NECROSONIC FESTIVAL 2026
Brisbane Goes Berserk
Saturday 22nd August 2026
Written by Tom Wilson
Photographed by: Rashid AlKamraikhi
The Dead Walk in Brisbane!
In three years, NECROSONIC has become of the most important dates in any Brisbane metalhead’s calendar. The crowd is great and the venue is amazing, but what the organisers have managed to do each year that’s really impressive is create a lineup that doesn’t leave you wishing they got someone else – it leaves you with your jaw open saying “Holy shit, you managed to get THEM back together?” I’ve served as a photographer for the past two years, racing about trying to capture every band playing on every stage. This year, we’re taking a different approach, and I’ve left the camera at home to review NECROSONIC from the view of a punter, not some omnipresent reviewer who can see every band playing simultaneously.
When Brisbane two-piece DEATHORDE drop the hammer in the main room, the giant beast that is NECROSONIC roars to life and starts lumbering forwards, kicking over buildings like sandcastles. War metal played with the brutal intensity and caveman savagery of bands like PRIMITIVE MAN, the singer is roaring so loud that his face covering is vibrating, and the drummer’s eyes bore into us as he bashes the shit out of his kit while looking like he’s about to vault the barrier and stab us with his sticks. It’s one of my favourite performances of the day, and I can’t look away. Awesome.
Pictured: DEATHORDE
Pictured: DEATHORDE
We pivot to the main stage as Sydney trio SLAUGHTERCULT take aim and unleash a salvo of brutal death metal. They’ve been touring around the country as support for PSYCROPTIC and RIVERS OF NIHIL, and it’s all coming to a close in Brisbane, where they’re set to go out in style. Their drummer makes blast beats look effortless, and their bassist/vocalist seems to have as much fun introducing each song as he does playing, chest thrust out like Glen Benton as he belts out every guttural roar. Once we’ve been sufficiently battered, we head to the front bar for a totally different vibe, as progressive black metal crew BRUXA hold the room in their spell. Their sound expands and contracts like a dark butterfly spreading its wings to take flight, as the atmospheric passages erupt into searing screams, and their music is so organic and heartfelt it feels like you can hear it breathing.
Pictured: SLAUGHTERCULT
Pictured: SLAUGHTERCULT
Pictured: BRUXA
Pictured: BRUXA
We change things up again as we head back to the Beserk stage as THE MATADOR take charge of the room with the slow, crushing weight of post-metal. As the screen behind them shows nature footage, our necks are at the mercy of riffs the size of mountains, calling to mind the raw power of bands like NEUROSIS and WILL HAVEN. Vocalist Daniel Godson’s CAVE IN shirt rises and falls with each massive breath as his long, slow screams unfurl over our heads, and as their set comes crashing to a close we are stunned, dazed and absolutely blown away. Wild!
Playing in Doc Martens or studded boots might look metal, but I guarantee Frankston crew NEMBUTOLIK are the comfiest band onstage at Necrosonic today as they shred while wearing Nike runners. The guitarist appears to have the Nike swoosh tick tattooed on his leg, which raises a lot of questions for our next interview, but for now, I’ve got a review to write, so I’ll take the tatt’s advice and Just Do It. Last in town with death-grind crew MUNT, NEMBUTOLIK’s boozy death metal goes down a storm tonight, and like all the bands today, they sound amazing.
Pictured: THE MATADOR
Pictured: THE MATADOR
Pictured: NEMBUTOLIK
Pictured: NEMBUTOLIK
The phrase “art is suffering” is so commonplace that it’s hard to tell who originally said it, but hopefully after suffering comes GROWTH. Music that was first conceived during a stay in a psychiatric facility, their music is an enigma, effortlessly shifting from aching vulnerability to colossal power, as vocalist LF bares his soul and shrieks to the heavens. GROWTH’s music is like evolution – a long, complicated process that rewards patient listeners with cathartic payoffs, as they cram more ideas into a six-minute song than some bands manage across a whole album. They don’t know when, or even if they’ll be back, so today is a special day, and there isn’t a dry eye in the house as Under the Under brings their set to a stunning close.
Pictured: GROWTH
Pictured: GROWTH
We head to the front bar, because it’s time to get weird, and what better band to do that with than JOHN LEE SPIDER? The drummer is wearing a NAKED CITY shirt and there’s a guy onstage with a trumpet, so I know there’s something good coming, but I’m still not fully prepared for the jazz-grind assault that calls to mind everyone from John Zorn to MR BUNGLE. Their eclectic barrage pairs beautifully with the erratic visuals on the screen behind them, and the only thing wrong with their set is that it ends before we want it to. Awesome. After a quick changeover, the silliness continues as two men strip down to Borat-style mankinis, and before we know it, it’s time to F.U.C.. An acronym for “Forests Under Construction”, the nu-thrash two-piece pair high-velocity metal with dick jokes to brilliant effect, as their mascot “Dickie” dashes around the stage dressed as a giant inflatable penis. Drummer Todd Hansen is pulling double duty today – he’ll be onstage later with THE BERZERKER – but he’s not holding anything back, and they even find the time to joke that they’ve held a lineup together longer than SLIPKNOT. Brutal riffs, partial nudity and songs about poo – F.U.C. yeah!
Pictured: JOHN LEE SPIDER
Pictured: JOHN LEE SPIDER
Pictured: F.U.C.
Pictured: F.U.C.
Once F.U.C. have mopped up the ball sweat, it’s time to grind as Adelaide two-piece METH LEPPARD take the stage. They first blew me away with their warp-speed cover of MELVINS classic Honey Bucket in 2020, but this is my first time finally seeing them, and they don’t hold anything back. His guitar sounds like a buzzsaw, the drummer hits like a tank, and those in the room with a taste for the punk-tinged insanity of grindcore get quite the neck workout (and those who don’t can, frankly, suck it.)
Never one for political correctness, FRANKENBOK and FIVE STAR PRISON CELL frontman Adam can be an outspoken dude, and so he gets a cookie for restraint when he mentions this onstage and resists every voice egging him on to say something that will get him in trouble. This is a relief, because FIVE STAR’s performance tonight is so jaw-droppingly impressive that I’m glad nothing will pull focus from it. I haven’t witnessed such a precisely delivered racket since THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN were last in town. Adam is every bit as versatile as his vocal idol, Mike Patton, and DELORIS is as mind-bending as the first time I heard FANTOMAS’ Suspended Animation. Playing on the lower stage means we’ve got a front row seat to the percussive wizardry of Marc Whitworth, who is clattering away like a polyrhythmic octopus, and the crowd roars when they share that they’re writing new music. I am giddy imagining what it’s going to sound like, because this set is fucking dazzling. As the leave stage, I realise that Adam’s The Lost Boys shirt is quite appropriate considering tonight’s climax will feature a man on a saxophone.
Pictured: METH LEPPARD
Pictured: METH LEPPARD
Pictured: FIVE STAR PRISON CELL
Pictured: FIVE STAR PRISON CELL
We re-enter the main arena to see LYNCHMADA throwing down for the first time in seven years. Originally forged on the Gold Coast in 2002, they broke up in 2014 and have only played together a couple of times since, so the crowd is rammed as they drop the hammer on their special mix of hardcore and original recipe metalcore. This is one of the most anticipated performances of the day, and the boys don’t disappoint as they hammer out tracks from their much-loved 2007 album The Other Mexico.
We can’t bring you imagery of THE BERZERKER’s first performance in 17 years because they’ve gone and turned all the stage lights off. While this environment might be frustrating to the photographers in the room, the effect that it creates for the punters is punishingly intense. The band members are silhouetted against a flickering audio-visual nightmare on the screen behind them, as grisly autopsy footage shows gloved hands pulling apart bodies. The music is every bit as viscerally intense, played at such blinding speed it sounds like a guitar riffing over industrial machinery, as the human drum machine that is Todd Hansen hammers out blasts at over 300bpm. Frontman Luke Kenny cuts an imposing silhouette as the pit flies into hysterics, before something stops the show. I can’t see what’s happened, but whatever it is, both Necrosonic organiser Kent and venue staff are on it like white on rice. A path is cleared, and a punter is carried from the pit as metalheads cheer in support and solidarity. The band get the all-clear, darkness returns, and they hammer through the rest of their set, culminating in the infamous No One Wins, with the screen showing the original music video that first introduced me to them, wall-kicks and all. An incredible set.
Pictured: LYNCHMADA
Pictured: LYNCHMADA
Pictured: THE BERZERKER
Pictured: THE BERZERKER
Now it’s time for one of the most anticipated sets of the day, the return of SEGRESSION. Originally from Wollongong, SEGRESSION were from a time when the Australian music industry was trying its hardest to pretend that metal didn’t exist. Heavy bands in the 90s couldn’t even get on the Big Day Out, and certainly didn’t get much love from the music press, but SEGRESSION’s talent was undeniable, and saw them open nationally for PANTERA’s final Australian tour in 2001. The roar that greets them tonight is overwhelming, and the crowd goes positively apeshit for 5th of the 5th as frontman Chris Rand looks on approvingly. Those who couldn’t make it today, don’t stress – you’ll be seeing plenty more of SEGRESSION soon!
Pictured: SEGRESSION
Pictured: SEGRESSION
There is absolutely zero fat on PSYCROPTIC. All four men onstage are undeniable talents in their chosen field, with the Haley brothers making technical death metal look about as challenging as checking their email. The silhouettes of crowdsurfers start bobbing up and down as they move across the crowd, while punters line up and dive off the stage. They play intricate death metal like the sheet music is a line of barbed wire – jagged notes spearing off in every direction over Dave Haley’s locomotive double-kick – as Jason Peppiatt cocks his head to one side and strips the lining from his throat with every roar.
It’s time for some sax appeal as headliners RIVERS OF NIHIL take to the stage, and what better way to start a RIVERS OF NIHIL set than with a song called Rivers of Nihil? Adam Biggs’ melodies soar over our heads as their lush progressive death metal washes over the front row, and when the growls finally come, it sounds like the world is ending. The balance between beauty and brutality is impeccable, and when the saxophone first makes its appearance, the effect is magnificent.
Pictured: PSYCROPTIC
Pictured: PSYCROPTIC
Pictured: RIVERS OF NIHIL
Pictured: RIVERS OF NIHIL
As for us, we’re spent, and as RIVERS hold the Mansfield Arena in the palm of their hand, we say our goodbyes and limp to the car. We’d say “the third time’s the charm”, but the truth is, every NECROSONIC has been incredible, so instead, we’ll just say that this is the best one yet, and that we can’t wait for the next one. Huge thanks to Kent, Anna, all the bands, all the organisers, and most importantly the fans for showing up and throwing down. See you next year!
Pictured: RIVERS OF NIHIL
Photos by: Rashid AlKamraikhi