“I want no peace, just sustain the impulse – an empty body in a full room.“
Reality Unfolds, the London day festival featuring the best of underground hardcore, extreme metal, screamo and post hardcore, has finalised its line up today. These new additions include Spain’s Boneflower who are headlining ‘screamo Sunday’, UKHC legends Temple Guard and Splitknuckle, and another key screamo entrant from Sweden, Kid Feral. The newly added bands join an already impressive list of bands including Arkangel, COA, Your Demise, Street Power, Calcine, Negative Frame, xApothecaryx, and more.
The event’s goal is often to bring a spicy set of headliners – the trio of Arkangel, COA and Boneflower do exactly that. Arkangel are the precursor and blueprint for so much of the hardcore scene today, not just in the EU but worldwide. COA, AKA Colin Of Arabia, hold a similar pedigree and recently reactivated via Triple B Records to join and guide the ongoing wave of interest in hardcore. Boneflower have impressed us across the now numerous occasions they’ve visited, offering a reflective and intense sound full of yearning; their recent LP is a fantastic example of this.
There’s a special excitement for us in the UK to see the fest represent some of the most exciting upcoming bands in the genre. To name just a few, Crowquill‘s recent EP has really impressed us and typifies the key sound of metallic hardcore that we like to hear. Emo-adjacent picks like Im Sorry Emil and Mountain Peaks expand the sound of the event whilst maintaining the DIY ethics. The event will be about mayhem, and let Fractured bring it, a band that’s been putting in the miles over 2025. Suffice to say, if there’s any less moshing going on during their set, it’s because most of the hardest moshers in the room are too busy playing on stage.
The festival will also be the debut performance of a new band, Afraid To Die, who aren’t coming out of nowhere – they feature ex members of Svalbard, *shels, Heights, Crows-An-Wra, Devil Sold His Soul, and more. We’ve learned its members are Dave Robinson (Morrow/Wreath), Liam Phelan (Svalbard), Thomas Debaere (Heights) and Mikee (Crows-An-Wra/Grim Harvest). The hints indicate they’re bringing pure mosh music to the pure mosh temple that is New Cross Inn.
Check out our thoughts and galleries of last year’s Reality Unfolds, and pick up day and weekend tickets here.
The full list of bands playing the event is as follows:
Afraid To Die
Agency
Agency
Arkangel
Believe In Nothing
Boneflower
Break Them
Bullet
Cassus
COA
Crowquill
Endless Swarm
Fractured
Grief Ritual
Im Sorry Emil
Kid Feral
Mindless
Mountain Peaks
Negative Frame
Not Without Punishment
Regress
Rescue Cat
Splitknuckle
Street Power
Sunday Best
Temple Guard
Tension
xApothecaryx
Your Demise