FLESHTIVAL, LA BELLE ANGELE, EDINBURGH, AUGUST 15 2026

Edinburgh's premier (only?) metal festival, brought to La Belle by those nice HELLRAISER chaps. Some bands making a lot of noise. Some familiar faces. Some less so. Some serious beards.

Line-up:

FRAIL AND ROTTING: Things are running late. Anyway, these death-metal kids are playing only their second gig, but you really can't tell. Watch out for them in the future.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/jhrgvun9Uk4   https://www.instagram.com/frail_and_rotting

RAZOR SHARP DEATH BLIZZARD: From new kids to grizzled veterans. Ever present on the punk/metal scene since the dawn of time. Joined for a song or two by LUKE from 100 FEET OF TEETH/DOG TIRED.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/uEudzyTeQwE  https://www.facebook.com/razorsharpdeathblizzard

KAKIHARA: Crowd-bothering beatdoon merchants. 

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/xciIqcH7WYc   https://www.facebook.com/kakihara.life

BATTALIONS: I have no idea what happened to BATTALIONS. Perhaps their absence explains the late start...

100 FEET OF TEETH: Thunderous deathsludge from new local 'supergroup'. featuring members of DOG TIRED, ACIDSAURUS BONG, Etc.

VIDEO:  

OVERTHROW: London death metallers. Leather, bullet belts, and indoor shades.

HAMMER: Had to skip out to retrieve the car and totally missed HAMMER, mostly because of insane Festival traffic and parking issues. Damn it, I hate Edinburgh during the Festival...

DIGGETH: Sludgy Dutch stoners. Unquestionably the beard of the day.

IRON ALTAR: Veteran band, new songs, and new line-up. Now featuring, on guitar, EV from HAMMER.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/s3dN63TSRHU   https://www.facebook.com/ironaltarmetal

TEN TON SLUG: M(oll)uscular sludgy riffs from Ireland.

VIDEO:    https://youtu.be/GQeaihBivNM   https://www.facebook.com/TenTonSlug

And finally, some random bloke who joined KAKIHARA for a bit of extra vocals.

RED CRUST FEST, LA BELLE ANGELE/BANNERMAN'S, EDINBURGH, DAY 1, MAY 27 2022

Three days, three venues. Red Crust bring an ambitious rock/metal fest to Edinburgh. It's not their first - there was one back in 2019, before the plague - but it's getting bigger...

There was a number of bands who played but I didn't see, for various reasons. Apologies to them.

A wee change of format for this post. I'm going to add the videos and Facebook links after each band instead of all together at the end. Dunno why. Just fancy trying something different.

Line-up:

EARL OF HELL: High energy rock and, indeed, roll. 

https://youtu.be/-Ri2OEjXbkg   https://www.facebook.com/earlofhell

RAZOR SHARP DEATH BLIZZARD: Veteran anti-fascist punk/metal

https://www.facebook.com/razorsharpdeathblizzard

TEN TON SLUG: Irish turbo-sludge

https://youtu.be/U3YUuX-gTyo     https://www.facebook.com/TenTonSlug

DOG TIRED: Riffs. Beards. Metal.

https://youtu.be/8uKG9LRrtEA    https://www.facebook.com/dogtiredmetal

RAGING SPEEDHORN: 'Saviours of British Metal' closing out the Belle Angele bit of the day.

https://youtu.be/YQOjrw9Qo1g    https://www.facebook.com/ragingspeedhorn

GOBLINSMOKER: Off to Bannerman's to catch the Toad King worshipers

https://youtu.be/33YIm7gNqhY     https://www.facebook.com/Goblinsmoker