For the third consecutive year, Vulgarfest returned to The Studio in Hartlepool, once again proving that the UK underground Extreme Metal scene is alive and thriving. Since its debut in 2024, the annual festival has become a staple of the Extreme Metal calendar, with organisers and hosts Vulgar Dissection once again bringing together some of the country’s finest bands for a day of unrelenting heaviness.
Vulgarfest 2026
The Studio, Hartlepool – 10-11 July 2026
Words: Matty Hunter
Photography: George Davidson (GeordenPhotography)
This year’s edition featured eight bands, culminating in a headline performance from Glasgow’s Scordatura, while a Slam Karaoke set stepped in following the withdrawal of Vast Slug.
The weekend began the night before with a pre-show featuring Brain Bath, Ovulating Cadaver, Grave Ghoul and Fate Weaver, giving travelling fans from up and down the country even more reason to descend on Hartlepool for two days of underground extremity.
Beyond the music, Vulgarfest continues to embody the spirit of the underground, with a genuine sense of community between fans and bands throughout the day.
Death Metal is alive and well, and Vulgar Dissection deserve huge credit for creating an event like this in their North East coastal hometown, giving the UK’s underground scene a platform to flourish year after year.
Final Witness
Kicking off the show at 1:30 was hometown new kids on the block Final Witness, who wasted no time showing why they are an exciting young Death Metal prospect. Having only formed last year, the old-school Death Metal outfit consists of four teenage musicians.
Despite their youth, the quartet already have two releases to their name, Stabbing Angels and the self-titled Final Witness and showcased a level of musicianship that belied their age.
Starting promptly, Final Witness immediately found themselves playing to an already healthy crowd, with the vocalist Max Pearson gripping the audience from the opening moments. Their seven-song set was a mixture of unreleased material, covers and their two singles.
The recently released earworm Stabbing Angels was an early highlight, driven by an irresistibly catchy riff and a chorus that already had sections of the crowd shouting along. Pearson’s introduction of “Do you know a band called Obituary?” was met with a loud cheer before the band launched into a cover of Redneck Stomp, one of the first big crowd-pleasing moments of the day.
The band members were all equally impressive musicians, but guitarist Ben Heron was particularly striking throughout, delivering a series of confident guitar solos that marked him out as a standout performer. Pearson, meanwhile, possesses all the qualities of a commanding frontman, combining powerful vocals with an assured stage presence that brought to mind an early Cronos.
Before the end of the set, he gave a shoutout to Liam Wales from Vulgar Dissection, as well as thanking everyone from the bar staff to the lighting crew for making the festival possible.
The closing title track saw the band call for the day’s first circle pit, and plenty happily obliged, bringing the 30-minute set to a fittingly chaotic conclusion just before 2 pm. It was an outstanding opening performance that set the tone for everything that followed.
The Larches
Occupying the second slot on the bill was The Larches, drafted in at only a few days notice to replace Grindcore Cake Makers and immediately looking as though they belonged there.
The Middlesbrough sludge/doom outfit, formed in 2023, have forged their own distinctive sound by blending many elements of music and are far removed from the indie roots that they first began with.
Already boasting a self-titled 2024 EP alongside the singles Equilibrium and Ego Death / The Skin I Live In, the band are set to release a new EP, Nihilistic Majesties, on 24 July 2026 following the arrival of lead single Taxidermy.
Starting at 2:25, The Larches wasted no time in making an impression with an eight-song set built mainly with teasers of unreleased material. Frontman Noah Annandale was relentlessly animated from the opening moments, moving all over the stage, bellowing and clean singing through the songs with an intensity that never relented.
By the second track, Corrosion Of Conscience, from their forthcoming EP, he had already taken his shirt off and remained topless for the rest of the set, pacing about, dropping to his knees and drinking beer between musical breaks, ensuring every moment was packed with energy, while the band remained locked in.
What stood out most was the raw emotion that came through in their music. The instruments landed with power, the breakdowns felt particularly visceral, and the vocals shifted convincingly between savage gutturals and cleaner, more melodic passages in parts.
Despite being a late addition to the bill, The Larches played with the confidence of a band that had been on the poster from day one, carrying the room through a 25-minute barrage.
I had not heard the band before Vulgarfest, but by the time they left the stage, they had earned a place in my library and on my watchlist for the months ahead.
Slam Karaoke
The unexpected voided slot of Vast Slug could easily have left a break in the proceedings, but instead it produced a lighthearted interlude.
Vulgarfest filled the half-hour slot with a spontaneous slam karaoke session that further embodied the festival’s tight-knit community spirit. Throughout the day, the atmosphere between bands had already been exceptional, with musicians and fans mingling freely, and the karaoke only strengthened that sense of togetherness.
The session was kicked off with three of the four Vulgar Dissection members as guitarist Billy Edmondson took on vocals, joined by bandmate Benji Dixon on drums and festival organiser Liam Wales on guitar.
Local prog death band’s Erebor vocalist Valentine Rodriguez was next to take the microphone, backed by Benji once again alongside Final Witness guitarist Ben Heron. Later, Rumination’s TJ Fallon and Joey Rutherford took over guitar and drums, respectively, while Coprocephalic Mutation frontman Kyle Jordan handled vocal duties.
Experienced musicians and first-time participants alike stepped onto the stage, with several others getting involved in the fun. This interlude from the bands brought the crowd even closer together before the day’s intensity ramped up once more.
Liquified
At 4:15, it was time for Nottingham’s Liquified. Formed in 2024, the young five-piece have a sound as filthy as their name and song titles suggest. Despite the band only having one release to their name at present, 2025’s Chapters Of Cruelty EP, they are a group with intent and momentum.
An eerie intro tape gave way to a thunderous drum introduction before the band exploded into the opening number Septic Tank Sarcophagus. Having been keen to catch Liquified live since hearing their debut EP last year, they more than lived up to expectations.
Their dark, gloomy, and relentlessly trudging Death Metal sound is something I dig. They created a crushing atmosphere that never let up throughout the half-hour performance.
After the opening couple of tracks, vocalist Jack Swain praised the Hartlepool Death Metal scene on the band’s first visit to the town before introducing the new song in the currently unreleased Basement Blight.
Swain was a brooding frontman, constantly headbanging with his face rarely visible beneath a curtain of long hair, and the audience nodded along with him. Skinned And Binned was the first track I heard of them last year, and this one proved to be a particular highlight of their set, translating live as dark and ominous as it does on the EP.
Closing with another new track in Zombie Ritual, Liquified unleashed a final barrage of blast beats before thanking Vulgar Dissection’s Liam for inviting them onto the bill, revealing they were all big fans of the festival hosts.
It was an impressive festival debut and another reminder of the strength of the UK’s emerging Death Metal scene. These lads from ‘Rottingham’ are ones to watch.
Rumination
The second of three bands on the bill representing the host town, Rumination were up next just after 5 pm. Having only formed in 2024, the five-piece continue to go from strength to strength and are a real gem of the Death Metal scene.
Following a tongue-in-cheek snippet of the traditional folk song The Hartlepool Monkey, Rumination immediately showed the uninitiated what they are about as they burst into life with a crushing opening assault, their backdrop proudly adorning the stage behind them. The impact was immediate as the floor space quickly filled and the crowd surged closer to the front.
Their sound was absolutely phenomenal, delivering crushing riffs, blistering drumming and guttural vocals with no unnecessary theatrics. Just pure, uncompromising brutality. The second song saw a welcome guest appearance from Jon Burr, vocalist of Colpocleisis, whose contributions added even more venom to the band’s devastating performance.
Much of the set showcased unreleased material from the forthcoming EP Maelstrom Of Epithelium, which is due for release in late August after a lengthy period in the works. Having spoken with members of the band earlier in the day, it was exciting to hear that the record is now complete. Every song in the set landed with confidence, and the new EP sounds superb.
There was still room for plenty of northern personality between the brutality. The band acknowledged their Scottish friends in attendance, including guitarist Ross Dunn, before vocalist Paul Hartburn joked that Rumination had “been on stage longer than Scotland were in the World Cup” and then hilariously led the crowd in a chant of “Football’s coming home again under Thomas Tuchel.”
Onstage, the synchronised headbanging between band and audience perfectly reflected the connection Rumination had built with the packed room.
Wrapping up their 35-minute show, they somehow surpassed the impressive performance I saw when they supported Narcotic Wasteland in Newcastle last year, delivering one of the standout sets of the festival so far.
Impurist
Impurist took to the stage as one of the day’s most experienced outfits. Formed in Hull in 2023, the Death Metal seasoned quartet boasts current and former members of Extreme Noise Terror, Gorerotted, Winterfylleth and Hell Bastard amongst several other known bands.
Their uncompromising approach to straightforward Death Metal has already produced two strong EPs in Evolving Cortex (2024) and Punishment Without Mercy (2025), with a debut full-length expected later this year.
Having previously caught the band supporting Pestilence alongside Damim in Newcastle last December, it was good to see them return to the North East.
Opening with the title track from Evolving Cortex, Impurist wasted no time establishing their crushing sound before a bout of guitar issues briefly halted proceedings after the first song. Fortunately, the interruption was short-lived, and they quickly burst back into action with Punishment Without Mercy, the setback doing little to dent the momentum they had already built.
Frontman BM’s deep vocals were delivered with conviction and purpose throughout, while his confident swagger gave the performance an assured stage presence to match the band’s no-nonsense approach.
Although two songs were dropped because of time constraints, the band still delivered a compact yet impactful set, also tearing through In Gristle and Sinew before closing with Pestilent Plains.
BM addressed the shortened running time with good humour, joking that if Impurist were a Grindcore band, they could have played 20 songs. Their set concluded at 6:30 pm, but despite only managing four songs, Impurist once again demonstrated why they are one of the UK’s most promising new Death Metal acts. I look forward to their new record, and it is clear that their sound is ever-evolving.
Coprocephalic Mutation
Occupying the sixth of eight bands on the stacked bill was Manchester’s brutal Death Metal outfit Coprocephalic Mutation.
Formed in 2017, the band began life as a studio project before evolving into one of the UK’s most recognisable modern underground slam acts with appearances across UK shows and festivals. The band have established themselves as a formidable name in the modern Extreme Metal community, and their sound is pitch black.
The Manchester natives put on one of the heaviest performances of the day, with their particular brand of brutality arguably representing the most purely savage slam attack on the bill.
Taking to the stage at 6:45 pm, there was no lengthy introduction or build-up needed. Coprocephalic Mutation immediately launched into a relentless barrage of brutality.
Frontman Kyle Jordan commanded the stage with a towering presence, and he notably took a moment to thank the band for having them on the bill before shouting out the other acts playing throughout the day, before the band unleashed the crushing set highlights Phallic Lobotomy and Cervical Bifurcation Through Deteriorated Atrocities.
The set continued with relentless intensity, but it was during the final two tracks that the crowd response truly erupted, with the mosh pits spreading across the venue and the atmosphere amping up even more.
Closing with a brutal cover of Devourment’s Babykiller, Coprocephalic Mutation left the crowd with one of the most memorable moments of the day. After a 30-minute set, the band delivered exactly what fans expected, a deep and filthy display of slam brutality that proved why they remain one of the UK’s most impressive Extreme Metal acts.
Vulgar Dissection
As the penultimate band of the day and the hosts of the festival itself, Vulgar Dissection carried the weight of expectation onto the stage and delivered a performance that justified exactly why this event bears their name.
Formed in 2017 in Hartlepool, Vulgar Dissection released their debut demo in 2018 before following it with their debut EP, Buried And Forgotten, in 2020. After a period of sustained touring, the band stepped away from the spotlight to focus on writing and recording last year’s superb Liquifying Coagulated Viscera, which I ranked as my third favourite release of 2025.
The current quartet lineup appears very tight-knit, and their growing profile has seen them perform across Germany, France and elsewhere in Europe this year. Continuing to wear their Dying Fetus influence proudly, they even released a cover of Grotesque Impalement just one day before this hometown performance.
This show marked my second time seeing them in their hometown, just a stone’s throw away at the Vixen Bar last time, and the connection between band and audience was clear from the opening moments.
From the outset, Vulgar Dissection immediately had the Hartlepool crowd moving, with pits erupting from the first song and continuing throughout the entire 45-minute slot.
The previously fan-picked setlist delivered, and they welcomed guests on stage with them for a couple of tracks, with Ben Heron from Final Witness guesting on guitar, while Ross Dunn from Rumination joined the band on vocals for Femur Breaker.
The connection between band and audience throughout was top-notch, with chants ringing out for the choruses and loud cheers in between track switches. Vulgar Dissection had the room completely in the palm of their hands.
They concluded with a cover of Dying Fetus’ Grotesque Impalement, a moment that went down brilliantly with the fans and provided the perfect final warm-up before the day’s closing act.
Shortly after their set, the Vulgarfest team took to the stage to make huge announcements for next year’s festival, announcing an expansion to their team and that four bands were already secured for the bill in OCD, Visions Of Disfigurement, Defector and Swarms.
Scordatura
A fine export from Scotland, none other than Scordatura, had the honour of closing out the third edition of Vulgarfest, making their first-ever appearance in Hartlepool as they approach two decades as one of the UK’s premier Death Metal bands.
Formed in Glasgow in 2007, the quartet includes three founding members and across four full-length records from Torment Of The Weak through to this year’s fresh, outstanding Led Into Oblivion, they have built a reputation for an uncompromising approach to the genre.
Expectations were understandably high here, and they delivered a headline set worthy of the occasion.
After a meticulous soundcheck pushed their start time back slightly, Scordatura finally took to the stage at 9:15 pm, teasing the crowd with a brief burst of Servants Of Entrapment before Daryl jokingly announced, “Good night, Hartlepool,” prompting laughter from both the band and the packed room.
Any delay was immediately forgotten as they launched into a relentless assault, weaving the new material together with several older fan favourites. There was little room for conversation between songs, with the band keen to maximise every minute of their set after the delayed start.
From the opening moments, Scordatura justified their headline billing and just did their thing. Their sound was an overwhelming cacophony of crushing riffs, relentless blast beats and guttural vocals exactly as Death Metal should be, while the technical precision on display was consistently admirable.
The intricate and fast guitar work was exceptional throughout, and as a nice personal touch, I appreciated the guitarist Owen McKendrick’s Decapitated shirt, representing one of my own favourite bands in the genre.
His guitar was equally eye-catching, plastered with stickers of countless bands, including one for Party Cannon, a fitting nod to their Scottish brothers and, of course, frontman Daryl Boyce’s other band full-time as of last year.
Boyce constantly encouraged movement, demanding circle pits that the crowd were only too happy to provide, and bodies crashed into one another across the floor in a wall of death at one point.
One of the night’s standout moments personally came when, while I was filming, Daryl grabbed my phone and turned it towards the stage and his band members, capturing the group from their own perspective before handing it back to me without missing a vocal note. Rather impressive.
It perfectly summed up the fun, inclusive attitude that accompanied the brutality pouring from the stage.
By the closing stages, the bodies flying had descended into complete chaos. Crowd surfers appeared in waves during the final two songs, with multiple people making their way overhead, including Liam from Vulgar Dissection, Rumination’s Ross and Final Witness’ Ben.
It was a fitting climax to an outstanding performance that eventually concluded after nearly an hour of brutality, running beyond the venue’s curfew but with absolutely nobody complaining. After their set, Scordatura took a breath, and the fans showed their appreciation.
Speaking to the band after the show only reinforced the impression they had left on stage. They were humble, genuinely appreciative of the reception they had received and full of praise for the North East Death Metal scene that had welcomed them so warmly on their first visit to Hartlepool.
It was the perfect way to bring the curtain down on the third Vulgarfest, a festival that continues to prove the strength, passion and community spirit of the UK’s underground Death Metal scene.
Long may it continue, and 2027 early bird tickets are available now. For more details, visit SeeTickets.
