Live Review : Call Of The Wild Festival on May 30th 2026
Saturday is glorious weatherwise, with the heat of the sun tempered by a gentle breeze. It’s all calm and lovely and summery – well it is until the music starts. With tonight’s headliners being the grandfathers of British thrash Onslaught, the lineup has been curated to match. With just a few exceptions, today’s lineup is brutal, showing that Call of the Wild can do heavy.
The scheduled first band of the day, Pyroclast, are sadly cursed by a Van Incident and never make it, so we start a little late than published with Catalysis. Fresh off a mini tour of Spain, they are a Scottish thrash with double-kick drums and harsh vocals. Their 10-year existence has produced 4 EPs and a band that are solid and suitably corrosive. There’s some great guitar passages to break up the wall of speed. There’s a definite lean towards the style of Five Finger Death Punch, and as the crowd nod along with gusto this is obviously a good thing.
Ransom are a completely different kettle of fish. Their stadium-rock-inspired trad metal sound lifts the atmosphere considerably, and amiable vocalist Matt soon dispels the doom and gloom that threatens to overpower the stages. Put simply, Ransom are a party band at heart. The have honed their craft as a covers band on the pub circuit for many years, before tentatively recording their own material. That background means they can throw out a joyful power chord or ten with the best of them. Everyone knows them because they have played EVERYWHERE in the last 5 years or so, everyone loves them because they play heavy rock with a light touch and a good pinch of humour. At one point rather than a pit a spontaneous line-dance breaks out in the crowd because that is what this band is all about. Good, solid rock with just the right level of of silliness.
Over in the tented nirvana that is Trailblazer we are presented with Holyrude Vault, another Scottish band but with roots in a more trad-metal Maiden-y sound. Their bass player is very familiar, it’s Christian Kimmett (from Love/Hate and many other bands, and also very involved with the Bannermans venue in Edinburgh). They give us clean vocals, some excellent riffs and some genial good humour. Back outside and we have more thrash in the shape of Survivalist. Harsh vocals and doomy riffs are the order of the day. Unfortunately, the heat gets to their equipment and some of the set is lost to technical issues.
Lurching once again into Trailblazers we have For The Forsaken. They give us yet more traditional thrash but with a slight nu twist. There is more of a fizzle and a bounce and an unequivocal groove. Recall The Remains mange to be ridiculously entertaining. An explosion of genres that takes heavy in a thousand different directions. They have been doing the harsh / clean contract stuff for almost fifteen years and to be honest they have got rather good at it.
Beautiful Freakin Weirdo is definitely a strange one and they would aspect that as a compliment. One bloke with a quitar making noise over a backing track is quite the experience. There’s a definite techno feel to their noise, and you feel he would probably be happy with a comparison to The Prodigy. Hats off of trying something different as your audience quietly melts around way
King Kraken are a known and much loved quantity. If big riffs, growly vocals and an inflatable crowdsurfing octopus are your thing then this is your band. As ever they are explosion of influences and their raw blues sound could have easily come from the New Orlean’s scene even if they have just buzzed up the M5 from Cardiff. They are out on tour promoting their recently-released second album “March of The Gods” and prove to be massive crowd favourites. The whole space from stage to sound desk is filled with capering bodies (and the odd rubber octoped) and the reception is enthusiastic to say the least.
Back once again in Trailblazer, we have a fame-by-association thing going on. It turns out that Voodoo Sioux’s drummer’s brother is none other than Rob Halford so there is an air of expectation for Judas Priest vibes. We Couldn’t have been more wrong, they were actually a lot more angled towards the AOR side of things, with some nice melodies and a couple of catchy choruses. An oasis of tranquility .
We then get the first surprise act of the day. It turns out that although only this one is billed, there are actually three acts that we are not expecting today. The first one being yet another “the return of”. It’s been a while since Bullets And Octane last graced these shores, and with the old band having split off to become the Mercury Riots, only frontman Gene Loius remains of the previous lineup. He has, though, surrounded himself with a competent group of musicians who are more than able to help him showcase the band’s rowdy, riotous, sleazy output.
The tent is rammed. It’s hot, it’s sweaty, it’s loud, it’s glorious. Gene is in the crowd as much as he’s on the stage, spitting out his lyrics over a backdrop of hard-driving party music. His energy and enthusiasm ignite the crowd to a riot of bouncing throng. There’s a somewhat dubious choice of Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’ as a cover song – no doubt Blackmore would be turning in his grave if he wasn’t still alive! Bullets And Octane are simply bloody glorious. Star Circus continue the lighter, happier hard rock theme with some wonderful harmonies and a clutch of catchy choruses.
Second surprise of the day is that the Soho Dukes are joined in their guttersnipe pub rock splendidness by Spike from the Quireboys. He croons his way through several tunes in his own inimitable fashion, making bad dad jokes and being the amiable buffoon that we all know and love. The Dukes are solid old-time rock n roll without him, but with him their set is given an extra dimension and becomes quite the experience.
Back outside, and things are hotting up on the side-by-side main stages. The Five Hundred bring us all the elements you expect from a brutal metalcore band. The guitars have seven strings, the vocals are incredibly varied, there’s a fair bit of backing track going on, there’s a lot of time changes and of course, they appear to be partly painted black. They force our attention with a set chock-full of brutal riffs, strong bass lines and powerful drums. The vocals really are something else though – one minute they are harsh verging on screaming and then the next they are soulful and atmospheric. It really throws your ears off balance, as the parts where you expect to find melody are sometimes laden with aggression and just when you are expecting a verbal punch in the face you get a ballad dripping with pathos instead. This Nottingham-based quintet have been noisily plying their trade for over 10 years and four albums, as well as (rather unusually) a plethora of standalone singles, which means they perform with precision and power.
In contrast, Wolfsbane are also a bit of “the return of”. They formed in the late 1980s and have the somewhat distinctive accolade of keeping the same original lineup throughout all the years since. They have split, reformed and split many times in that period, various members have gone on to do other things, but underneath it all the Howling Mad Shitheads just never quite managed to put the band aside for good and now they are back, as big and blustery as they ever were. The music is distinctly old-school with modern production values, as evidenced by the release last year of an updated version of their very first album “Live Fast Die Fast”.
Jase Edwards may need a chair on stage but his guitar playing needs no assistance; every note is fired with precision and care. The song selection spans their entire 40-year career so old favourites like ‘Manhunt’ and ‘Loco’ rub shouders seamlessly with newer offerings including “Smoke and Red Lights” and “Rock City Nights”. Throughout it all Blaze Bayley banters with the packed crowd and his band, reminiscing about the past but also looking to the future. They are solid, entertaining and great fun to watch.
Headliners Onslaught have a problem tonight. They may be the grandfathers of British Thrash but someone has thrown them a googly by putting them up against a surprise solo acoustic performance from Tyketto’s very own Danny Vaughn in the festival pub. As COTW is at heart a sleaze rather than a thrash fest that is where the majority of punters head. Which is not just a shame but a darn right travesty as Onslaught are so on form tonight. The set is fast and technical, featuring songs that span their entire career. They are in fact celebrating the 41st anniversary of their first release “Power From Hell” meaning that the two themes of “Death” and “Metal” from that album feature throughout the set and help to pull it together. The crowd responds with enthusiasm, forming a small circle pit and crowding closer as the night goes on. The aggression and sheer power is relentless, with soaring guitar solos and growling vocals forming a counterpoint and showcasing just how precise this band is. The standout track for the crowd seems to be the Track ‘Metal Forces’, and they finish with a flourish with a cover of Motorhead’s ‘Iron Fist’. They may well have suffered from poor scheduling but they show they still have got it in spades.
In the meantime, acoustic troubadour Danny Vaughn has attracted the softer element of the crowd, and indeed is in his own element doing what he does best. Armed with nothing but a guitar and his still-remarkable voice he plays for the best part of two hours. The songs span both his Tyketto years and his solo output, and the emotion in the tent is palpable throughout. People hug, they cry, emotions are laid bare both on the stage and in front of it and we are privileged to witness a masterclass in performance and songwriting. Throughout the day Danny was out and about in the arena (even ending up on the barrier with fists pumping the air for Wolfsbane) and this cemented both his reputation as a Nice Guy Of Rock and his prowess as a performer. From the first notes of the first song to the last, singalong echoes of That Song his voice doesn’t falter for a moment. Each word is pitch perfect and delivered with an intensity that stirs up a corresponding emotion in those watching. There are very few performers on the scene who can manage to move a crowd to tears just by singing their favourite song but boy, when it comes to tugging at the heartstrings Danny is right up there. It was a total contrast to much of the day, and not just a gig but a total immersive experience.
Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Tyketto, Onslaught, Wolfsbane, The Five Hundred, Soho Dukes, Star Circus, Bullets And Octane, Voodoo Sioux, King Kraken, Beautiful Freakin Weirdo, Recall The Remains, For The Forsaken, Survivalist, Holyrude Vault, Ransom, Catalysis
Nice & sleazy, glam & cheesy