FESTIVAL REVIEW: Lords Of The Land Festival 2026

Tonight is this year’s edition of Glasgow’s Lords of the Land Festival. Held over two venues, Distorted Sound only has access to the second venue, Slay, for the larger acts playing the second half of the day. Each act is very different, and the organisers, Hamilton Hunter, should be applauded for having such a varied metal lineup this year.

If you’re a fan of bands that sound like seminal Floridian death metallers DEATH, you’ll get a kick out of GRUESOME. Formed in 2014 by EXHUMED mainman Matt Harvey, the band’s sole existence is the worship of the aforementioned doyens. Initially conjuring up their interpretation of their influence’s primordial old school material, they faithfully follow their musical evolution, recently advancing into the progressive death metal territory that DEATH defined. Trapped in Hell, Closed Casket and Savage Land sound like offcuts from Leprosy or Scream Bloody Gore, Inhumane is a dead ringer for a Spiritual Healing cut, while A Darkened Window and Frailty sit comfortably in between Spiritual Healing and Human. Guitarist Daniel Gonzalez doesn’t accompany the band live and is replaced by EXHUMED guitarist Sebastian Philips. It takes a few songs into the show for the audience to start moshing, presumably once GRUESOME‘s mission statement becomes clear. They’re fairly static on stage, but this is, at times, fairly complex extreme metal. While the playing can’t be faulted, the novelty of a tribute band playing original songs thins out and just makes you want to listen to DEATH really.

Rating: 7/10

Next up for Lords Of The Land Festival, Harvey returns with his original band, EXHUMED. The quartet serves up CARCASS-inspired goregrind and is one of the bigger gorehounds in the sub-genre, having formed in 1990. The last time they trekked around the UK was back in 2019, and this is the first date of their Echoes in Red European tour. Two traffic cones and orange warning lights are on the stage to support the concept of their new album Red Asphalt. Blastbeat-laden Unsafe at any Speed kickstarts the show, but the guitars are too quiet. Still, the crowd implodes into a violent pit.

The melodic death metal-inspired title track of the new album strikes the right nerve. It’s clear the fanatics are embracing the new grind/death metal songs with gusto. The classic selections turn the pit even more hyperactive; fan favourites, such as the feverish The Matter of Splatter, chainsawing Necromaniac, the searing Vacant Grave and the fiery Enucleation raze the venue. There are satisfying dual-vocal assaults from guitarists Harvey and Sebastian Philips, as well as filthy riffs and memorable solos. Thankfully, the sound is corrected and the show continues at full throttle.

EXHUMED have always been one of the more entertaining death metal bands live. Harvey leads the crowd with a “When I say ‘gore’, you say ‘metal”’ chant before dishing out a Gore Metal selection. There’s a voluminous “Fuck Trump” chant. Bassist Ross Sewage pours blood from a severed head over the front row. A compilation of road death-related scenes unfurls on the projector screen. Closer Limb From Limb features more crowd participation as Harvey goads the audience into repeating “Limb from limb from limb from limb!” This is a fantastic way to call it quits, and Sewage takes the chance to stage dive and then crowd surf. The only thing missing is the usual outstanding staple, Open the Abscess and the chainsaw-wielding Dr Philphy (if you know, you know).

Rating: 9/10

Headliners ANAAL NATHRAKH will have to pull out all the stops to top EXHUMED‘s exuberance. While the headliners have established themselves as one of the UK’s premier black metal acts, drummer Mick Kenny no longer plays live with the band, leaving vocalist Dave Hunt as the only member to play live. Thankfully, they’ve done an excellent job of securing the immensely talented AKERCOCKE drummer David Gray as Kenny‘s live replacement. They start with In the Constellation of the Black Widow, a scathing eardrum assault. Their trademark hybridisation of black metal and grindcore with an industrial mindset is so tumultuous that sound engineers can never do it justice. Tonight is no exception as the music coagulates into a smudging wall-of-noise blur, blunting their sharp-edged tunes.

Sound aside, there’s plenty to be enthralled by, especially the setlist that crosses their entire career. If a nuclear war in hell occurred, it would sound remarkably similar to ANAAL NATHRAKH‘s output. Particular highlights include the thunderous More of Fire Than Blood, the blistering Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes and the more melodically concerned Of Fire, and Fucking Pigs. It’s been a while since the band released a new album but the band exhibits Endarkenment via Libidinous (A Pig With Cocks in Its Eyes), Feeding the Death Machine (dedicated to Tomas Lindberg from AT THE GATES, who passed away far too soon recently), and the title track. With material from A New Kind of Horror, the set is particularly heavy with the latter end of their discography with The Road to…, Obscene as Cancer and Forward!. Hunt‘s manic growls are something else but his clean singing is also extremely powerful and impressive. The crowd goes apeshit as the band storms through their show, with the deathcore sections in more recent songs seeming to particularly strike a note.

Following closer Endarkenment, Hunt checks if there’s time for another song. This leads to the psychopathic and beloved Submission is for the Weak. The crowd is thinning out, presumably to catch the last public transport home, seeing as the gig is running late for Glasgow, but those who remain give ANAAL NATHRAKH the reception they deserve. This caps off an apologetically aggressive variety of extreme metal curated by Lords Of The Land Festival, one that Glasgow would do well to accommodate next year.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action from Duncan McCall here: 

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