After a decade since its debut, Hammerdown Festival once again reigned down on the South East, delivering a line-up showcasing some of the best underground rock and metal acts the UK has to offer. Rocking everything from earth shattering riffs to inflatable hammers, and even the odd birthday cake thrown in for good measure, Hammerdown 2026 was definitely one for the grassroots history books. (AG)
Friday
Opening a festival, regardless of its size, is a nerve wracking experience not to mention when you’re down a guy, and the vocalist nonetheless! But Nameless didn’t let that stop them, with their whole set being such an on the nose performance, the breakdowns still hit just as hard. Their last song attracted a couple of headbangers at the barrier and with an un-miked “motherfucker”, their set concluded.
Next up we had a band that knew what’s up without taking themselves too seriously: Catalysis. Having driven through the night from Scotland, if they were tired they didn’t let it be known. Inciting the first mosh pit of the festival, each breakdown crashed down on the whole room, it was captivating. Frontman, Andrew Downie, shared a recent hardship of being made redundant, lets just hope his new employer values him as much as the crowd has in Worthing. With the photo barrier truly battered, having shuffled forward a foot or two as a result of headbangers, their set came to an unwelcome end.
In case you missed the memo, the party has started. Premier Jester, laced in shiny disco themed jackets made sure you got the vibe. Starting out as less mosh more boogie and a singalong that had a call and response of “what are you Hammerdown? We are invincible” to their track, you guessed it, Invincible. It’s the kind of set where you should expect anything, including a pirate song, a Basshunter cover and a wall of death just to remind us this wasn’t, in fact, a disco, it was a metal gig. And in the spirit of the unexpected, Premier Jester made sure you remembered them by no means least for their walk off song, which was of course Gangnam Style.
We got some noise, some ambience, some tension building before Wrex destroyed the stage. And whilst the crowd didn’t quite get it at first, it didn’t take long for them to become engulfed in the chaos that is Wrex. With a stage presence that’s contagious, it wasn’t hard to get sucked into the movement. Front woman, Mae Seaton, was jumping off of every surface she could and making full use of every inch of that stage at The Factory Live. With vocalist and guitarist, George Donoghue, turning the floor into his stage for a few tracks. “In the spirit of ADHD this song is 1 minute and 11 seconds long” seemed like an appropriate introduction to the next track, especially with it being called ‘111’. After a nod to their first EP with ‘Paradise’, the stark contrast of the energy in the room from the start and end of their set was polarisingly obvious.
Illuminated Seething Akira logos adorn the stage as our Friday headliners arrive and the excitement is so thick you could bite it. A singalong accompanied ‘How Are Things Up North’, with a headbang embellished ‘Punishment Instructions’ and mosh pit mayhem for their ‘Insomnia’ cover, there were songs from their discography both old and new. Now a strong indicator of a good set is when there’s a dude in crutches playing devil-may-care and full body headbanging along to banger after banger. Although the end isn’t in sight just yet, with the barrier throwing shapes of its own, and the room showing no signs of slowing down, the rave begins. Strobe lights and pure, untamable energy. The Factory Live became a wash of colour and flashes with people jumping like their lives depended on it to ‘Metaphors’. And vocalist, Charlie Bowes, opted to wrap their set up with a little stage dive before joining the crowd jumping for the last bit of Hammerdown day one. (BO)
Saturday
Jesus is that you? No, just the frontman of Archers Killing Archers, although there was definitely something biblical happening on that stage. Between his commanding voice and the riffs being laid out, day two was opening with a strong set. Although the crowd weren’t quite warmed up yet the commentary definitely helped from the “I’m so sweaty I seem to have lost a ring” to introducing one of their tracks as a song about getting old that ironically gave them life. A fun and heartfelt sentiment that the room seemed to appriciate. (BO)
The second band of the day were Brighton genre mashers The Undaunted and it’s safe to say they woke the place up. They came out of the gate swinging with their aggressive mix of punk, nu-metal and drum and bass giving Hammerdown exactly what it needed for a Saturday afternoon. The energy from the band was high from the word go, with the crowd getting more into the groove with every song. By the time they got to their closing track ‘RIP’, the room was entranced by everything they had to offer, resulting in what many would agree was one of the standout sets of the day. (AG)
Although the crowd were a bit lethargic from their Bubbalicious lunch between sets, we still got a little clap along and some arm waving for the Nottingham hailing band Firmament. Offering up their tracks to the Hammerdown attendees with many being from their latest EP Ashes & Awakenings. As a poll was taken to gauge who had heard their new record, a resounding “YEAH” came from the crowd. “Okay so we only have to get it right for that one guy”. And get it right they did, although it’d be a hard feat not to with frontwoman, Adele Phillis’, on point and powerful vocal delivery. (BO)
It’s hard enough when a band is slotted in the middle of a line-up as they can sometimes get lost in the ether, let alone being down a member as well. However, even with the odds against them, Buried in Bermuda made that slot their own. Despite being knocked down from a five to a four piece, their good spirit and persistence was too infectious to ignore as their brief but punchy set won over everyone from the barrier to the bar. All of which was made even more impressive by lead guitarist Cale Murray pulling double duties, making it look effortless in the process. (AG)
Build it and they will come… or more like play it as Crooked Shapes did. From a practically empty room between sets to a steady trickle of people wandering in with each riff. Pretty solos dripping in atmosphere that transport you to another place. Now, if the layered riffs didn’t tip you off, the challenge to guess the time signature for a free t-shirt would clue you in that the music nerds were in the house. Although, you knew you were watching skilled musicians when their self proclaimed “not shit” song ‘Misery’ went down a treat. (BO)
What do you get when you put four Glaswegian men on stage with a bunch of guitars and a megaphone? That’s not the start of a joke, that’s just Those Made Broken owning every second of their Hammerdown set. Despite only being on stage for thirty minutes, they easily made every second count offering confidence, humour and an endless amount of charisma allowing them to have the whole room in the palm of their hands, and only part of that was because of John Murray’s mesmerising fishnet top. Their set alone gave a lot of people further reasons to be excited for their upcoming sophomore album A Door You Can Never Close which releases on the 1st September. (AG)
You know a set is good when the band themselves look like they’re having as much fun as the audience, and nowhere was that more apparent than with Fort Hope’s exhilarating, and rather cheeky, performance. The band maintained an urgent energy to their set from the minute they stepped foot on stage which immediately resonated with the crowd as they bounced that same level of energy right back at them. Even during more emotive songs like ‘Powers’ in the back half of the set, it was clear how enthralled people were by Jon Gaskins’ presence as a frontman… oh and the riffs helped as well. (AG)
With several King Kraken t-shirts in the crowd, it’s a fair assumption to say that people like this band. The rafter shaking solos and jaguar-like barks summoned the barrier rattlers to whip their hair back and forth like a 14 year old girl to that one Willow Smith song in 2011. Frontman, Mark O’Donoghue, offered a unique opportunity for the crowd to yell “who the fuck are you?” as a lead into their latest single ‘I Am The Apocalypse’ which took the whole set up a notch especially with the key change in the bridge. Now despite their forceful on-stage presence, their set was also sprinkled with light hearted tension breakers including jokes about their Welsh origin. Providing a healthy balance between a down to earth performance and unspoken crowd commands you daren’t challenge. (BO)
Underrated 80s rockers FM had the pleasure of rounding out the Saturday at Hammerdown and they did so in style. After a slight delay, they came waltzing on stage and raring to go, playing to a room full of fans old and new. When all there has been is back to back moshing, it’s a nice change of pace to the see the day capped off with heartfelt clapping and singing bolstered by classic hard rock anthems such as ‘That Girl’ which proves Steve Overland and co still put on one hell of a show after all these years and are sounding better than ever. (AG)
Sunday
Syncolima received a warm welcome by the Sunday crowd at Hammerdown. Having played another festival several miles away just yesterday they attributed their “dirty” look to good ol’ rock n’ roll. It was no surprise when “make some noise for riffs” got a large cheer given they were serving up riffs by the boat load this weekend. Whilst ‘Kill All the Billionaires’ got everyone jumping on the Elon Musk hating bandwagon, it was ‘Gluten Free Toast’ – and no not actual toast – and ‘Black Dog and the Bleak Sky’ that stole the show just from their sheer groove. (BO)
Some bands come for a good time and others feel like they have a point to prove. The latter was certainly the case with Night Thieves who, hot off of their debut album Metaxis, approached the Hammerdown stage with a sense of determination. Each song garnered a bigger cheer than the last and understandably so as they pulled out all the stops from Jess Moyle’s powerful screams to Rick Hunter-Burns’ impressive turn on vocal duty for ‘See You On The Other Side’. Over the course of their set, that initial intensity evolved into unfiltered fun and thankfully that energy poured out into the crowd who were having a blast by the final song. (AG)
From horns in the sky, to headbanging. From jumping to mosh pits. Collapse The Sky’s set had it all. To the point were staff were joining in with a “so fucking good I’m not gonna do my job” heard before the pit gained another victim. For some bands, performing new or unreleased music might soften the energy slightly, for Collapse The Sky, it was like adding fuel to the already growing fire. One of their latest singles ‘Welcome | Death’ had people gearing up as if they were on their way to the boxing ring. With frontman, Lee Margaillan, going so hard he almost had his own pit on stage as the carpet decided it wanted some of the action too. (BO)
Every now and then, all a festival needs is a reliable hard rock band to get the job done, simply filling the gap from one heavy hitter to the next. Stone Angels could have very easily been that band but they did everything in their power to make the most of their time on the Hammerdown stage. Their playful energy and solid sense of humour more than made up for the minor tech issues that occurred early on. The crowd were on board with their self-awareness from the start, embracing every decision they made from jabs at their own music to a freeroaming guitarist donning a cowboy hat and a t-shirt that read “I have been nothing but sexy and funky to you all”. (AG)
The theatrical Black Lakes offered a refreshing change from the many classic styled metal bands that took up the Sunday, instead delivering something anthemic but still heavy that was perfect for headbangers of any age. A few of their songs even prompted some sizable circle pits which was both a first for the Sunday and for the band as well. Said pits did come with a brief pause and a minor injury, again another first for this year’s Hammerdown, but the sense of comradery within the venue at that time was so strong that it didn’t hinder the day or the rest of their already great set. (AG)
At the start of this festival we had a band with no vocalist, as it nears its end, we are spoiled with Praying Mantis and 4 vocalists. Whilst that might seem excessing, the added vocal power makes the songs feel just that tiny bit bigger. Even after their usual frontman was unable to attend as he’d “tripped over a mountain” – make of that what you will. Not that any of this phased the crowd, and as ‘Time Slipped Away’ was introduced, a proud “I LOVE THIS ONE” is yelled from the crowd. Whether hard rock is your thing or not, between the chorus effect from all the vocals and the overall roadtrip worthy feel of their songs, it’s hard not to consider this a set of absolute tunes. (BO)
After three intense days of mosh pits, hair whipping and guitar solos no one thought that the bar could be raised any further? That’s when Acid Reign decided to come along at the eleventh hour to take said bar and throw it clean out of the window. The anticipation for their set was palpable throughout the entire day and when they finally came on, they didn’t disappoint. The room of devoted fans ate up every second of their adrenaline fueled headline performance that dished up hit after hit. A more than worthy way to close out ten years of Hammerdown festival. Not with a whimper, but with as loud of a bang as humanly possible. (AG)
Words by Aaron Gillingham & Beth Oakley