Offal Fest is a three-day festival of ultra-brutal death metal carnage. It consists of two main days, with a pre-show. Originally I was meant to attend both the Saturday and the Sunday, but much to my chagrin life got in the way, and instead the final four bands of the Sunday are all that I can manage, (I’m particularly gutted about missing Skinless). It’s time to make the most of it though, as I can still see some cracking bands, and I’ve been looking forward to it.
Iniquitous Savagery
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being battered around by 2015’s Subversions of the Psyche and by 2024’s Edifice of Vicissitudes especially, and in the flesh Iniquitous Savagery are an equally satisfying proposition.
The band put in the work and are rewarded with outbreaks of pit violence throughout their set. They benefit from a decent sound, and the singer sounds absolutely monstrous. The songs are a relentless onslaught of dense blasting and granite-hard chugs. They go down well with those in attendance. It’s heavy as all Hell.
A convincing display of Scottish brutality. Iniquitous Savagery hit the spot. They start my evening off well, despite actually being the seventh band of the day so far.
Indecent Excision
Indecent Excision are a band that I had never heard of before seeing their logo on the Offal Fest poster. It’s my loss, as I was blown away when I first listened to last year’s Into the Absurd. The fact that I still get to see them despite missing most of the other bands this weekend is a major win.
The crowd is thinner than it was for Iniquitous Savagery, and Indecent Excision initially don’t have the best sound, (although it certainly isn’t awful), but they still dish out the punishment with contemptuous ease. Besides, the sound improves, and the band are focused and tight throughout, like a well-oiled slaughter machine.
It’s a set of relentlessly murderous death metal brutality. It’s totally unforgiving. There’s no compromise at all – you just have to give yourself over to the band’s precision attack, embrace the beating, and then pick yourself up afterwards, if you’re able to.
Nasty stuff. Indecent Excision put on a solid set.
Wormed
Ohh, Wormed! One of the best brutal/tech death metal bands ever, in my humble opinion. Exodromos and Omegon are both fantastic records, (as is everything else they’ve done, Krighsu in particular).
As expected, the place is packed for Wormed as they deliver a remarkable set of exacting tech death savagery. The sound is album-strength, and the band absolutely destroy. The controlled mayhem is surgically unleashed, and the crowd respond as best they can to the angular riffs and inhuman rhythms. Pit-action, stagedivers, and crowdsurfers – people react in different ways, but everyone seems to be having a whale of a time.
It’s hard to adequately describe just how good Wormed are. Every song erupts from the stage with the force of an explosion. The band are completely into it, and their technical ferocity is withering. This is an elite-level display of death metal mastery, nothing less.
Wormed play for almost an hour. You may think that’s too long for a band as extreme as this, but you’d be wrong. It’s glorious. My attention doesn’t wander once, which is notable in and of itself.
It is such a privilege to witness a band at the peak of their powers. Wormed obliterated everything and everyone. Flawless victory. One of the most overwhelmingly powerful sets I’ve seen this year.
Defeated Sanity
I’d normally feel sorry for any band that had to follow Wormed’s performance, but if anyone is up to the challenge it’s the legendary Defeated Sanity. I’ve been listening to them since 2004’s Prelude to the Tragedy, so experiencing their brand of technical brutality is long overdue, (also make sure you check out Passages into Deformity, The Sanguinary Impetus, and Chronicles of Lunacy).
Like Wormed before them, Defeated Sanity dish out a feast of technical death metal brutality. However, they possess a recipe, flavour, and presentation all of their own, distinct from Wormed’s own equally individual style. Defeated Sanity have mastered their medium a long, long time ago, and tonight is all about recreating the complex intensity of their songs for all in attendance to hungrily devour.
It’s even busier than it was for Wormed, and people do not hold back. The songs twist and turn, shapeshifting whirlwinds of wanton destruction and directed frenzy. The crowd respond with energetic enthusiasm throughout. It’s chaos, but in a good way. Near the end of the set the band are stopped from playing briefly so that an emergency ceiling repair of sorts can take place via stepladder, before the carnage can commence once more.
Defeated Sanity are on fire. Their performance is somehow both clinical and feral. There’s not a note or beat out of place, but the band’s passion bleeds through. The singer’s guttural growls are formidable live too, and he stalks the stage like an enraged bear. The execution is impeccable and the level of musicianship showcased is off the chart.
Tonight Defeated Sanity deliver a masterclass in tech death supremacy. Exceptional.
This is the third edition of Offal Fest, and my first (partial) time here. Hopefully next year I can attend for more. The 2026 lineup is taking shape already, (including Laceration, Lividity, and Twitch of the Death Nerve), with a change of venue to The Bread Shed, so get your tickets here.
Wonderbox Metal 
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