The second day at SonicBlast 2026 had even more up its sleeve. After the psych explorations of Portugal’s Jesus The Snake that included a super tasty snippet of Echoes (this band would be right at home on the El Paraiso label) and the hard rock stylings of Portland’s Hög (if you’re familiar with the excellent Brown Acid series on Riding Easy, you know what I am talking about), those pesky moving parts came into play.
SonicBlast 2026 – Day Two
Viana do Castelo, Portugal – 6-8 August 2026
Words And Photography: Tim Bugbee
Dead Meadow had to pull out as the band incurred a medical situation that unfortunately led to the cancellation of all their remaining European dates (Clamm was a last-minute substitution), and Voivod came on the stage with a singer who had an iPad for lyrics and was decidedly not Snake.
It was not a new singer breaking in before he learned all the words, just a one-off fill-in for the uncategorisable Quebecois band.
If you are gonna name your band Conan, you better be bringing monolithic, bone-crushing power. Do not worry, Jon Davis has that all figured out.
With all the subtlety of an overhead mace strike to your cranium, the band riled up the crowd like a gigantic cattle prod hit the centre of the pit. I still laugh at the memory of a person trying to take a mobile call during their set. Talk about futility.
Kylesa surprised the Metal world last year when Laura Pleasants and Phillip Cope announced their return to the stage, starting with Roadburn. They have obviously been having fun with this current stint, and it was great to hear bona fide classics like Unknown Awareness and Where The Horizon Unfolds after their decade-long hiatus.
The Casualties were not hard to spot around the festival grounds, brightly colored mohawks towering over their scalps. Though they hail from New York City, their brand of punk was more in line with the classic early ’80s UK style of bands such as Discharge, Charged GBH or Subhumans, and they were another act who got the circle pit spinning round and round.
Like Sizemore, singer Daniel Rodriguez decided to take flight from the scaffolding as their set drew to a close.
As band lore goes, Turbonegro is up near the pinnacle of having a very specific niche. Riffing on the machismo culture of hard rock and Metal, they take inspiration from gay icon Tom of Finland crossed with Hells Angels, with regional chapters of fans (aka Turbojugend) dotted all across the globe. Pure, unadulterated fun, the band comes off as a less po-faced Hives mixed with the grittiness of The Hellacopters.
Was there still crowd energy to be tapped as the clock hands passed 2 AM? Deathchant made sure of that. Celebrating their fourth appearance here, the LA quartet took the stage, took no prisoners, and plain and simple took over, period.
Gearing up for the release of their fourth record, they started with Enemy, and if that is indicative of what is on the rest of the record, it is clearly going to be their best yet. If you like twinned guitars that intertwine at breakneck speed like prime-era Thin Lizzy, you have come to the right spot.
At festivals like this, there’s definitely a ‘look’, and these guys have that dialled in and then some, shirtless and heavily tattooed, ’70s moustaches, oozing rock ‘n’ roll danger. But do not let that fool you. They are sweethearts when the amps stop howling.
Remember that PA scaffolding I keep talking about? Doug Stuckey obviously noted the previous uses and upped the ante, climbing up the scaffolding to new heights and with a Flying V that was meant to take flight, sailed into the crowd.
Rumours are swirling that he has not yet landed, so if you see him, give me a heads up. His mom is worried.
