Call Of The Wild Lincolnshire Showground, Grange De Lings Day Two

Lincolnshire Showground, Grange De Lings

29^th May – 31^st May 2026

Saturday 30^th May

Review By Smudge Smith Photos By Paul McWillians and Smudge

Another scorcher was on the cards along with the news that Pyroclast had broken down on the motorway and had no chance of getting here. So, the day was put back an hour meaning Catalysis were moved stage but still started the proceedings with their Jockanese metalcore which involved a whole lotta pyro. They certainly blew away any hangovers and declared that their last number is their heaviest. What were the rest? The last number was indeed very heavy and even got a circle pit going.

I walked over to the Trailblazer tent and caught a song by Holyrude Vault and decided that I would hedge my bets with Ransom back on the Southall Lawless stage. They gave us some good old classic rock with a bass heavy mix.

After Ransom the day got proper heavy with two metalcore bands – Survivalist and Recall The Remains. Despite the best efforts of both including the man mountain singer of Survivalist they couldn’t cajole the crowd to get closer so played to a sparse crowd. Not so King Kraken! These Welsh metal mongers played to a large crowd and gave us some of their best numbers. Now down to quartet they appear tighter and singer Mark O’Donoghue is fast becoming a great front man with his engaging humour and his powerful pipes. I think they opened with ‘Scream’ then careered in ‘Berserker’ before ‘El Giganto’. O’Donoghue gave us the other side of his voice on the powerfully emotional ‘Hero’ which is about his dad. They went full on horror metal on ‘Shadow’s Fall’ before the proper heavy ‘Call To War’ and ‘March Of The Gods’.

Next up were a band that I have a lot of affection for – Pryma. Four unassuming youngsters from Kent who change personalities when on stage, although drummer Dom is always smiling whether on stage or off. On stage he is a beast behind the kit and will twat anything within arm’s reach, cool-as-fuck new boy bass player Kieran lays down some awesome lines locked in tighter than a duck’s bum with Dom and guitarist Max has the gift of the riff along with six or seven fingers on his left hand.

Upfront singer Gaby has become the ultimate front person and basically showed the two metalcore bands on earlier how it’s done. They gave us some crushingly heavy tunes like ‘Mask’, ‘Dead To Me’, the utterly awesome ‘Freaky Fright Night’ (thanks for singing with me Harley!) and a new yet to recorded song called ‘John Doe’. Gaby explained that the song was written in response to a music executive who offered the band a recording contract on the proviso that they get rid of Gaby because she was ‘too fat and couldn’t sing’. Well, Pryma, me and the whole crowd at Call of the Wild say – FUCK OFF YOU IDIOT!! Pryma went sown a storm and ended up selling out of their merchandise. Their next gig is Download in a big tent which they informed me has already sold out!

I stepped sideways to the Kilmister stage to catch Star Circus who brought their 80’s/Kiss/Thin Lizzy inspired melodic rock along with probably the most photographed performer of the weekend in bass player Sophie-Aurelia Young. (If you were wondering where she gets her stage clothes from, she makes them herself along with outfits for WWE superstar wrestlers). The band’s set was mainly from the latest release ‘The Wreckage’. We got the album title along with the Lizzyesque ‘Destiny’s Door’ and the emotional ‘Before The Song Is Over. Closing number ‘Last Dance’ was a mighty rocker and highlighted the talents of new guitarist Joel Chalk.

Back in the day I never got into Wolfsbane which is daft because they’re right up my street. Crikey they didn’t hang about and ripped into ‘Tore Me Down’ and ‘Lifestyles Of The Broke Obscure’ before the huge ‘Steel’ which got everybody going. Guitarist Jase was awesome having lost none of his fire. Alright the bloke has some health issues but jeez he knows his way around a guitar. Bass man Jeff didn’t so much as play his bass but abuse it and drummer Steve is one heavy hitter! As for Blaze well he still has a great set of pipes and knows how to handle a crowd.

They rattled through the set with ‘Rock City Nights’, ‘Loco’, ‘I Like It Hot’ and ‘Temple Of Rock’ before they played the first song they ever wrote if Jeff’s garage when they were still teenagers – ‘Smoke And Red Light’. Blaze told his prophecy/conspiracy theory has come true on ‘All Hell Is Breaking Loose..’ before they battered us into submission with ‘Man Hunt’ and ‘Paint The Town Red’. A stunning performance and I urge you to catch them when you can…soon!

Onslaught took up the challenge thrown down by Wolfsbane and gave us a thrash metal masterclass. Returning singer Sy Keeler showed no signs of rustiness in fact some his screams would have made Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford proud. They opened with ‘Onslaught (Power From Hell)’, ‘Thermonuclear Devastation’ and ‘Death Metal’ before tearing into ‘Angels Of Death’,

‘Steel Meets Steel’, ‘Let There Be Death’ and the crushing ‘Demoniac’. The band are celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the release of the ‘Metal Forces’ album so they gave us the title track then the mighty ‘Fight With The Beast’. They brought it down a pace on ‘Destroyer Of Worlds’ then changed gears dramatically for ‘Killing Peace and the rabid ‘The Sound Of Violence’ before sending us off with a vicious version of Motorhead’s ‘Iron Fist’. I honestly felt battered and bruised after the heaviness of the day. Sunday promised to be a bit more gentle.