Live Review: Ghostfest
21st June 2025
Words & Photos: Nic Howells
10 years after its last installment, Ghostfest rose from the dead, and it brought the heat from hell with it. Descending upon its old stomping ground of Leeds University, the event spread across the KE Management Stage, and the Pins & Knuckles stage. The stages held host to nearly 20 bands from death metal to slam playing almost entirely back to back, headlined by northern bastards Ingested to end the night. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but what does a Ghostfest in the year 2025 look like?
As all great stories start, Ghostfest 2025 kicked off with a rowdy Scottish mob, skeletons, and penises. Party Cannon wasted no time in reminding everyone that absurdity and aggression are not mutually exclusive. They played to an enthusiastic crowd for the ver, egged on by two skeletal mascots on stage, one being fluorescent pink, who flaunted a variety of props and signs, some phallic, some not.
This set was advertised by the event as a Partied in Half set, but also spotlighted some of their newer stuff. Most notably this consisted of ‘Weird, But Not Illegal’ as well as barely just released new track ‘Thirst Trap’. Party Canon will never not stand out a bill. Not many bands could get a push-up-pit, indoors, on a 28 degree day, yet here we are. The aforementioned pit took place during almost the entirety of ‘Soft, White Gelatinous Body’, with some continuing into ‘Duct Taped To a Flag Pole’. Party Canon will have to go down in infamy for this set, not only was it well received, but the inflatables they brought with them appeared in every other set of the day.
Anything would have been a stark contrast to the “Barney’s Funhouse of Death” of Party Canon, but on the Pins & Knuckles stage. Veiled's Ghostfest set was drawn from last year's album SE//CT, kicking off with ‘Forgive Me’ and ‘The Sentence’, and some shockingly heavy strobe lighting. That album is why this set was so well received by the early doors crowd, as it follows the album track for track in the early going with ‘Lament’ and ‘Hellbound’, before hopping around a little for ‘Asphyxiate’ and personal favourite ‘The Root of Mans Impurity’. The group haven’t entirely departed from the Black Rite era though. Vocalist Kyle Dawson brandishes the bible-esque book they have had with them for the last 3 years of touring. There is an invite for all fans to come and sign The Black Rite at the merch table before they play ‘Reverie’ and then ‘Omen of Torture’ to complete a very ritualistic Pins & Knuckles stage opener.
Back in the main room, TRC was welcomed like royalty. Not only was their set pushed heavily as a Northern Exclusive, but iconic frontman Chris Robson makes a point of saying “20 years of Ghostfest, 20 years of TRC”. It’s clear the Londoners have some emotional stake in a date like this, and are touched by the turnout. The set kicked off with ‘Define Cocky’ as well as ‘#Team UK’ from their last album, which is about to celebrate 12 years. The breathlessness of Robson’s and Anthony Carroll’s delivery is such a stark contrast to the other early acts of the day, and brings totally different energy from the crowd.
There’s few better ways to display this than during 2016’s ‘H.A.T.E.R.S’, as Robson chucks the mic two two very game gents on the front row who finish the track, and he only gets it back as they begin playing ‘Go Hard or Go Home’. Hardcore and Hip-Hop have been close friends for decades, and TRC is the most in your face example of such love. The resulting calamity as the group power through ‘Londons Greatest Love Story’ and 2004’s ‘Fuck You Die Slow’, is one for the memory books, and showed some perfect booking from Ghostfests team.
In their first proper show since 2021. The Grimsby boys in Demoraliser the Long Live Ant Allen charity event in Sheffield’s Leadmill. To add some spice, the band were also playing 2010’s Reform. Repent. Revenge EP in full. This front-to-back playthrough brought some risks with it, as they burned their way through ‘47’ and usual show closer ‘Checkmate’ within the first two tracks.
After also playing ‘Blood Meridian’ with a guest effort from Martyr Defiled’s Matt Jones, Dexter on vocals admits that from here on in for the set they are specifically playing “the other tracks”. Despite the quip from Dexter, this set is not without its adoration, as the reunion was a big selling point for some fans. There was a time where Demoraliser were welded to lineups around the North, with some fond memories of them even supporting Hatebreed in 2013 still very fresh. Whilst ‘Out For Justice’ and ‘Glass Hands’ aren’t stiflingly room moving, Demoraliser are the beneficiaries of the days set times, as the crowd from TRC ending bolsters their attendance in what was already quite a close quarters room.
Once the clock ticks out on tracks from the Reform. Repent. Revenge EP, they joke that the next few tracks might be “one you might actually know”. The first of those is ‘Bitter Springs’ which immediately encourages a pit opening, followed by ‘Trading Places’, both from their split EP in 2012. Just before playing their final song, they joke about reliving their youth. You don’t know what you’ve got until its gone, and as they crack the floor open the final time with showstopper ‘Reap What You Sow’, it is genuinely like a set in a time capsule.
The run of TRC, Demoraliser and then back into the main room for Heart of a Coward feels like a genuine 2012 tour lineup poster. But the crowd didn’t stop moving, with this arguably being the peak of some of the energy they had. Kaan Tasan kept things lively from the mic, as his style revolves around patrolling the stage with an almost cheeky vibe.
Meanwhile, praise has to be given to the absolute lynchpin that was Chris ‘Noddy’ Mansbridge’s drumming from the backline. Heart of a Coward have sort of been everywhere in recent times, two years on the bounce at Radar, a headline tour, and most recently a slot at Darkreign. Somehow, they set remains incredibly fresh, and it feels like a com-lete second life for the band since release of their latest record This Place Only Brings Death, whilst alos having the alumni appeal of being on deck at the last installment of the festival in 2015
False Reality’s set feels like a journey in the making, as Rachel Rigby on vocals is a force on the Pins & Knuckles stage. They recount a story from over a decade ago that they were due to attend Ghostfest as their first ever show outside of Essex, and other circumstances scuppered that attendance. Something about them being booked for the revival year of Ghostfest just feels right. The bulk of the set was based off their 2024 album Path of Self Destruct, with this years singles ‘Cranium’ and ‘Cost of Spite’ woven into the midpoint.
False Reality brought something different to the Pins & Knuckles stage. That being literally any act with at least one femme presenting member. If there was one criticism, not necessarily of Ghostfest, but of the scene in general when trying to book popularly, is that the diversity is sincerely lacking. The bands are out there, and people will watch at any level, be that False Reality here or Witch Fever supporting an arena tour. Rigby touches on this in encouraging women in the crowd to start a hardcore band before they sneak in unreleased track ‘Snake Eyes’, as well as their joint track with Speed ‘Opposites React’ to close out the set. End to end, this set had heart, and that went a long way.
The common denominator amongst all bands booked for Ghostfest is the universal love each act has for the festival of yester-decade. This continued well into God Complex’s set on the main stage. Frontman Harry Rule used it as an inciting thought for the crowd, citing Ghostfest as “Legendary”, asking for furor from Leeds that could only add to that legend. Their own output was that of heavy breakdowns and technical, but chaotic mastery of their craft. Much in the vein of stage-mates Graphic Nature to follow, their use of shrill notes and dissonant noise is an earworm. After a relentless touring cycle earlier in the year, God Complex stood out for their eerie groove and psychotic stop-start intensity, with only more to come as they head into the summer.
All the way from New Zealand, Xile were hit with early sound issues that delayed the set slightly. It was still an absolute treat to see them booked for this date, as aside from two days in Feb, they had not been in the UK since dates supporting King 810 & Alphawolf in 2023. Instrumentally, they worked a dream, but samples played at deafening levels. No criticism could be levied at the band for their either, it appeared just be the day catching up with some very quick rolling sets on that stage. They still accomplished a strong opening sprint of tracks, by the time they uncork ‘Stone Cold’ set times have fallen on their side, the post God Complex crowd has arrived, and aside from a minor blip at the back of house where vocals can’t be heard, they are very deserving of their place. Here’s hoping they have the opportunity to return without waiting two years.
Three weeks removed from their latest album Finding Peace, Desolated were one of the Big gets when announcing the lineup. Another crew on hand for the 2015 installment, their popularity has clearly not wavered as they kick off with ‘The Stomper’ and ‘Lessons’. Aside from a Richie Unsworth slip on the deck where a guitar change is required, this set felt perfectly balanced, material both old and new has its place with Tony Evans at the helm. This set took most consistently from Finding Peace, with dips into The End for ‘The Beginning’, ‘Therapy’ and ‘Numb’ for what is still a very unsung album. Final three consists of a trip back in time. Beginning to round things out is lead single from the latest record ‘Bite Down’, which has cemented itself among their strongest material, as well as 2019’s ‘A New Realm of Misery’ before the immortal track ’Death By My Side’ from 2013, seeing Evans climb down onto the barrier and perform the track with swaithes of fans doing so with him.
Celestial Sanctuary’s set just prior on the Pins & Knuckles stage seemed to be the re-emergence of sound issues delaying the day. In Graphic Nature’s case, their set is delayed by 10+ minutes. Frontman Harvey Freeman is quite hilariously sitting on the drum riser playing a game on his phone. When the set kicks in, it is like switch flips for both the boys on stage, and the room. There is the usual filtering back in of punters between sets, as is the norm with hardcore, but by the time the more Nu Metal ‘Headstone’ bringing through speakers, that same, technical earworm energy from God Complex has found its way back into punters. ‘Sour’ goes down very well amongst the Leeds crowd, both with the “It’s making me fucking sick” lyric that Freeman has the crowd call/response back to him, as well as the drum and bass heavy ending. Graphic Nature is a much more new-era act in the space that spent the day appreciating the nostalgia, and they still went down a treat. A week removed from a blistering Download set, and airdropping in in the place of the much-missed Landscapes, they followed and preceded acts with so much hype behind them and held their own.
In the latter stages of the day, the Pins & Knuckles stage became gradually more hazardous. Pun intended. Nevermore was that true than with hi-vis clad mob, Pintglass. From the very beginning of ‘Head of The Firm’ Barney Warner & Ben Mason are inciting something amongst people who have likely never seen a building site in their life. The crew inspire a certain calamity, and by ‘Cafe Brawler’ they are both straddling the front barrier. There is a brief pause between ‘Another Client’ and ‘Get In The Skip You Prick’ as the samples for the band are apparently deafening in their in-ears, which if you have heard their songs, is hilarious to imagine. This crew seemingly got bumped up a slot on the bill in the absence of Last Wishes, and brought a certain brand of chaos to that opportunity. After playing saviour on the bill for Radar Festival last year guys were very deserving of a place on festivals for 2025. The lyrics might be tongue-in-cheek, but the pit was anything but. The mob culture they inspire on stage is something else, and feels like the type of hysteria that can only grow from here.
Another band from last year's Radar Festival that found themselves in Leeds, Humanity’s Last Breath turned things appropriately apocalyptic as the night started to draw in. The bleak and dissonant style of their music was made all the more jarring as the Union seemed to be holding a fancy dress event for students just upstairs. Unbeknownst to them Humanity’s Last Breath were just below, and brought the apocalypse to Leeds University like it had been waiting ten years since the previous Ghostfest to blow. The Swedish collective delivered a wall of sound that felt like a thick, unrelenting wall of noise. Deathcore has always seemed to take preference when it comes to the higher slots of Ghostfest, and this was no exception. The set followed their standard as of late for playing material mainly off of Ashen and Välde, especially in the early going with ‘Valdet’, ‘Tide’ and ‘Labyrinthian’ making up a third of the set, as well as the closer ‘Earthless’. Ghostfest celebrates a variety of sounds, evidenced by Pintglass prior, but Humanity’s Last Breath made it sound like the end of all things, and the crowd lapped it up as the first of an all star heavy trio to end the night.
Filth was perhaps one of the lesser known to UK fans but greater acquisitions of the whole lineup. In the midst of a full european tour, the deathcore from North Carolina was the most unexpected international flare to grease the bill, and yet there is a packed out Pins & Knuckles stage to welcome them as things start off with ‘Stay Gutter’. The American unit was born just agonisingly short to have been of interest to the previous Ghostfest, so ultimately this set feels a long time in the making, and they feel deserving of a sub-headlining slot because of it. The bass of all three instruments during ‘Chin Check’ could only be described as punishing. In the strangest way, the bands prior to this set all lead perfectly into the crushing downtempo style of Filth. Think the discordant nature of GN, brashness off Pintglass, all toned down to Humanity’s octave.
There was slight misfortune that the bug of sound issues too delayed Signs of the Swarm’s set, with bassist Michael Cassese’s mic check consisting of “We’ll do it without if we have to, just let us play for these people”. It’s both easy to forget, and refreshing that music as guttural as this style of deathcore carries with it such passion. Concerns were smashed during the set itself though, as it was pitch perfect during opener ‘IWONTLETYOUDIE’ from last year. There is a major case to be made that David Simonich is one of the best current vocalists in deathcore, even with it in mind that they just released a version of ‘Clouded Retinas’ with Will Ramos. In the midst of an unreal summer run, and off the back of three incredible showings in the UK in the last two years, Signs of the Swarm were a walk on band for this bill boasting some incredible star power. For context, the group had blown away critics as main support for Cattle Decap, and then sold out their own headline run in the last year, then straddled this date by playing Graspop, a London headline, and Hellfest in the days surrounding Ghostfest. Bands of this level are becoming fewer and further. Signs of the Swarm just keep coming.
As far as sets go that struck the balance excellently for what Ghostfest truly embodies, Martyr Defiled may have been one of the perfect bands for the job. Taking the role of Taylor Swift and performing their own Era’s set, Martyr signposted ahead of time that this would be the last ever reunion. A full thirteen-song set closed the second stage and the story of the band with a bang. ‘Netherwitch’ and ‘Flawless’ kicked things off with some immediate heat, before a voice shredding effort from Matt Jones during ‘An Act of Sedition’ to close out the 09-10 era of the band.
It feels a genuine shame to remember this is the band's final show as Jones chatters between tracks, as he recounts their love for playing these sounds just prior to the In Shadows arc of the set. In somewhat of a treat, the ever reliable tracks of ‘Isolate’ and ‘Goldstein’ make an appearance. Despite the only two year gap in material, stylistically it feels like watching them grow younger and then old again as the set goes on. Martyr Defiled felt on similar footing as Demoraliser in the era of these releases in that it felt like they were always on some kind of bill whenever the opportunity arose, a fact that feels all the more easy to remember when final In Shadows track ‘Nemesis’ is recounted as one of their more played numbers.
They decide not to go in chronological order with the albums, reaching for 2017’s Young Gods, beginning with ‘Carpe Noctem’. There’s a sense of melancholy as Jones talks about favourites of the band, and how people are “never supposed to have a favourite child”, but the following few tracks are his favourite kids, specifically for ‘Carpe’ and ‘Pestillent Bastille’ before moving towards what has to be their most substantial record ‘No Hope, No Morality’. They could have just as easily played this album front to back, but the choice of a trip through time really made these last few songs feel like going out on a high. Beginning with the partial title track ‘No Hope’, things start to set in somewhat. As the set moves into the final three, this was both a highly anticipated return, moshpit at its centre, and then a hard goodbye, with many stood just watching during ‘Demons In The Mist’ and ‘LVCIFER’. In the spirit of final goodbyes, things are kept short and sweet, with ‘616’ doing the honours and torching the Pins and Knuckles stage for the final time for both Ghostfest 2025, and Martyr Defiled.
It was only fitting that Ingested, titans of modern British death metal, were given the honour of closing out Ghostfest 2025. Only one week on from paratrooping their way into a replacement slot for Cattle Decapitation at Download and killing it, they are top of the bill in Leeds. Things weren’t off to a perfect start, with technical issues rearing their head one final time for the night. Once sound checks are complete, the sound desk tells Sean Hynes “thumbs up when you’re ready”, to which he just doesnt move an inch and raises his thumb, and things get going at around 10:40.
Ingested have been ferociously at work since Josh Davies assumed the throne on vocals. But this is still within the bands first handful of shows on home soil with the new man on the mind. That mattered little here, as ‘Titanomachy’ sounds as good as it ever has, and the number still standing go hard for the one two punch of this and ‘Endgame’ from 2013’s Revered By no One, Feared By All. The switch truly flipped for them on ‘Altar of Flesh’ though, their first offering with Davies on the job. If this track is much to go by, the impending album will be have hearing specialists wringing their hands.
It’s easy to mistake Ingested’s brand of brutality as joyless, but that’s never been the case. Much like their peers in Cattle Decap and Signs of the Swarm, there is a defined level of passion behind all efforts, no matter how gruesomely they might be worded. Ghostfest placed faith in a hell of a name in Ingested for this banner event. Though the running order of the day left numbers somewhat thin on the ground, this set was exemplary work for a band that could have been spelling the end over 6 months ago. Not all were privy to the Seasons Beatings shows of December when Josh Davies was unveiled to the world. But we see Ingested now as they batter through ‘Skinned and Fucked’, and it's an exciting time ahead.
Ghostfest made its comeback, it made a statement. The name still means something. It stands as a mission for them to book as smartly as they have this year if they plan to make a Ghostfest 2026.
Photo credits: Nic Howells
