist’ a listen and give them a follow while you’re there.

Huge thanks to Terri and @themidweekmosh, Chris at @syd_music and Dan at @dc_soundattack for making it happen, and to Terri for inviting me to photograph the night.

More from the other bands and the panel coming this week.

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @denied_legacy

#deniedlegacy #BirminghamGigs #NatSabbath #GigPhotography #metalcore taken in The Flapper by @nat_sabbath

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a month ago

D.R.A.C.O., photographed beneath Sir Jacob Epstein’s Lucifer in BMAG’s Round Room on Ozzy Day.

A few steps away, the Industrial Gallery would host Legacy of a Madman. For one afternoon in July, the musicians became the exhibition: Birmingham’s metal history carried through performance, sound and memory.

Tonight, @_d.r.a.c.0_ joins @djmillabong and fellow representatives of @cotgb.uk at Let’s Build an Alternative Network to talk about how the event came together, what it meant to those involved, and where that legacy goes next.

Portrait: @_d.r.a.c.0_
Photographer: @natsabbath

#BirminghamMetal #LegacyOfAMadman #ChildrenOfTheGrave #BMAG #draco taken in Birmingham Museums by @nat_sabbath

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2 months ago

A final photograph from @cryptadeath and @exorcismthrash at The Asylum, and one that feels unmistakably Birmingham.

Danny Herrera of @theofficialnapalmdeath and @beckybaldwinbass, two Birmingham metal icons, there to support the bands and enjoy the show alongside the rest of us. always love seeing musicians turn up for other musicians.

I also came away incredibly grateful to have met @amie_chatterley from @dakesis and @maatkareofficial. She was instantly warm and generous, and I can’t wait to get her in front of my lens.

Birmingham metal showing up for Birmingham metal. I love this city 🖤

Photographer: @nat_sabbath

#BirminghamMetal #dannyherrera #beckybaldwin #musicphotography #NatSabbath taken in The Asylum Venue by @nat_sabbath

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2 months ago

Crypta at The Asylum, Birmingham.

Representation can be as simple (and as powerful) as seeing four women take a death-metal stage and occupy every inch of it with complete authority. For anyone who has rarely seen themselves reflected in extreme metal, that visibility matters.

Crypta are top-tier death metal: ferocious, technically exact, physical and thoroughly alive. Their set carried the intensity that collapses the distance between stage and crowd, the reason I began Briefly, We Were Infinite.

I’m also deeply grateful that @exorcismthrash were given space on this bill. When an international touring band brings a Birmingham band into the room with them, it connects the wider metal world to the scene already living here. Local bands deserve those stages, those audiences and those photographs.

Thank you to @cryptadeath, @exorcismthrash and @divergentpromo for a night that felt both global and unmistakably Brum.

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @cryptadeath

#Crypta #birminghamgigs #deathmetal #natsabbath gigphotography taken in The Asylum Venue by @nat_sabbath

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2 months ago

Join us TONIGHT - for an evening of metal, punk, goth, emo, and alt talks and networking.

(So this might be the strangest picture of me ever taken, but it is in a good cause.)

Tonight is the beginning of season 2 of Building an Alternative Network at The Night Owl. These events, moved from Thursdays to Wednesdays, now have two wonderful co-hosts, DJ Millabong (Brum Radio) & Rosie Miranda Rivers (Disloyal Order).

Doors at 6.30.

There'll be four interviews with musicians, events organisers, and other industry insiders.

Nat Sabbath and I will be talking about our project People of the Pit, which chronicles the current Birmingham grassroots metal scene. It celebrates small venues and the people who keep them running - from bands to promoters to the faces seen repeatedly in crowds. It aims to be a corrective to the way Birmingham's metal heritage can sometimes be celebrated at the expense of the amazing creativity that's going on right now. So we want to show what ties that heritage and the current scene together.

As always, there'll be chances for anyone who wants to plug their event, release, or service to take the mic between interviews. And as always the lovely Night Owl crew will keep us well looked after.

It's great to see these events, at which I've met so many amazing people, growing. Please do come along and be part of it! There's no better way to find out what's going on in your city.

#musicscene
#músicislife
#metalmusic
#birmingham taken in The Night Owl by @nat_sabbath

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2 months ago

Shadow of Intent supporting Lorna Shore in Birmingham back in February.

Late to posting these, but this was far too good a set to leave sitting in the archive; huge lighting, relentless energy, and one of the most intense crowds I’ve photographed this year.

Photographer: @nat_sabbath
Artist: @shadowofintentofficial

#shadowofintent #BirminghamGigs #NatSabbath #GigPhotography #metalcore taken in O2 Academy Birmingham by @nat_sabbath

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5 months ago