London Metal Coalition Battle Jacket

Social Rebellion Patches has teamed up with the London Metal Coalition (LMC) and Battleaxe Jackets to build a bespoke, custom battle jacket that serves as a living, breathing historical archive of the current London heavy metal scene.

Why Make It? 

I love history, I love Metal, and I love building battle jackets. As a patch-maker who usually works alone, collaborating with awesome people to catalogue and document our community is the ultimate project for me. 

The Custom Construction

This isn’t a quick iron-on job using cheaply printed patches. This is a premium, custom build:

  • The Embroidery: Every single band logo is hand-digitized and stitched in-house by Social Rebellion Patches. I colour-match the threads to the bands' own branding and use industrial-grade polyester to ensure these patches survive the pit.

  • The Artwork: The massive centerpiece - a custom collection of skulls interwoven with snakes is being hand-painted by the incredible BattleAxe Jackets.

  • The Epaulettes: You can’t have a scene without the venues. Legendary London institutions The Dev and Signature Brew sit on the shoulders, watching over the bands they host every week.

How to Win a Piece of Metal History

This jacket is not for sale. When the final patch is placed, it belongs to the scene. The Official LMC Battle Jacket will be raffled off at the upcoming Coalition Festival, with every single penny going straight back to the LMC to help fund the next wave of underground gigs.

You literally have to be in the pit to win it.

Follow the Build

I am documenting every single stitch, layout, and stud over on Instagram and TikTok under the tag #LMCBattleJacket.

 

Progress thus far!

As you can see, the paintwork is done. Kirstie at BattleAxe Jackets did a cracking job with her skulls, snakes and green colour scheme. It is going to look sick contrasting with the wide array of colour we have coming from the band patches themselves. Now this project wouldn't be complete to me without cataloguing it properly and doing these bands and venues justice by telling you a little bit about them and how they are doing right now in 2026. History will remember, them, or at the very least, this jacket project will!

Venues:
Signature Brew: Website / Instagram

Operating two venues in London, one in Blackhorse Road and one in Haggerston, Signature Brew combines two of the best things in life: independent craft beer and live, deafening heavy music. The Blackhorse Road brewery is legendary in the scene for letting you literally mosh right next to the massive brewing tanks. They are an absolute pillar of the London underground, giving a massive platform to heavy bands night after night.



Bands:


#1: Tempest Saint: Formed in 2023, this 4-piece metal band bring old school heavy metal to the modern day. Instagram



#2 Halberd: Claiming patch #2 with that aggressive neon green thread, Halberd brings absolute pure energy to the Coalition roster as a 5-piece gritty Thrash Metal band. Instagram