Uprising 9 returned to O2 Academy Leicester for its tenth anniversary edition with a line-up that had me wishing for three pairs of ears and a second neck for headbanging. Split across the Total Rock Stage and the Very Metal Art Stage, the day had a brilliant rhythm: one band finishes, the crowd flows into the next room, people grab drinks on the way, and it all kicks off again.
That movement between stages became part of the atmosphere. There was always another riff waiting, another pit opening, another band ready to make a room of metalheads throw their horns up. Uprising has always had a proper scene feeling, and this year carried it from the first band to the last.
Break Them opened the day, and even with a smaller early crowd they wasted no time setting the tone. Their hardcore and grindcore came through, built on brutal, chunky riffs and drums that sounded like they were tunnelling underground. With no bassist they still sounded heavy enough to fill the room, helped by fast riffs, guttural backing vocals from the guitarist, and a drummer determined to kick the day awake. It did not take long for the first mosh pit to open up, and ending on a cover of Machine Head‘s ‘Davidian’ sent the early crowd out on a high. Great start.
Canterbury’s Pryma followed, with Download Festival on the horizon, and it is clear why they are drawing attention. They moved from clean vocals into screams and back with confidence, the guitars carrying the chunky weight that was becoming the flavour of the day. What stood out was how fast they pulled people in. The room filled, phones came out, and the energy lifted with them. There is a big sound here and headliner potential if they keep building.
Over on the main stage, Fractions arrived as the room was properly filling. Bob Dylan‘s ‘Where Are You Tonight?’ drifted over the PA, the lights dropped, and the mood turned darker. Fractions brought tight breakdowns, strong melodies and a satisfying lurch into chunky riffs when the songs needed to hit. Guttural vocals, screams and melodic passages gave the set movement, carrying the day into full Uprising mode.
As soon as the main stage finished, the crowd moved across in that familiar Uprising wave for Crowley, and they were loud from the start. Their occult rock sound brought a different flavour to the day, sitting somewhere between heavy rock, blues and darker country-tinged moments, with vocals trying to rise above a huge wall of sound. There were some sound issues early on, but fair play to them; they carried on, kept the crowd with them, and the vocalist handled it brilliantly, laughing and chatting while things were being sorted. Once the sound settled, the set found its shape, moving from beauty into screams and heavier sections with much more force. Their newer material landed well, and ‘Pyre’ brought that witchy, vengeance-soaked energy to the room. The crowd stayed with them to the end, and there was clearly a lot of love for this band.
People were already queuing for Foul Body Autopsy, and fair enough. As a one man band the set could have felt stripped back, but it came in filthy, tight and brutal. The riffs had dirt under the fingernails, the vocals were savage, and the whole thing proved how much noise one person can make when the material is strong enough. The wall of sound was huge, a shockingly direct hit of death metal brutality from just one person. His riffs were tight, heavy as hell, and it was genuinely mesmerising to watch him create that much noise with just a Gibson Explorer.
Maatkare brought something brilliant to the day: an all-female death metal force rooted in Egyptian mythology, historical power and pure death metal fury. It is always good to see more women taking up space in the metal scene, and Maatkare did it with confidence, weight and proper stage presence. Again, the crowd moved rooms like a wave and more or less filled the space for them. Their riffs were chunky and brutal, but there was also a sense of purpose behind the music. The crowd shouting back during ‘Amen Ra’ showed how quickly they had people with them, and the love in the room was obvious. By the time ‘Long Live The Queen’ came around, horns were up everywhere. A strong set.
Mayfire started with an electronic synth intro about civilisation falling, which immediately gave the set a cinematic feel. All in hooded robes, faces covered, with the vocalist masked, they brought a very different visual identity to the Total Rock Stage. The Norwegian band’s melodic, progressive sound had a big atmosphere to it. At one point, the thought was impossible to avoid, this sounded like Sleep Token crossing paths with A-ha, which should not work on paper, but absolutely made sense in the room. There was a strong ballad-metal feel at points, with the crowd clapping, cheering and clearly loving it. For their first UK festival appearance, they did not disappoint.
One of the best things about Uprising is watching everyone pile from room to room between sets, grabbing beers before locking into the next band. Survivalist had a longer soundcheck, but it built anticipation. There was a “turn it off and back on again” feeling while they worked the issue, before the vocalist, bassist and drummer casually covered Stevie Wonder‘s ‘Superstition’ while the guitarist sorted it. Fair play. Once they kicked in, Survivalist brought dirty groovecore from Belfast that felt distinct straight away. Heads were down, horns were up, and the pit kept moving. There was a powerful moment too, the vocalist talking about mental health and being there for each other, the next song dedicated to anyone who needed it. That sincerity matters at festivals like this. Then the chaos came back. Two bodies came out of the pit, one carrying the other around the room, and the vocalist had the pit open again by the time they returned. There was energy, love and chunky brutality in equal measure.
Ward XVI know how to put on a show. Black and white, top hats, white face paint, a circus ringmaster feel, full theatrical madness. They came out with a cardboard train and carriages held across the stage as if travelling on a moving train, prison gates stretched behind them, apparently stopping the drummer from escaping. Inflatable chainsaws went into the crowd, which got people involved in the playful horror metal spirit fast. The singer came off the stage to dance before climbing back up to lead a sing along, with no shortage of charisma. They were fun, weird, chaotic and completely committed.
Gurt‘s first words were “come fucking forward and let’s go,” which is exactly the start you want from a sludge band. By this point the sound in the room felt much better too, which was good to hear after some earlier struggles for other bands. People had even carried their inflatable chainsaws over from Ward XVI, so the room was already ridiculous before Gurt got going. The vocalist wrapped himself in the mic cable throwing out dirty screams, the band sinking into low, filthy bass and guitar tones with sharp drumming underneath. There was a real Demonic Death Judge feel to it. Heads were banging everywhere. There was a lovely moment too, the vocalist marking his and his wife’s tenth anniversary and getting the crowd to applaud her, then straight back into it. ‘In For A Penny, In For A Pound’ was brutal, and they wasted no time between songs, one ending as the next kicked in. That momentum carried them, and Gurt were lush.
The Sun’s Journey Through The Night shifted the mood completely. A dark, cinematic intro, No One holding a mic in one hand and a swinging light in the other, suspended on a cable, the room turning ritual.
Then came black metal screams over dark ambient soundscapes, and the Gaerea comparison is hard to ignore. They looked the part, all in black, faces covered or made up, a strong visual identity without overplaying it. It was huge, bleak and immersive, one of the day’s darkest and most intense turns.
HAWXX brought a different heaviness: political, direct, purposeful. It was good to see women and LGBTQ+ voices on the bill, and the room filled again ahead of them. They opened on ‘Fuck Your Macho Bullshit’, starting lighter before building into something harder, which made the message land with more force. They split the room and got people running at each other to high five, while still driving the politics home. The crowd joined in and gave the set the respect it deserved.
Breed77 were greeted with cheers and roars as each member walked onto the stage, but when Paul Isola’s unmistakable vocals came in, the room really lifted. There are some voices that immediately remind you why a band matters, and his is one of them. They were tight, loud and completely in control, not dropping a note while the crowd clapped along with the bass player and the guitarists stood side by side playing together. There was a real sense of experience in the way they carried themselves. This was not a band trying to prove who they are, this was a band reminding everyone. Closing on their version of The Cranberries‘ ‘Zombie’ was a big moment. The cover works because it keeps the emotion of the original while sounding completely at home in Breed77’s hands. The crowd loved it.
Lawnmower Deth were a blast from the past and have not lost a thing. The anticipation was there before they walked on, the room filling for the punk OGs. They came on to the theme from The Professionals and went straight in, crossover thrash chaos and the daft, brilliant humour they are known for. The pit started early, heads banging, the band loving every second. Some bands try to be fun. Lawnmower Deth just are. They were heavy, silly, fast and full of life.
InMe brought a different energy. After so many brutal, pit-heavy sets, they leaned into melody, memory and emotion, still with enough weight to keep people moving. The theme from The Terminator gave them a big entrance, and the reaction once they started showed how much they still mean to people ‘7 Weeks’, ‘Prove Myself’ and ‘White Butterfly’ carried real history in the room, people reacting the instant those tracks kicked in. There was a lot of love there, but it never felt like InMe were just relying on the past. They played with real energy, and the material still had enough force behind it to sit comfortably towards the finale of Uprising rather than feeling like a nostalgia break.
Stampin’ Ground arrived to the theme from The Shining, and the room was packed by the time they hit the stage. They went straight into it: hard, heavy and full of dirty groove. Heads were banging, the mosh pit opened quickly, and the crowd were clearly loving every minute. That comeback feeling made the set hit even harder. Stampin’ Ground have been away for a long time, with only a brief return in 2014 after originally calling it a day back in 2006. They are one of those bands that helped shape UK metallic hardcore, proving that this country could produce something every bit as savage, tight and crowd destroying as anything coming from the other side of the Atlantic. You could feel that history in the room, and they felt alive, nasty and absolutely earned.
By the time Pitchshifter were soundchecking, people were already packed at the barrier, and that alone showed how important this band still are to their fans. The room filled up quickly, the crowd started chanting their name, and there was a real sense that this was the moment a lot of people had been waiting for. From the first song, heads were going and the energy coming from the stage was matched instantly by the crowd. Pitchshifter sounded huge. They came across like a band fully aware of what this set meant, but still hungry enough to make it count.
One of the standout moments came when the mic was passed into the crowd for part of ‘Microwaved’, turning the room into one big voice. “Stop the noise” could be seen on the back of the guitarist’s guitar, which felt perfectly Pitchshifter.
The vocalist had a massive amount of energy and told the crowd he had travelled 5,000 miles to be there, which made the reaction feel even bigger. When the crowd started chanting the band’s name again, the drummer picked it up, beating along with them, and the singer stopped to record it, saying he loved it. That kind of moment is what festival headline sets are built on.
Pitchshifter closed Uprising 9 with weight, connection and a room full of people who knew exactly why they were there. After a full day of riffs, pits, theatrical madness, political fire, emotional honesty and pure metal joy, it was a fitting end to a festival that knows exactly how to bring the scene together.
A big thank you to everyone at Uprising who made this possible and gave these amazing bands a platform.
