Live Review: Offal Fest 4 – Saturday
25th July 2026
Words: Dan Barnes
The world wakes up on Saturday morning to the tragic news that Sick of It All’s Lou Koller had lost his battle with cancer and passed away overnight. I think it’s only fitting that I pay my respects with a Built to Last t-shirt: Rest in Peace, Lou.
First band on stage at the stroke of noon is Battle of the Slams winners, War Bastard, who might be playing early but still illicit some pit killing antics. It’s the biggest crowd and biggest stage of the band’s career so far and they mix their set with old tracks and new tunes, which certainly suggest a distinct development in their songwriting and composition.
You know a band is nasty when they threaten their crowd with drum lessons from Lars Ulrich, yet Disgracing is unrepentant as they blend their brutal low-end carnage with some classic sounding metal riffs. It’s the last show for their own drummer, Jake Gamble, as he looks to streamline his time with Capital Punishment, Embryectomy, Pulsate and .357 Homicide, and others no doubt by the time this article reaches the interwebs. The band themselves hit the stage in a relentless mood and get more gnarly as they go on; grooving deathgrind and bullying slams demonstrate Disgracing might be on early, but they’re ready to stand toe-to-toe with the big boys on the bill.
Belfast’s Strangle Wire bring a touch of the old school death metal to the Boundary, that isn’t without its ability to become savage at a moment’s notice. The Shaped by Human Frailty record from 2022 provides the bulk of the set: from the twisting riffs of Learned Wretchedness and the blasts of Psychology of the Sick – dedicated to anyone who has had to work a terrible job to do something they love – Strangle Wire’s mid-paced riffs come with plenty of breakdowns. The Human Tensile Experiment slows things down some, with a distinctly old-time vibe; suggestions that a new album is in the works comes with the new track, Grave Functional Disturbances. They end the set with a series of unreleased tunes, further promising new product is imminent.
Italian quintet, Inverecund, also hit the stage with a host of new tunes from a forthcoming demo; their choppy guitar and mid-paced chugging give off a big-band, almost soundtrack, vibe. Another band rooted in the old school traditionalism upon which they deliver pig squeals and blasts seemingly at will. There’s little movement from the members, just a heads-down approach and the incorporation of progressive elements woven through several songs. Vocalist, Michele Sassano – who’d be back later with Unbirth – makes an impassioned plea to support local bands and buy merchandise from smaller artists as it helps them financially, something that strikes a chord with the gathered mass, judging by the cheer of agreement coming from the front of the stage. A cover of Inveracity’s Visions of Coming Apocalypse is greeted like an old friend, ensuring that even the two dressed today as monks are able to find redemption in the mass of swirling bodies.
Swiss trio, Kakothanasy, go about their business with the efficiency and precision of one of their country’s clocks. From an edgy, slow beginning, through the fast and the furious mid-section, with earworm breakdowns and effortless tempo switches, to solid walls of abrasive noise, this three-piece go about the task of wrecking Manchester. Last year’s Metagonism record was as rampant as its insane song titles would suggest, and the band bring that verve with them for all to see.
Greek bassless trio Embryectomy, are so quick to use the services of ex-Disgracing drummer, Jake, that I imagine his socks are still sweat soaked from the set a couple of hours earlier. It’s slow and slamming and seemingly exactly how the pit wants them to be. Kindergarten Shootout is well received. Vocalist Kyriakos Destounis grunts and squeals his way through the set as guitarist, Marinos Tountas, does the melody, for what it is, which is heavy, chugging riffs and monstrous breakdowns. There’s even a new tune, the band’s first original material in years, which sees Kyriakos donning a Jason-style hockey mask and, if possible, sounding slower and heavier than before; there’s even some urban beats in there too. Split EP track, Abandoned Baby Mincing, gets down and so very dirty, ‘cause who doesn’t love such subject matter? Not Offal Fest, that’s for sure.
It’s a change of pace for Tokyo grind terrors, Butcher ABC, whose sole full-length album, North of Hell is nearing its tenth anniversary, but have enough splits and EPs to more than stack a setlist with all manner of raging. The unique selling point of this Japanese quartet is that bassist and vocalist, Butcher Taka performs in a gasmask with a microphone permanently lodged in it. The first crowd surfer of the day is inspired by the growls, two-steppin’ rhythms and confrontational breakdowns. Combining massive walls of noise with classic-era guitars, Butcher assuage the grind-lust of the pit with a short, but frenzied, performance that seems to draw to a close far too soon. Wholly at odds with the rest of the set, the band close out with a slow and doomy number that finds Butcher ABC jamming out the conclusion and the pit at its most laidback of the entire weekend.
Having even less time to switch between bands, Unbirth’s vocalist, Michele Sassano, ears will have barely stopped ringing from the Inverecund set when it’s time to take the stage again. More in keeping with old school brutality than his other band, Michele has the ability to spread his vocal muscles and show his range, as the band have dalliances with the melodic. There seems to be a new record in the offing and Unbirth is keen to show off their wares; stomping and chomping, cosmos-considering riffs rub shoulders with the snarling and traditional. There’s a moment when bassist – and fellow Inverecund member – Luca Marmi’s playing veers briefly into a punk vibe, and the intimation of Wrathchild is later replicated by a distinctly Maiden-esque progressive touch.
Fresh off the UK leg of the Isles of Suffering tour, with fellow festival attractions, Butcher ABC and Fecundation, New York legends, Immortal Suffering, make a compelling case to be Offal Fest 2026’s Band of the Weekend. Contemporaries of the mighty Internal Bleeding, IS hit the stage with the title tune of 2023’s Extreme Torture, firing up a circle pit almost instantly. S.T.F.U.C. – or Shut the Fuck Up, Cunt – is as abrasive as the acronym it represents; Frenzied Hallucinations stomps as Nothing Left bristles and slams. Everything about this performance is pedal pressed to the floor and reckless abandon being the order of the day. Murder/ Suicide could almost be the manta of the set; Sacred Descender emerges from the band’s deep dark past, existing since the Eternal Damnation demo in 1995, and newbie, Homicidal Rage, evokes the pit to start getting feisty. It’s Wall of Death time for Intestinal Strangulation and a closing Corpse, from the 1997 split with Insatanity. An absolute masterclass of how to reinvigorate a crowd before a headliner.
In the mode of Bloodstock and Wacken, Offal Fest make an early announcement for the booked bands ready to take to the stage next year. Names include homegrown talent, Visions of Disfigurement, Pulsate and Ensufferment, Japan’s Viscera Infest and Taiwan’s Fatuous Rump; Devourment have also been confirmed to be making an appearance after the visa issue stopped them and Condemned is promising a full performance of Desecrate the Vile for its twentieth anniversary. Needless to say, this initial announcement went down very well.
Kudos to Ohio’s Regurgitation who stepped up to fill the Devourment-shaped hole at the top of Offal Fest’s bill tonight, while still co-headlining tomorrow night as planned. Their one and only full-length might be closing in on its thirtieth anniversary, but Offal Fest is the first time the band have stepped foot on a UK stage, and Manchester is ever-so keen to hear Tales of Necrophilia in the flesh, so to speak. Blasts and chugs exist cordially side-by-side on Out of the Womb (Into the Cauldron) and Repulsive Genital Disfigurement; Seeds of the Sanguine slams, Acid Enema spirals through its devastating solo. After the album finale of Fetal Suffocation, Regurgitation switch into the newest song on their roster with Sexhumation, the blasting Razorblade Catheter from the Clitoraldectomy EP, and a closing cover of Black Sabbath’s Into the Void. Stepping into the breach and making a debut appearance, Regurgitation opens their UK account in some style.
For those with energy left to burn, the organisers have laid on even more extremity over at the Rebellion Bar, with the Blasting After (Party) Midnight show, featuring Cerebral Enema, Horse Bastard and Operation Cunt Destroyer, scheduled to go on until the sun started to rise. Now, the spirit may have been willing, but I’m at an age when weak flesh wins every time, and it’s already way passed my bedtime, so I leave this one to others, get a good night’s sleep and arrive back at the Boundary as fresh as a fifty-six-year-old daisy for another musical pummelling.
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