Fortress Festival 2025 – Scarborough Spa, Scarborough, 31/05/25-01/06/24 (Live Review)

Fortress Festival 2025 - Scarborough Spa, Scarborough

I’m so happy to be back at one of the world’s best black metal festivals. I love it here at Fortress Festival, and I can’t wait to work through such a great lineup again. If you haven’t been here before, make sure you don’t miss the 2026 edition.

Last year’s Fortress was excellent. I saw every band available, with the exception of a mere few when I needed to find food, essentially. This year I’m going to try an adopt a more sensible approach, (at least from one perspective), and not kill myself trying to catch everything again. Having said that, I’ll still be trying to watch as many bands as I realistically can, while factoring in food, downtime, circumstances, etc. This year’s lineup is so good though, that every band is worth seeing, and in an ideal world I’d do just that. Regardless, we’ll see how we get on. And also, there are some bands playing this weekend that are just absolutely mandatory.

Before we get into it – as was the case last year, I have once again been blessed to be able to use the stunning photographs from the very talented Aleksandra Hogg, (which is why they are far, far, far superior to the photos I normally take when left to my own devices). I urge you to check out her work at Acidolka here, here, or here. Continue reading “Fortress Festival 2025 – Scarborough Spa, Scarborough, 31/05/25-01/06/24 (Live Review)”

Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire (Review)

Spectral Wound - Songs of Blood and MireThis is the fourth album from Canadian black metallers Spectral Wound.

Songs of Blood and Mire boasts 44 minutes of lethal black metal. Stylistically we’re talking a mixture of the Norwegian, Finnish, and Canadian scenes, so if you’re a fan of bands such as Behexen, Forteresse, Gorgoroth, Sargeist, Tsjuder, etc., then this is for you. Continue reading “Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire (Review)”

Conifère – L’Imp​ô​t du Sang (Review)

Conifère - L'Imp​ô​t du SangThis is the debut album from Canadian black metallers Conifère.

L’Imp​ô​t du Sang offers up 31 minutes of old-school black metal. Conifère’s music takes the tried-and-tested classic formula and runs with it, producing a corker of an album that sounds far more vibrant and engaging than many that play the style. Continue reading “Conifère – L’Imp​ô​t du Sang (Review)”