Rabidfest 2026: Breaking Down The Bands #18: The Dead XIII!

As Halloween fast approaches it’s time we talked a out Oxfords finest Metal Weekender Rabidfest once more. No less than twenty bands will take it in turn over two days to play the Devolution Magazine sponsored stage at The Bullingdon and earn the right to be called your next favourite so why not bring a friend or two and have some fun? What else are you going to do on Saturday 31st October and Sunday 1st November? Chores? Trick or treating? Drinking some God awful pumpkin spiced latte? Hell no! Get to the Bullingdon and get in the pit! Your eardrums will thank you later!

Rabidfest will take place at The Bullingdon in Oxford over the weekend of the 31st October and 1st November 2026, here’s the line up in full:

Saturday:
Hacktivist (headliner)
Bldsugr!
The Dead XIII
Black Candy
Novacrow
Vampyra
Rattlesnakes
Devilhusk
Necronomicunt
Twin Skeletons

Sunday:
N0trixx (headliner)
Lesbian Bed Death
The Crawling
Maatkare
Swarm6ix
Dacara
Spared An Endless Orbit
Omegathrone
The Blade Itself
BlackMarket

For the past thirteen years The Dead XIII have made the world of the dead, dying and the damned their own. Rising from their graves in 2013 the Manchester based quartet have fused together elements of classic Horror Punk with Rock and Metal, using it to wreck necks across the United Kingdom under cover of darkness. They’ve shared stages with the likes of Italian Blackened Deathcore heavyweights Drown In Sulphur, sickness spreaders Red Method, flamenco lovers Breed 77 and Death Metal gameshow hosts Raised By Owls, proving all along the way that they can hold their own. As if that wasn’t enough in 2023 they played the New Blood stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival despite having two well received albums in 2015’s “Catacombs” and 2018’s “Dark Days” under their collective bullet belts.

Aesthetically they will make you think of Wednesday 13, Rob Zombie and The Misfits and sonically with hearts and minds consumed by Metallic Horror Punk those possible influences might not be too far away from the truth, especially with song titles like “Stake My Date“, “Dead Behind The Eyes” and “Bloodlines“. Leather, corpse paint and fake blood are essential but the question is, will they bring a sense of theatre or dark humour to the Devolution Magazine sponsored stage for Rabidfest? Our recommendation would be to start with their 2025 EP “The Fear“, which had four singles arrive in advance over a year before its release and work your way backwards…

We’re proud to be a Media Partner of Rabidfest again this year alongside Red Death Media, Moomin Merchandise, Chaos Under No Ties, Moshville Radio, GraphicsFix, TwoFace Promotions, Blackstar Amplification and main stage sponsor Devolution Magazine. The Festival is all for charity and this year the profits will be going to the The Sophie Lancaster Foundation!

Rabidfest will take place at The Bullingdon in Oxford over the weekend of the 31st October and 1st November 2026:

Get your tickets -> https://www.rabidfest.co.uk

Get your merch -> https://shop.rabidfest.co.uk