Decibel Metal & Beer Fest 2026

Saturday May 2 - Sunday May 3

Fillmore, Philadelphia 2026

Soulgrinder Zine were at the Fillmore in Philly, covering The Decibel Metal and Beer Fest, moshing through all bands between Saturday- May 2 and Saturday- May 3, from No/Mas opener to Power Trip.

No/Mas was a great intro, These guys were on fire and slayed. Nuff said

Haggus was – to me – the biggest surprise. i was unprepared for their insane set. Cool stuff.

Kylesa also played an intense set on Saturday. They do get people going with those crazy Heavy riffs. The band put on a great show.

Metal and beer are two of my favorite things and Decibel fest did a great job of bringing together some kick ass bands along with some quality breweries, that was pretty damn fun. Along with the band merch and beer booths there were a few other merch vendors in the main entry room.

Harley Flanagan took the stage. He strapped on his bass guitar and grew led the crowd to move up closer. The Cro-Mags weren't quite as hardcore as the other bands, but they still killed it, and Harley had all of the energy that would be expected of a hardcore band. I was glad to see them on stage. They did great.

Metalheads went nuts for the night's headliner Municipal Waste. During Headbanger Face rip I knew my knee was almost done, but I couldn't leave before they finished their brutal set. I can definitely say the audience was very much ready for Municipal Waste. Every so often a chant of “MUNICIPAL WASTE IS GONNA FUCK YOU UP” would be heard repeating throughout the audience. After the first or second song, hard to remember, Municipal Waste's singer Tony Forresta laughed and told the crowd to hang tight for the part of the show when they would start that chant during the song “Born to Party".

I can honestly say Municipal Waste is an even tighter live band than I remember, but I'm not surprised. The clear chemistry of their guitar duo in Ryan Waste and Nick Poulos (who also play together in Bat) is a thrash fan's dream, and I'd personally be content just watching Dave Witte the whole night as he will always destroy on drums. The heft filling out the riffs in every song is provided as always by Phil “Landphil” Hall who is also known for Cannabis Corpse and more recently Morbikon.

Intensity mixed with humor and fully in-your-face from start to finish. They never disappoint!  There was a wide range of metal in the line up for Saturday. Grindcore, stoner, hardcore and thrash.

On the second day I was running late to the show, I just caught Cryptopsy and Power Trip on stage.

The house lights drop. Cryptopsy emerges, and immediately the air is torn apart by the guys from Montreal. Their reputation as technical death metal pioneers precedes them, but experiencing a live show is something else entirely and I have to say they deserved a better sound for that show (in my opinion) This is technicality at its most violent with every song an avalanche of notes and brutality, the vocals move to piercing high screeches, it feels like a breath - a pause in the suffocation. But of course, everything is relative, and for any other band these passages would be the climactic heaviest part. By the latter half of the set, technical death and grind collide in a chaotic wall of metal. Cryptopsy far from simply perform - they dominate and annihilate. 

Power Trip headlined the final day of the Metal & Beer Fest and they put on a great show as always. They hit the stage to a packed Venue turning everything in their path to dust as they performed with a ferocity and motivation as if they had something to provide. From the first note to the last, the energy didn't fizzle. As each riff got heavier and heavier, the crowd got insane from full room circle pits to crowd surfers, the relentless intensity of Power Trip is nearly indescribable. That perfect cross-over blend of hardcore meets thrash, 100% metal, crazy fast thrash riffage, pounding drums, thunderous bass, hard hitting solos, and downright mosh anthems. Power Trip hit all the high marks of what you would want from a Power Trip show. They will continue to honor and remember Riley and the original chapter of the band for sure.

In all the weekend it was pretty great. I hope Decibel does this event again next year.

Review by Paul Caravasi 

Soulgrinder Zine