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)”

The Great Old Ones – Kadath (Review)

The Great Old Ones - KadathThe Great Old Ones are a French black metal band and this is their fifth album.

It’s been six long years since 2019’s Cosmicism, but we finally have some new material from The Great Old Ones. I thoroughly enjoy their work, (also check out 2014’s Tekeli-li and 2017’s EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy), so greedily consuming Kadath as soon as I could was always going to happen. Continue reading “The Great Old Ones – Kadath (Review)”

Iravu – A Fate Worse Than Home (Review)

Iravu - A Fate Worse Than HomeThis is the debut album from Malaysian one-man black metal band Iravu.

A Fate Worse Than Home contains 34 minutes of expressive, cosmic black metal. Mixing the atmospheric, ambient, and progressive styles into an engaging whole, the artist behind Iravu has crafted something quite special here. Continue reading “Iravu – A Fate Worse Than Home (Review)”

The Great Old Ones – Cosmicism (Review)

The Great Old Ones - CosmicismThe Great Old Ones are a black metal band from France and this is their fourth album.

Any fan of atmospheric/post-black metal would be advised to check out Tekeli-li, and EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy. Both are great examples of quality blackened journeys crafted by a band that know their art well. On Cosmicism the band have spread their wings further, while also staying true to what makes them such an engaging act. Continue reading “The Great Old Ones – Cosmicism (Review)”

Obscure Devotion – Ubi Certa Pax Est (Review)

Obscure DevotionThis is the third album from Italian black metal band Obscure Devotion.

Obscure Devotion play sophisticated occult black metal with a mature, yet still fiery approach to extreme music. Continue reading “Obscure Devotion – Ubi Certa Pax Est (Review)”