From throwback emo anthems to UK hardcore’s filthiest, these are the 10 bands you need to be checking out for Slam Dunk’s 20th birthday.

Words by Josephine Best | May 15, 2026

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Slam Dunk turns 20 this year (feeling old yet?). So what better way to get the dust off last years festival band tee, dig out the studded belt, and accept that you’re going to spend half the day sprinting between stages with a warm beer in your hand. Whether you’re heading to Hatfield Park (May 23) or Temple Newsam in Leeds (May 24), this year’s lineup is properly stacked. Good Charlotte are back on UK soil for the first time in seven years. Sublime are touching down for their first UK show ever. The headliners have done their job.

But you already know about them. We’re here for the bands lower down the bill that are going to make you forget what time it is, who you came with, and how to use your voice the next day. Here are 10 acts you can’t afford to miss.

Hawthorne Heights

Don that eyeliner, because Ohio is heading to Slam Dunk and yes, we’ll be screaming our hearts out to this one. The Dayton emo lifers have spent two decades soundtracking every embarrassing middle school journal entry you ever wrote, and frankly, that’s a compliment. ‘Ohio Is For Lovers’ might be one of the most universally recognised emo anthems of all time, the kind of song that has every person in a festival crowd dropping their drink to scream every single word. The band has continued evolving across recent records like The Rain Just Follows Me, proving they’re not just a nostalgia trip but a still-vital part of the emo conversation. Expect Hatfield and Leeds to feel like a 2006 MySpace top 8 reunion you didn’t know you were going to.

For fans of: Silverstein, Senses Fail, Story of the Year

Saosin

The post-hardcore originators are back, and if there are already tears in your eyes, congrats, you’re emo. Saosin’s Translating the Name EP is genuinely one of the most influential post-hardcore releases of the 2000s, and the band’s catalogue across multiple eras has shaped pretty much everything that came after them in the screamo-adjacent world. ‘Seven Years’ still sounds genuinely massive when that chorus drops in a festival setting, and if you’ve never had the chance to scream “I’ve got nothing left to say” alongside several thousand other older emos who are absolutely about to lose it, this is your moment. A genuine bucket list set for anyone who came up in the post-hardcore scene.

For fans of: Circa Survive, Underoath, The Fall of Troy

PRESIDENT

Whoever this masked, mysterious, deeply unsettling collective actually is (and yes, we’ve all seen the Charlie Simpson theories), there’s no denying that PRESIDENT have pulled off one of the most successful band rollouts of the past decade. Their debut EP King of Terrors has racked up over 50 million streams, the masked frontman has become an aesthetic in his own right, and the Campaign Trail tour sold out the O2 Forum Kentish Town earlier this year like it was nothing. They also had a cracker of a headline slot at Takedown Festival the same season, which tells you everything you need to know about how seriously they’re being taken.

For fans of: Sleep Token, Bad Omens, Spiritbox

SiM

Japanese reggae-punk-metalcore icons SiM have been a quiet force in the global heavy music scene for years, but it was ‘The Rumbling’, their opening theme for the final season of Attack on Titan, that turned them into a genuine international phenomenon almost overnight. Anyone who caught them at festivals across Europe last summer knows exactly what to expect: frontman MAH commanding the stage with the kind of charisma you can’t fake, a band that effortlessly weaves between dub, hardcore, pop-punk and ska, and a setlist designed to make a festival crowd lose their collective minds. After catching them at Download last year, I can confirm this is one of the most fun heavy bands on the planet. Catching them at Slam Dunk feels like one of those moments you’ll talk about for years.

For fans of: Crystal Lake, Paledusk, MAN WITH A MISSION

Angel Du$t

If you’ve been paying any attention to the hardcore-punk crossover crowd over the past year, you’ll know Angel Du$t are arguably the most exciting band in that whole orbit right now. Their new album Cold 2 the Touch is their heaviest, weirdest, most fearless record yet, a relentless mash of hardcore, melody, saxophone, pop instincts and whatever-the-hell-Justice-feels-like, and somehow it all works. We had the chance to catch up with frontman Justice Tripp and guitarist Jim Carroll last summer outside All Ages Records in Camden, where they were busy setting up amps on the pavement for a no-stage, no-barrier, fully chaotic free show for whoever happened to be walking past. That moment summed up everything about this band: rule-breaking, kind of stupid, completely brilliant. Their first ever Slam Dunk appearance is one of the absolute must-sees of the weekend.

For fans of: Turnstile, Drug Church, Militarie Gun

Dying Wish

Portland’s Dying Wish have spent the last few years climbing the hardcore ladder at frankly terrifying speed, with vocalist Emma Boster delivering some of the most punishing vocals you’ll hear all weekend. Their second album Symptoms of Survival was a brutal, melodic, emotionally devastating record that built on everything they’d been doing previously, and live they bring an intensity that translates equally well to festival main stages and sweaty club shows. If you want a set that’s going to absolutely flatten you in the best way possible, this is your stop. They’ve earned every bit of buzz they’ve built, and Slam Dunk feels like one of those slots that locks them in as a future main stage band.

For fans of: Knocked Loose, Vein.fm, Jesus Piece

Heriot

British extreme metal’s most exciting export in years. Heriot have been building serious heat across the heavy music world with their cinematic, industrial-tinged, genuinely terrifying brand of metallic hardcore, and recent live performances have made it very clear they’re not going to be a club-level band for much longer. The band trade off scorched-earth vocal performances over walls of guitar noise and brutally precise drums, with the result being one of the most physically overwhelming live experiences in modern UK heavy music. Slam Dunk feels like the moment Heriot finally get the festival-sized platform that matches the size of their sound.

For fans of: Vein.fm, Loathe, Pupil Slicer

Pest Control

Leeds’ own crossover thrash hellraisers Pest Control have been steadily turning themselves into one of the most exciting hardcore-adjacent bands in the UK underground, and they’re playing on home turf when Slam Dunk hits Temple Newsam. If you want to see what a circle pit looks like when an entire crowd is having the time of their lives, get yourself to this set early. Bonus points if you can land a stage dive without taking a flying knee to the face.

For fans of: Power Trip, Higher Power, Speed

Guilt Trip

British heavyweight hardcore at its absolute filthiest. The UK mosh maestros have been a force on the European hardcore circuit for years now, and their slot at Slam Dunk feels like a moment where they finally get the spotlight they deserve in front of a much wider crowd. Expect huge breakdowns, even bigger pile-ons, and one of the most consistently destructive live shows in UK hardcore right now. The pit at this one is going to be a battleground, and if you’re going to throw yourself into it, just commit. Don’t half-mosh. The Guilt Trip pit can sense weakness.

For fans of: Malevolence, Kublai Khan TX, Knocked Loose

Call Me Amour

Isle of Man’s finest, no really. The four-piece have been quietly stacking the deck since their self-titled EP dropped in early 2025, a five-track blast of dark electronica, riff-heavy modern rock and choruses big enough to shake the foundations of every stage they touch. Frontman HR (formerly of Yashin) has the kind of voice that can pivot from feral scream to soaring melody in the same breath, and live, he spends more time in the crowd than on stage. We chatted to guitarist Geoff Murphy about the band’s “accidental growth” and their journey from a remote island in the Irish Sea to opening for Set It Off across the UK. With features from Scott Kennedy (Bleed From Within) and Mikey Chapman (Mallory Knox) on the EP, plus production from George Perks (Enter Shikari), this is a band with serious pedigree behind them and a serious year ahead.

For fans of: Bring Me The Horizon, Sleep Token, Don Broco