LIVE REVIEW + AFTERMOVIE - TEN56,CABAL,VCTMS & THE DALI THUNDERING CONCEPT at Flex, Vienna (September 25, 2025)

For the first time, I found myself attending a show in the small hall at Vienna’s legendary Flex, and what a night it turned out to be. With a stacked lineup featuring The Dali Thundering Concept, VCTMS, Cabal, and ten56., I was excited to finally catch three bands I hadn’t seen live yet. By the end of the evening, it was clear: this intimate setting became the stage for one of the heaviest and most unforgettable shows of the year.

THE DALI THUNDERING CONCEPT

The French modern djent-metal collective opened the night by dropping a sonic bomb on the crowd with their half-hour set. Tight, technical, and devastatingly heavy, their performance included an unreleased track that only heightened the excitement in the room. As their frontman put it, the set ended far too soon — a sentiment the crowd clearly shared. It was a short but unforgettable statement.

VCTMS

Next up was VCTMS, making their European debut. The Illinois metalcore outfit ran into a few technical hiccups, but none of it mattered once they hit full stride. Their passion and intensity cut straight through, and the Vienna crowd responded with pure enthusiasm. The energy in the room proved that VCTMS had just won over a whole new fanbase on their first trip to the continent.

CABAL

When Cabal took the stage, chaos truly erupted. The Danish deathcore behemoths tore the roof off Flex with a set that sparked relentless movement in the pit — walls of death, two-stepping, nonstop moshing. The intensity was so overwhelming that fans were literally thrown onto the stage from the pit. Closing with Magno Interitus, they left the room in ruins. Frontman Andreas declared it one of the best nights of the tour — and judging by the destruction, it wasn’t hard to believe him.

ten56.

If Cabal set the venue ablaze, ten56. detonated an atomic bomb. The sheer weight of their sound shook the walls, rattled the floors, and swallowed the room whole. Aron admitted that when the band first saw the size of the stage, they thought, “What the fuck” — but once they started, it was clear this was something special. Like Cabal before them, ten56. made a point to say it was the best vibe of the tour, and it didn’t feel like stage banter — it felt sincere. The finale was nothing short of legendary, as Cabal’s Andreas joined Aron on vocals for a crushing rendition of Earwing.

Just days later, ten56. even confirmed via Instagram that this Vienna show ranked among their top five shows of all time. For the fans, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience: an intimate club gig marked by unimaginable heaviness, proving once again that size doesn’t matter when the vibe is right. Sometimes, the smallest stages deliver the biggest shows of your life.