Nekrogoblikon, accompanied by Grief Ritual, Party Cannon, and Allegaeon, swung by Anarchy Brewery in Newcastle on their Show Me Your Goblin UK and Ireland tour and treated the Toon to a killer night of organised chaos.
Nekrogoblikon – Allegaeon – Party Cannon – Grief Ritual
Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle – 26 September 2026
Words: Matty Hunter
Photography: Alan Bell / Vision Impact Photography
On a night that W.A.S.P were also playing in the city, hundreds of Metalheads descended upon Anarchy Brew Co. to kick off their weekend in style.
The venue is a brewery, which is a few miles outside of Newcastle city centre, that not only hosts concerts, but also other events, including the popular independent professional wrestling companies NORTH shows. But on this Friday night, it was hosting an unforgettable night of chaotic Metal.
Grief Ritual
Around half an hour after the doors opened and the keen fans flocked in early to get a good standing spot, Grief Ritual kicked off the night with a ruthless 25-minute set. Their sound interested me as I heard tinges of Hardcore influence but in a slower Blackened Death Metal style, and the lyricism has a powerful message.
These guys were the calm before the storm for the rest of the night, but they certainly played like they were the headliner. It was Grief Ritual’s second time playing in the city, the first being in May when they played the Newcastle leg of Phazed Out Festival at the Grove.
Grief Ritual are a quartet from Gloucestershire who released their debut album in January this year, entitled Collapse, which clocks in at just under 40 minutes long and is a real statement with excellent musicianship throughout. 
“We are Grief Ritual, and last night we played Manchester, you need to be better than that,” the lead singer, Jamie Waggett, exclaimed to the crowd before blasting into the track Recursion from their debut release.
It then did not take long for the pits to open as the band smashed through six more tracks with strong messages. Plenty of fans turned up for the opening act and were left warmed up for the chaos to come. 
I would recommend checking out Grief Ritual if you have not already, as they are superb and a fresh take on their genre.
Party Cannon
Second on the bill, fifteen minutes later, was the eclectic Slam Metal band, Party Cannon, from Dunfermline in Scotland. The quintet recently had a lineup change, as Scordatura and stand-in tour vocalist Daryl ‘Frogman’ Boyce replaced Tony ‘Grindsnort’ Reddie full-time. 
As soon as this gig was announced, this was the band I was most excited to see on the bill. Party Cannon are no strangers to fans of Death/Slam Metal, and their live performance was something I knew I had to experience myself one day after being a fan for many years.
Regular readers will know that I am fond of the heaviest side of Metal, and their sound is stuff that I dig. Their brutal music, juxtaposed by their image and spectacle of the live show, certainly lived up to my expectations!
When Party Cannon entered the stage, they introduced themselves to the crowd to a rave track with all the band members jumping around on the stage. A non-band member in a skull mask held up a sign reading “let’s party,” and oh, did they do that.
The mayhem began as they broke into the unforgiving track Grass Obliteration (Blazed And Confused), after which they fired inflatables, including beach balls and a giant killer whale, into the crowd, alongside tens of glow sticks.
“What’s up, Newcastle? We are Venom, I mean Party Cannon,” vocalist Daryl uttered after the first track concluded, and that brought an audible cheer from the rapidly growing crowd for their hometown heroes.
The rest of the set was powered through with precision and brutality, as the person donning the skull mask held up more signs throughout the set. The crowd were treated to both new singles released this year, namely Thirst Trap and High Tariff Behaviour, alongside a few more tracks from across their fifteen-year discography. 
Just as Party Cannon were nearing the end of their short but impactful 35-minute set, the inflatable whale was thrown to the front, and it was now deflated, much to the frown of Frogman.
The crowd were even instructed to do a “push-up pit” to which tens of fans obliged. What a spectacle, and the crowd were certainly warmed up now if they were not before.
Allegaeon
The penultimate band of the night was Allegaeon, a five-piece technical melodic Death Metal band from Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
Admittedly, I was unfamiliar with Allegaeon and went into this concert purposely without listening to any of their discography before seeing them live because I wanted to see what they were about, and wow, did they blow me away.
Allegaeon were, of course, technical, whilst engaging with particularly memorable and mesmerising complex riffs, not to mention heavy as hell. Ever since I got into this side of Metal, Technical Death has always fascinated me, not least the killer sound it is, but the complexity that goes into it.
Vocalist Ezra Haynes had a presence of a lead singer unique to anything I had seen before, in the way he conducted and orchestrated the crowd along to headbanging to the riffs and instrumentals by moving his finger repeatedly, whilst keeping a swaggering presence about him. Haynes belted out insane gutturals and clean melodic singing, both in admirable fashion. 
The crowd were hot for these guys, and you would be lucky to find a space on the floor in the ever-growing pit in the centre of the standing section as the headliners’ set time edged closer.
Allegaeon experienced some technical difficulties a few songs into their set, but as vocalist Ezra said, “It’s Death Metal, we always work it out.” They certainly did that, playing a blistering 40-minute set, finishing with crowd favourite track 1.618 to a wall of death in the chaotic pit. 
The hordes of fans were now ready for the main event, and it is fair to say that they loved what they had just experienced with the mighty Allegaeon.
Nekrogoblikon
It had been over a decade since Nekrogoblikon last played Newcastle. February 2014, to be exact, alongside Crossfaith, Heck and Limp Bizkit on the Kerrang! Tour.
But on their long-awaited return to the city, the self-proclaimed Kings of Goblin Metal reminded everyone at Anarchy Brewery exactly why they have become a cult phenomenon.
The Los Angeles-based band brought a chaotic, hilarious, and wildly entertaining show that was impossible to ignore and was just phenomenal.
For the uninitiated, Nekrogoblikon is near impossible to categorise. Blending Death Metal growls, melodic hard rock, EDM-style keys, and absurd humour, they have carved out their own niche over close to two decades.
While no original members remain, the band feels tighter than ever. Guitarist Alex ‘Goldberg’ Alereza leads the current lineup, joined by new vocalists Dickie Allen (harsh) and Grady ‘John Goblikon’ Welch (clean). 
From the moment they stepped on stage, following an oddly perfect precursor of the Pokémon theme to warm the crowd up, the band had the audience in the palm of their goblin hands. John Goblikon wasted no time poking fun at the city, joking about “only old castles,” all while encouraging crowd participation in the form of dance pits, sing-alongs, and even a wall of death.
Nekrogoblikon also took aim at the football team, Newcastle United, and the infamous beverage Newcastle Brown Ale.
Musically, the set was a rollercoaster through the band’s ever-expanding discography. They played classics like No One Survives, multiple deep cuts that have not seen the stage in a while, like Bring Us More (which had a tease of Blind by Korn beforehand) and new singles Fiend and Show Me Your Goblin.
As the night wound down, the crowd were teased with a fake goodbye: “The sad news is, we have one song left…but the good news is – it’s Powercore,” John exclaimed.
For the encore, Nekrogoblikon wrapped up their set with the eclectic tracks The Magic Spider and This Is It, the latter of which is a track fitting to conclude the set undoubtedly.
With a U.S. headline tour kicking off soon, this short UK run was a chaotic reminder that goblin Metal is alive and well. If you ever get the chance to see them live, take it. Just be ready to dance, laugh, and maybe pray to a spider.
