It’s the inaugural Tynebound, brought to us by the lovely Reaper Agency. It’s a sister festival of this year’s Reaper Festival, and if it’s even half as good as that was, this weekend will be a smashing success. With a great lineup over both days, it’s time to embrace the northern darkness.

Saturday

Magnetar

In 2024 Magnetar released the very strong There Will Be No Peace in My Valley, which was a real grower of a record. Now, they are opening Tynebound with their first ever live performance.

Magnetar’s blackened assault is full of rasped vocals, thrashy rhythms, and galloping riffs. At turns blistering and epic, the music hits the spot. The band give a solid performance and the sizeable early crowd show their ample approval.

They play a new song too – Gates of the North – which embraces Magnetar’s heavy metal heart, and is laced with a delicious Iron Maiden flavour. It promises there are more good things from Magnetar to come.

The Sun’s Journey Through the Night

It’s been a while, The Sun’s Journey Through the Night. 2024, in fact. The band are now back, with a refreshed lineup, and ready to darken the world once more with their contemporary take on black metal.

The band give it their all on stage, particularly their horned singer. They switch between aggressive intensity and ambient spaciousness, existing between these two states as comfortably as they are at either extreme end of the scale. The songs mix old and new, blurring atmospheric dynamics with an impassioned stage presence. The entire set is captivating.

What a performance. This has been a most welcome return to the live arena by The Sun’s Journey Through the Night.

Lychgate

If an avant-garde hybrid of doom, black, and death metal is your kind of thing, then surely you’ll be looking forward to Lychgate.

Theirs is an esoteric onslaught of mood and texture. What Lychgate’s complex sound loses in nuance to the vagaries of the live mix it gains in sheer power. It’s an imposing proposition, but Lychgate make their case convincingly.

The Infernal Sea

Now shorn of masks and other attire, they’re instead attired in matching hooded tops, (apart from the drummer, who is wearing an Incantation top). The Infernal Sea are moving forward, while looking backwards. Yes, this evening they are unleashing the whole of 2016’s The Great Mortality. It’s a very strong record, and today’s rendition of it does it justice.

The band spend most of the set wreathed in dry ice, and their performance is a sterling one. They move from song to song with skilled ease. The singer of Burial/Foetal Juice/Wolfbastard joins them for Pestmeester, which is great. The substantial The Bearer is a definite highlight, as is the groove-heavy Plague Herald. Each one is rendered better than the last, (as the sound seems to just keep improving), culminating in the non-record closer Into the Unknown, which ends things on a high.

A winning set from The Infernal Sea.

Vespéral

Vespéral put on such a standout performance earlier in the year at Fortress, so the chance to catch them live again could not be missed.

Starting a little late, presumably due to The Infernal Sea overrunning slightly, Vespéral are instantly arresting. They bring an infectious energy to their performance, which can’t be faulted. It’s magnetic. The music comes across clear and three-dimensional, enriched by the committed presence of the band members. This is especially true of their vocalist, who can’t help but be Vespėral’s focal point as he howls, screams, and sings his way across the stage.

Vespéral go down a storm with the enthusiastic crowd. But how could they not? Once again, the Vespéral live show is a massively enjoyable one.

Aristarchos

Aristarchos are a band that always deliver the goods, whether on record or live.

The arcane Aristarchos presence is a compelling one. The band’s material is reproduced remarkably flawlessly live, which lends it a potency that’s hard to ignore.

With Aristarchos, it’s the melodies. They get you every time. Of course, it’s not only the melodies that the band excel at, but there is something special about the spectral colours that Aristarchos paint with. Replete with hoods and either cloaks or robes, the band create an atmospheric black metal portrait that’s majestic.

Inferno

The new Inferno record – The Anthropic Sophisms (On the Heights of Despair) – is a keeper. Tonight, the band are unveiling its live premiere.

On stage Inferno project an eerie, otherworldly air. Identities hidden by hoods, veils, masks, and a stage show that’s understated, but effective, the band are more like apparitions from the void than actual humans. Inferno have bled into this world from somewhere else entirely.

Musically, it doesn’t get much more inscrutable than this and still retain a coherent shape. Inferno are masters of their dark art, and as Tynebound say one headliners they bend, break, and shape reality to meet their needs. It’s a delicious, esoteric, and singular experience. The atmospheres crafted by this performance run deep. It’s non-standard black metal, delivered by a band who know exactly how to set the right tone.

Inferno conjure into being an occult ritual of shrouded meaning, immersive in its immensity, and evocative in its warped splendour. It’s insideously hypnotic and felt as much as heard. Inferno adorn Tynebound’s first day like a jeweled crown of multidimensional provenance, of madness given form.

Impeccable. Utterly spellbinding.

Sunday

Oakenthrone

This new band may be unfamiliar to many, but it quickly becomes clear that Oakenthrone are the real deal. They reveal themselves to be purveyors of capable atmospheric black metal, with emotive melody and fierce aggression that has been tempered well.

Unlike many atmosphere-focused bands, Oakenthrone attack their material with passion, and are visibly loving what they do. The band don’t hold back. They’re only on stage for half an hour, but they make the most of it. The crowd responds positively to them.

Before you know it, it’s over. A new star arises in the UK scene. With an upcoming debut album that’s set to appear in the not too distant future, today’s performance bodes very well for the future of Oakenthrone.

Impressive.

Vacivus

Vacivus bring a heavier, death metal approach to Tynebound, delivering songs that crush and maim. They sound savage, and the deep death growls of the singer are monstrous. It’s a welcome change of pace for Tynebound, yet still fits surprisingly neatly alongside everything else.

Vacivus are ferocious. The band play with feral aggression; the singer in particular displays a brutal intensity that draws the eye constantly. This is death metal that devastates the venue, and there’s little but wreckage remaining after the band are done with it. Vacivus are demolishers, and they know their job well.

They pump out the songs at a punishing rate. Playing a range of material, from their early demo to a brand new cut, Vacivus make a strong statement with their show.

A barbaric display of death metal might.

Cnoc an Tursa

This year’s A Cry for the Slain is an extremely enjoyable record, making this a performance that promises much. Cnoc an Tursa have the atmosphere, but they also have the songs, and hooks as sharp as ornate knives. Relatively speaking, they’re probably the most accessible band on the bill, with big riffs and choruses that stick.

The kilt-sporting band enter the stage to Queen’s Princes of the Universe. It’s a bold move, but somehow works. Cnoc an Tursa get the heart racing and the blood pumping. The melodies ring out bright and clear, epic and stirring in equal measure. The audience clearly like what they’re hearing, and it’s a solid outing from Cnoc an Tursa.

Blood Countess

Having only just about recovered from the last Blood Countess live outing at February’s Reaper Festival, we now go again. Bloodthirsty and violent, this is black metal at its most lethal.

Seeing Blood Countess live is like receiving a shotgun blast of ice shards right to the face. Only, instead of being grievously injured or killed, it’s invigorating. The band exist to rend and tear flesh, conducting a tithe of blood from anyone in front of them, with a murderous hostility that the crowd are only too eager to be a part of. Blood Countess have blackened atmosphere in their arsenal too, but mostly they just break out the blades and start cutting until they hit bone.

Go and listen to Imperatrix Sanguinis, and the next time you get a chance to witness their live domination, embrace the Hellfury with Blood Countess.

Coscradh

Coscradh made a good impression at 2023’s Reaper Festival, and since then they’ve released the formidable Carving the Causeway to the Otherworld too. Expectations of sonic annihilation abound, which tonight Coscradh deliver upon. They start late, but when they do, it’s worth the wait.

The band are animated by an internal fury, driven to extinguish the light via the medium of a black/death metal performance that they treat like it’s their very last. The songs are brutal. Coscradh offer up a juggernaut of blistering mayhem for the crowd to endure. Slower moments provide the occasional burst of claustrophobic breathing room, but mostly it’s a high-octane mixture of extremity and chaos. The music is not without finesse, but it is without mercy.

Coscradh put on a convincing display of malevolent belligerence.

Conifère

Sharing members with the inimitable Vespéral, Conifère are another in-demand act playing Tynebound, and the audience are here for them. The band give a spirited performance. Their enthusiasm is palpable, and completely infectious. The venue is electrified by their show, it’s a non-stop barrage of high energy songs that just won’t take no for an answer. Conifère seem made for the live environment.

Merging atmosphere, hooks, and dancefloor-friendly songwriting, Conifère immediately get the crowd moving. And it doesn’t fully stop until the band leave the stage, triumphant.

It’s a tour de force expression of richly characterful black metal.

Moonlight Sorcery

It would be hard for many bands to follow Conifère, but thankfully that’s not an issue here, as the final headliners of Tynebound are the wonderful Moonlight Sorcery. This is a band designed to hit many of the same energetic highs as Conifère, only via some different mechanisms, including a much more guitar-forward approach.

After their performance at 2025’s Fortress, the return of this act to the UK is most welcome, but tonight they take things to another level. Moonlight Sorcery’s brand of melodic black metal is infectious and energetically charged, which transfers to their live show to great effect.

The Moonlight Sorcery live experience boasts a remarkable display of dynamic guitar wizardry, wrapped up in blackened steel. It’s a virtuoso feast of blazing solos and molten leads. Alongside this though, it has a blackened weight that’s dark and furious. Midnight Sorcery balance a few different compass points musically, which translates live as an effective combination of extremity and accessibility.

They lean hard into Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle, as they should, as it’s a fantastic record, but don’t neglect their older material entirely. With quality songs and so many catchy moments Moonlight Sorcery are set up to succeed, and they do so with easy aplomb. They have the crowd eating of of their collective palm.

Moonlight Sorcery bring an end to Tynebound in a storm of serrated blasting and fiery hooks, with atmospheric layers never too far away. By the end of it, it’s hard to wipe the smile off your face. It’s cold Northern darkness, but with a feel good factor. It all results in a show that’s impressive and hugely enjoyable.

Fist-pumping, chest-pounding excellence.

Roll on next year!