As far as I know, the state of Utah is not exactly a hotbed for music festivals of the metal persuasion. John Yelland (Judicator, Behölder) is doing his darnedest to change that. Under his direction, the second annual Grillfest took place on September 12, 2026. A section of historic Main Street in Midvale City was closed off to accommodate the day’s festivities, of which there were many. Grillfest functioned as a dual event. The outdoor activities were open to the general public, including barbecue food trucks, live entertainment spectacles, and vendor booths. At the same time, a series of ticketed musical performances were happening inside the nearby venue The Pearl on Main. I couldn’t resist the summons of so much metal in one place so close to where I live, especially after receiving an invitation from John Yelland himself. I invite you to join me as I recount my experience of attempting to witness as much as possible.

I arrived at the official noon start time, flying solo because Kutemouse (Mrs. Killjoy) was, unfortunately, too sick to make it.¹ I picked up my press pass from the Grillfest booth and ordered a bratwurst from the Grillfest On-the-Go cart to munch on while I watched the first outdoor event: medieval combat demonstrations by Order of the Silver Rose. They alternated between large team battles called melees and 1v1 swordfights. I wasn’t able to hear the commentator very well to understand all the rules, but it was still fun to watch a bunch of metal-clad warriors wail on each other.

I slipped away in time to catch the last part of the first act of the day. Just4TheRecord kicked things off with a dose of enthusiastic pop-punk. Their set time overlapped with the medieval combat, so the crowd was pretty small, but the trio played their hearts out all the same.

I went to check out the 25 or so vendor booths, where I bought some goodies for my wife and kids. I stopped by KBER 101, a rock radio station based in Ogden, Utah, and met one of the members of Eyes of Eva, a gothic alt-metal group. I also talked to Will Burnham, author of the fantasy novel Engine of Amnesty: Revelations, which I plan to read in the near future.

At that point, the Fiery Fools Hot Wing Challenge was beginning. Numbered among the participants was Judicator drummer Mike Lofgreen. It started as a bit of a slow burn but soon heated up intensely.

I wasn’t able to stick around to see the winner because it was time to see Darconigan from Colorado. Their icy blackened death metal riffs were a great way to cool off from the hot sauce challenge, not to mention the heat outside.

This was around the time when I remembered the passport challenge. I grabbed a card from the Grillfest booth, which I hastily took around to a few of the local businesses located on Main Street (Farmer & Chemist, Cactus & Tropicals, Midvale Art House, and Echelon Tattoo). I also caught the first couple wrestling matches by The Lucha Project. They were very silly, as expected.

I can’t say that wrestling is really my thing, so I dipped after a bit to go see Triune, who came from Boulder, Colorado. And I’m glad I did because this was, unexpectedly, my favorite performance of the entire day. They play psychedelic progressive metal with whiffs of classic Tool. Their music reminds me quite a bit of Anciients and Dvne. The bass tone in particular was massively satisfying, but all of the band members put on a great show.

I caught a little bit of the outdoor combo performance by the electronic music group Runestomper and bubble artist Danny Morgan. The bubbles were, of course, a big hit with the kids who were in attendance. I wish I had brought mine with me. Next year!

Next up was prog metallers Patema from Denver, Colorado. They have more of a straightforward style rather than an overly noodly one, but there was still a good amount of cool melodic guitar soloing. The music had a dreamy Tanagra² vibe to it. Patema played a few unreleased songs from their upcoming album next January, which I look forward to hearing. I was able to chat with the guitarist, Jaden, and he gave me some cool stickers.

Shortly after, The Lucha Project put on another series of wrestling matches called the Golden Spatula Tournament. This one drew a larger crowd.

It was then my privilege to witness the first-ever live performance of the trad/doom metal group Behölder. Their debut was favorably reviewed by our lovable ape overlord, Steel Druhm, last year. They put on a fun show. John Yelland is quite a charismatic frontman, and this was a great warm-up for Judicator later.

The Order of the Silver Rose held a Bloodsport swordfighting tournament during the dinner hour. Unfortunately, I missed most of it because I was scrounging for food after learning that both food trucks had run out of food. After scarfing down some tacos from a nearby cart, I decided it would be a good time to do some merch shopping. I bought T-shirts from Judicator and Triune. I chatted with Cory Wolfe, the vocalist/guitarist for Triune, and got to tell him how much I enjoyed his band’s performance.

After dinner, the official outdoor activities were over, so I retreated once again to The Pearl on Main for a few more sets to close out the festivities. First up was ShadowStrike, coming all the way from Long Island, New York,³ to grace us with their extremely exuberant symphonic power metal. Their debut album was lauded by Eldritch Elitist back in 2019, and I, too, am an appreciator of earnest cheese. The singer has a great, soaring voice, but the others weren’t slouches either. The guitarists shredded aplenty, and the drum rhythms were rapid. They even had a live keyboardist, which I appreciated. This marked their first performance in the Western United States.

When Arsenic Addiction (local to Salt Lake City) came on, I was again pleasantly surprised by a group that was previously unknown to me. Their costumes and makeup were awesome and perfectly matched the mystical, occult allure of the music. Apparently, Arsenic Addiction’s earlier material is gothic metal, but most of what they played was closer to blackened doom, which I much enjoyed. Midway through the set, the band members all got out chalices to invoke a ritual to bring back winter (sadly, we didn’t really have one last year in Salt Lake City). Their vocalist frequently stole the show with her otherworldly singing and passionate screams. I also loved her costume change for the final song when she donned a black veil and smoking headdress.

Adamantis was the penultimate performance. You know they mean business when the singer is wielding a sword. This was a virile and trve strain of heavy/power metal; I could feel my chest hair grow a little, despite this style not being my usual cup of tea. Their bassist was especially lively, headbanging like crazy and pumping out burly notes.

Finally it was time for my most anticipated set: Judicator. This was to be their debut show with Alicia Cordisco rejoining the fold. They picked right up where they left off with “Let There Be Light,” the opening track from the last Judicator album featuring Alicia. Understandably, the setlist favored earlier material, including the first-ever live performances of “The Queen of All Cities” and “Let There Be Nothing.” As a newer fan, it was also a blast to hear them play “Concord” live. This was a fantastic conclusion to Grillfest 2026.

I went into Grillfest with few specific expectations and ended up having a great time. All of the activities, even the concerts, were family-friendly, and I would love to take mine with me next year. Even though it was unusually hot for a September day, it didn’t bother me due to Main Street being shady and spending so much time inside the music venue. I appreciated the wide variety of metal subgenres that were represented, and I was exposed to a bunch of fascinating new bands that I likely would never have heard of otherwise. As this was only the second year of Grillfest, there were a few growing pains, such as the vendors not bringing enough food or the trash can situation being woefully inadequate. Overall, though, everything went very smoothly, for which John Yelland and his team deserve immense acclaim. I encourage anyone living within reasonable driving distance of the Salt Lake area to consider attending next year. I hope that Grillfest will be around for many more years to come, and I look forward to seeing what it grows into.

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