Core. Festival 2025: The Report

A red-robed Cardinal with a tote bag is weaving through the early-doors Friday night crowd at Woodside Halls, laying his hand on heads – whether in blessing or curse is unclear. But one thing is certain, 2025’s Core. is off to an impressively weird, deeply on-brand start. In its third year, Scotland’s heaviest festival has shifted to a more metaller-friendly slot out of the scalding summer months… but it’s clearly still licked with hellfire.

The unholy man in question is artist and former Desalvo frontman P6 (real name Phil Eaglesham), now the leader of Glasgow superband OMO – also featuring members of Mogwai, Take a Worm for a Walk Week and Aereogramme. Between swigging from a Timorous Beasties hipflask (“it says ‘unleash the beast’ on the bottom,” he cackles) and getting his pegs out to grind the monitors in exactly the way a religious leader wouldn’t, he fronts up a doomy set in the finest tradition of the ‘side project’. It's transgressive, with basslines heavy enough to rearrange your intestines.

Named for a sailor’s exclamation and steeped in brine, Seattle trio Helms Alee bring the storm. Opener Tripping Up Stairs sets us adrift on tempestuous seas. Fetus. Carcass. finds vulnerability and beauty in melodic shift, drummer Hozoji Matheson-Margullis’s vocals recalling the late, great Mimi Parker while Ben Verellen has echoes of Mastodon’s Brent Hinds. There are ghosts here to tug your spirit, but along with Dana James on bass and more great vocals, they rig up something entirely their own. It’s the only time you’ll hear the phrase “beautiful close harmonies” this weekend but they sacrificed none of the heaviness. Their riptide is hard to escape.


Image: Helms Alee @ Core. Festival, Glasgow, 12-14 Sep by Marilena Vlachopoulou

Finishing up Friday on the main stage, stoners Torche thank Core. “for bringing us back together.” It’s a low-slung, celebratory show, marking the Florida band’s return to the stage (they previously called it quits in 2022) and also drummer Rick Smith’s birthday. Glasgow’s in fine voice for the obligatory song. “You guys always put a smile on my face,” says singer Steve Brooks, before bringing Jack Black-level energy to crunchy pounder Infierno.

But Friday’s not quite over yet! Making a surprise return to the festival after their all-conquering set from year one, Glasgow’s premier doomgaze necromancers Cwfen welcome the witching hour in the cave-like environs of Nice N Sleazy’s basement. With debut album Sorrows now under their belt, their powers have only grown. Their five-song set casts a powerful spell, with closer Embers conjuring Siouxsie at her spookiest, escalating to burning-at-the-stake anguish. Sweet nightmares to all.

For Saturday, your mileage will vary according to quite how much hardcore you want of a weekend. In my case, the answer is “somewhat less than is on offer here”. While some of my fellow festival-goers certainly threw elbows all day with great joy and abandon to Roman Candle, Pest Control and The Chisel, I find myself pining for a little more of the variety I’ve come to expect from Core.

Image: Pest Control @ Core. Festival, Glasgow, 12-14 Sep by Marilena Vlachopoulou

That said, Glasgow’s bands did themselves proud. The angry nihilism of Gout (sample lyric: 'My skin is a prison and I can’t get out') is electrifying to behold at 2pm in The Hug & Pint. Test of Patience’s Gemma Legan gurned fit to challenge Ozzy. And Moni Jitchell provided the highlight of the whole day with their crazy wall of unbridled post-hardcore noise. Special shout-out to guitarist David Scott who would go on to spend the rest of the weekend moshing like a champion and damn near breaking his neck in a stage-diving incident during The HIRS Collective’s spectacularly unhinged show the following day.

A queer grindcore collective from Philadelphia (who recently visited Glasgow with Core. royalty Chat Pile), The HIRS Collective merge cheesy samples (Madonna, Shania Twain) with sonic assault and a dash of pure sincerity. It’s a heady brew. They’re emblematic of a Sunday that goes back to Core.'s first principles in its variety. From Mrs Frighthouse’s art noise, set to real surgery footage and featuring piercing opera vocals, to No Kilter’s charismatic math rock and on to Death Goals’ queercore – featuring some very memorable crowdsurfing in which the band were squished between the crowd and the Hug & Pint ceiling – there’s plenty to challenge and illuminate a dreich Glaswegian day.

Post-modern experimentalists Ashenspire bring the first (but not the last – step forward, MACHUKHA) saxophone to proceedings for their take on progressive black metal. Their closer, The Law of Asbestos, is a howl against the indifferent cruelty of capitalism as seen from below – 'Always three months to the gutter / Never three months to the crown'.

Mathcore brutalists Frontierer are on the attack, climbing speakers and joining the pit during a set that confirms their reputation for inflicting exhilarating sonic terror. But Sunday’s best comes from LA’s Agriculture. Describing themselves as “ecstatic black metal”, they come damned close to transcendence with the epic wailing riff of Bodhidharma. Rooted in adversity but shot through with tremulous hope and the desire for true connection, they’re the perfect Core. band. “Things feel kind of bad all over,” singer/guitarist Daniel Meyer explains to the faithful, “but wherever we go, there are people that look just like you. They wear black and they listen to music like this. And they treat each other nicely.” If that isn’t a mission statement for this unlikely hit of a festival, I don’t know what is. Long live Core.

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Core. Festival returns in 2026, date and venue tbc
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