Tortured Demon, a thrash metal group from Oldham, headlined Academy 3 in Manchester on Friday 30 October 2026. The concert was part of their Apocalypse UK Tour, and the support came from Unburier, Pustulant Flesh and Wolfbastard.
Manchester Academy was unusually busy on Friday night. All three venues in the building had events scheduled, and Club Academy hosted a Halloween party. People in costumes added to the unusual atmosphere around the building. Academy 3 welcomed four extreme metal bands.
Wolfbastard had the difficult job of opening the evening. The Manchester crowd was still relatively small, and the atmosphere remained rather limited during their performance. The three-piece combined black metal aggression with a strong punk influence, and the result was raw and uncompromising.
Derek Carley played guitar and sang. Si Fox played bass and also sang, and David Buchan played drums. The drummer used a relatively small kit, which stood towards one side of the stage. Another, larger drum set remained covered nearby. Both frontmen seemed to enjoy themselves. They spoke to the audience often and exchanged jokes between songs. They also drank the beer that was available on stage. Their relaxed attitude formed an amusing contrast with the aggressive music.
The set included several tracks from their 2026 album Satanic Scum Punks. Among them were ‘It’s Fucking Dark’ and ‘Drink for Hell’. The band also played ‘Manic Street Creatures’ and ‘Let the Bastards Burn’. ‘Hail Satan Kurwa’ was another song from the album. Other songs were ‘Fear Exxxekutioner’ and ‘Buckfast Blasphemies’, and the band performed ‘F.O.T.D.’ as well. The opening set was rough and energetic. The small attendance, however, made it difficult to get much response from the audience.
Pustulant Flesh, a death metal band from Denmark, raised the intensity noticeably. Their performance began with an effective introduction. The sound then became much heavier, and the stage atmosphere became darker. The lighting was strong but left much of the stage in shadow, which suited their aggressive approach.
Mike Dalsgaard Clemmensen and Daniel Bror Ditlevsen played guitars in the four-piece. Emil Mariendal Petersen played bass and sang, and Filip Dursun played drums. The vocalist produced deep growls, while the guitars played heavy riffs and sharper, almost piercing passages. There was plenty of headbanging on stage. One of the support bands’ musicians wore a paper box hat and joined them on stage, which formed an unexpected contrast with the brutal music.
The set included ‘Cadaver Creation’ and ‘Gutfucked’. ‘Rev Up the Saw’ and ‘Visions of Savagery’ were played as well, and so were ‘March of the Ravenous Dead’ and ‘Beyond Lobotomy’. These tracks showed a particularly aggressive approach to death metal. By this point the room was becoming fuller, and the audience reacted noticeably better than during the opening set. It was a very energetic performance.
Unburier played another heavy set, although their approach offered a little more variation. Ben Champion was the frontman, and Blake Hibberd played guitar and sang. Stan Mitchell played bass. Will Pearson played drums as a replacement for the regular drummer, Kim Hughes.
The music combined death metal with noticeable thrash influences, and the two guitars occasionally introduced more melodic passages. The growling vocals were particularly effective, and the rhythm section played with great power. The double-kick drumming made the sound considerably heavier. Several well-placed breakdowns produced an immediate response.
The set included ‘618’ and ‘Continuum’. The band also played ‘Abyssal Uncertainty’ and ‘The Voidflare’. ‘Survive the Vermin’ and ‘Structured Genocide’ were part of the set, and ‘Harmonious Absolutes’ was another song. Strobe effects and rapid lighting changes added to the intensity. A mosh pit formed in front of the stage, and the audience was now fully involved. Unburier kept a good balance between fast sections and heavier passages. Some of the melodic guitar work was particularly enjoyable.
By the end of their performance Academy 3 was considerably busier, and anticipation for the headliners was clear.
Tortured Demon were the main attraction, and the four musicians from Oldham had plenty to offer. The brothers Jacob Parkinson and Joe Parkinson formed the band in 2018. Since then the group has gradually established itself in the British thrash metal scene. Their earlier albums, In Desperation’s Grip and Rise of the Lifeless, helped them to build a following. Their recent signing to BLKIIBLK Records is an important step in their career.
In Manchester, Jacob Parkinson played guitar and sang, and Rory Marsland-Smith played second guitar. Lewis Bridges played bass, and Joe Parkinson played drums. The band came to the city as part of the Apocalypse UK Tour to promote their forthcoming third album, which is expected in early 2027. Their recently released single ‘Apocalypse’ gave the first indication of what listeners could expect from the new record.
The band began with ‘Conflict of Interest’, which established a fast pace for the rest of the performance. ‘Virtual Death’ and ‘Disfavour’ came next, and ‘The Invasion’ followed. Sharp guitar riffs and powerful drumming kept the intensity high. The band plays thrash metal in a direct way, yet the guitar arrangements contain a great deal of variation, with effective melodic passages placed next to the heavier sections.
The arrival of ‘Apocalypse’ was one of the highlights of the evening. As the latest single, it received particular attention. The song combines traditional thrash metal elements with heavier breakdowns, which gives a slightly different direction while the established sound of the band remains. An amusing moment occurred during the song. Several members of the support bands appeared on stage and ate bananas. Only one of them wore a cardboard box over his head. This was an unexpected addition to the performance, and the audience was clearly entertained.
‘State Your Intentions’ and ‘Tear Your World Apart’ continued the presentation of new material. Both songs showed that the band had moved forward from the formula of their earlier records. The guitars moved between fast thrash riffs and heavier, more deliberate sections, and the new material fitted naturally with the older songs.
‘Global Threat’ and ‘Cold Blood’ kept the intensity high, and ‘Oppressed’ did the same. The mosh pit remained active, and crowd surfing added to the atmosphere. Academy 3 was now hot and crowded, and the audience response was excellent.
‘In Hatred Alone’ continued the set, and then a small technical problem interrupted the performance. One guitar string broke about one third of the way through the show. The moment was unfortunate, but the band handled the situation and continued, so the overall performance did not suffer.
The musicians worked particularly well together. Joe Parkinson played the drums with power and consistency, and Lewis Bridges played the bass solidly. Jacob Parkinson and Rory Marsland-Smith complemented each other with fast riffs and heavier sections. Melodic guitar passages were also part of their playing.
The closing section of the set included ‘In Desperation’s Grip’, and ‘Rise of the Lifeless’ followed. The latter was an appropriate conclusion, because it was another fast thrash metal song. By this point the audience had given the band an enthusiastic response, and the performance ended well.
Tortured Demon are clearly a band with ambitions larger than the underground circuit. Their progress, new record deal and forthcoming third album suggest that they are entering an important stage of their development. The Manchester performance showed that they have the material and the live experience to attract a larger audience.
To summarise, the evening offered four different approaches to extreme metal, from the raw opening performance of Wolfbastard to the heavier death metal of Pustulant Flesh and Unburier. Tortured Demon deserved their position at the top of the bill and gave the strongest performance of the night. A new album is expected in 2027, so the band is worth watching.
