The “Beast in the East” – Scotland’s oldest extreme music gathering, Hordes X – has officially announced the first wave of bands locked in for its monumental sixteenth edition. The influential underground live platform will return to the twin venues of Hidden and Music Hall Dundee on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September 2026, delivering two days of heavy music discovery, old-school riffs, and boundary-pushing extreme metal.
For over a decade and a half, Hordes X has acted as a vital bastion of emerging grassroots metal talent north of the border, previously providing crucial early festival platforms for rising acts like Party Cannon, Dog Tired, and King Witch, alongside historic UK festival headline debuts for Saor and Hellripper. To spearhead the 2026 assault, organizers have unveiled three massive regional exclusive additions to the bill.
Leading the first wave of line-up confirmations are London progressive death metal stalwarts De Profundis, who will step into a highly anticipated headlining slot. Marking an exclusive 2026 Scottish appearance, the performance neatly coincides with the final stretches of their 20th-anniversary celebrations and the fallout from their venomous recent EP, The Gospel Of Rot. Joining them are Scottish black/folk metal pioneers Cnoc An Tursa, who are relighting their creative signal fires for a long-awaited Dundee debut. Following a nearly decade-long hiatus, the group will bring their newly released melodic guitar-and-folk-driven masterwork, reviewed in full detail here, to the live arena. Rounding out the initial announcement are Northern Irish doom/sludge trio Owlcrusher, making their first-ever trip across the Irish Sea for a crushing, subterranean Scottish live debut ahead of their highly anticipated second full-length album.
Early Bird multi-day passes are officially on sale now for £15. The ticket secures full access to the Saturday main event spanning both stages with a no-clash schedule, while also granting free admission to the Friday night warm-up gathering at Hidden. Separate individual Friday evening tickets will be made available at the door on the night subject to strict venue capacity limits.
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