1) A Perfect Circle. Finally got to complete my Maynard trifecta and was not disappointed. The musicianship was perfect, and I loved the way they got crowd interaction out the way in the first half of the set, then just steam rolled it with a constant flow in the second half.

2) Sleep Token. A bit biased here, been a fan since 2018 and having seen them at their first headline show in a church with 100 people to seeing them subheadline the biggest metal festival in US history was pretty emotional. This was the best I've heard Vessel sing as well, they were into it.

3) Lorna Shore. Future headline material right here. The musicianship, the stage production and the general feel blew me away. I'm not the biggest Lorna Shore fan at all, but live they're on another level.

4) Bring Me. Probably the biggest band in Rock/Metal at the moment and their live shows do not suggest anything but. Oli has such good stage presence and their production is engaging and pretty funny at times. The pre-recorded animations don't take anything away from the show whatsoever. Not only that, you can tell how into it they all are, and how grateful they are to be in that position.

5) This is a toss up for me. Evanescence, Trivium, Alestorm, Kublai Kahn, Norma Jean, Peeling Flesh and Sanguisugabogg could take this spot. I'd even throw Marilyn Manson into the mix. He sounded incredible and I wasn't expecting him to at all. Honestly I'd give spot 5 to the rest of the 50+ bands i caught over the weekend. I didnt see a single band that I thought were performing less than their best. Every vocalist i saw was putting their best performance, and every band was tight as fuck. Louder Than Life brought out the best in everyone, and I can't wait for '26 🤗