The quiet hum of the earth’s dreaming is my new song.
Welcome to our Fortress Festival 2024 preview article. The event takes place on the 1st and 2nd of June in sunny Scarborough and celebrates the most nocturnal music of all: black metal. Be it traditional, atmospheric, progressive, experimental, or just an influence, each attending band finds a way to bring black metal into their sound, making for a coheorent line-up and a focused, yet expansive festival. View the complete line-up below, grab one of the remaining tickets, and continue reading for our preview of the event.
Saturday 1 June 2024 Line-Up:
Triptykon 2024 UK exclusive
Panopticon ‘Roads to the North’ anniversary full album set 2024 UK exclusive
Der Weg Einer Freiheit 2024 UK exclusive
Ultha 2024 UK exclusive
Obsidian Kingdom ‘Mantiis’ full album set 2024 UK exclusive
Lamp of Murmuur 2024 UK exclusive
Falls of Rauros 2024 UK exclusive/debut
Regarde Les Hommes Tomber 2024 UK exclusive
Dödsrit 2024 UK exclusive
Fellwarden worldwide live debut, 2024 UK exclusive
Waldgeflüster 2024 UK exclusive
Sunken
Andracca
Sunday 2 June 2024 Line-Up:
Wolves in the Throne Room 2024 UK exclusive ‘Two Hunters’ live in its entirety
Blackbraid 2024 UK exclusive/debut
Gaerea
Vemod 2024 UK exclusive
Furia 2024 UK exclusive
Misþyrming 2024 UK exclusive
Fluisteraars 2024 UK exclusive/debut
Thy Light 2024 UK exclusive
Mortiferum
Abyssal
Blood Countess
Ante-Inferno
Domhain
It would be impossible to get to know the full line-up for a larger festival. A (currently) twenty four-band festival like Fortress is an opportunity to get a flavour for every act. If you’re interested or attending the festival, you probably don’t need an introduction to, say, Panopticon or Wolves In The Throne Room. Thus, this article is dedicated to a selection of the lesser known bands playing in the earlier hours of the festival (or at least, those that were new to me). In keeping with our focus on new music, each overview is focused on the artist’s most recent release, for those who appreciate a text guide to supplement their musical explorations ahead of the event.
Sunken
Livslede – LP, Vendetta Records, 2020
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Livslede is full of soaring and epic black metal segments that are doused in sorrow. It’s a lean LP: an ambient opening into four long tracks that all have natural pacing and distinct character. “Ensomhed” is everything you want from a depressive black metal epic, from its grand opening to the choir-backed outro. “Foragt” proves this quality was no fluke, and its ending steps towards prog without losing the emotion. Providing a breather and outlet for their post rock influence, “Delerium” is a slow build back up to full volume. Closer “Dødslængsel” finishes the record at full power, and I love its much deserved clean guitar ‘drone-out’ ending. Livslede demonstrates that the less well known artists attending Furnace Festival have been carefully chosen.
Waldgefluster
Unter bronzenen Kronen – EP, AOP Records, 2023
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Winterherz has incredible experience as a black metal frontman, and Unter bronzenen Kronen celebrates ten years of Waldgefluster as a full band. Although only the title track is a truly new song, it’s fantastic – a tribute to autumn’s golden with its upbeat riffage and endearing choirs. Winterherz’s vocals feel enthralling, yet up-close, allowing you to relish the detail of his most desperate yowls. “Herbst Befiel das Land” isn’t just a re-record of the original from Waldgefluster’s debut, it restructures the track to reveal how the band has matured over their many years. Two tracks are covers: “The Pit” is an easy choice that is close to home (Panopticon), but the real curveball is “Black Flies”, originally by singer-songwriter Ben Howard. The simple framework of the original doesn’t give the band much space to innovate, but it’s great to see the band indulge their passions even if most black metalheads would turn their nose.
Fellwarden
Wreathed in Mourncloud – LP, Eisenwald, 2020
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Wreathed in Mourncloud was put out by Eisenwald records, a real mark of quality in these waters (Uada, Ildjarn, Afsky, and Velnias are some highly respectable label-mates, not to mention Falls of Rauros and Fluisteraars who are also playing the fest). Fellwarden uses the classic hallmarks of black metal to make something optimistic on opener “Pathmaker“. Throughout the record, the mood is pushed towards epic heights through a generous wash of guitars, and soft, distant choirs between rasped whispers. Dungeon synth ditty “A Premonition” pulls us into the high fantasy aesthetic, whilst respecting northern England’s natural majesty with “Scafell’s Blight”. Typically such a one-man project is not expected to perform live, as listeners gladly embrace that ‘otherworldly studio’ sound, but Fortress Festival changes that for Fellwarden with what could be their only ever live outing.
Obsidian Kingdom
Mantiis – LP, Season of Mist, 2012
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It’s not their most recent, but the most relevant to Fortress Festival, as Obsidian Kingdom plan to play Mantiis in full. It’s a hard album to pin down. In fact, it refuses to stay in one place for more than half a song. It’s perhaps most relatably described as a prog album, without the many possible neo or revival prog hindrances – think Sylvan, Riverside, or Pain of Salvation. It’s got plenty of dynamics, from fully blackened tracks (“Cinnamon Balls”), vocal interludes (“Fingers in Anguish”), blusey sax excursions (“Last of the Light”), and melodic heights (“Answers Revealing“). All of its tracks run together seamlessly in a technical and songwriting triumph. My favourite run is “The Nurse” through “Answers Revealing“, a trio of songs that share themes in sublime exchanges. Their set promises to be a palette cleanser of fresh sounds, at the very least.
Blood Countess
Occulta Tenebris – LP, Repose Records, 2021
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One of the most “traditional” acts of Fortress Festival, Blood Countess are proper old-school black metal made for fans of the original Norwegian wave. Occulta Tenebris lets nothing get in the way of its unholy riffs and classic beat patterns. It doesn’t carry the same expansive atmosphere as many of the other records mentioned here which should set them apart, transfixed on morbid history and dungeon aesthetics. The singer brandishes twisted vocals that delight in ugly rasps and sadistic lyrics. They’ve played all sorts of UK shows including Cosmic Void 2023, so they’ll have no problem getting things at Fortress Festival started on the Saturday.
Abyssal
Sepulchorporeal – EP (split with Ellorsith), Dark Descent Records, 2023
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Abyssal were well ahead of their time back when they dropped Antikatastaseis, a record that arguably helped launch modern interest in dissonant metal. Their recent output has been on split releases, the first being a twenty four minute epic on Split with the celebrated Tchornobog, and two mercifully shorter songs on Sepulchorporeal last year with the lesser known Ellorsith. “Sepulchorporeal (Ipatiev I)” is an agonal journey through abstract riff writing and panic chords, though the streak of dissonance is broken during the doom-like mid section and the almost melodic ending. The even doomier “Oneirodynia (Ipatiev II)” shows Abyssal are happy to bury their most technical flourishes under horrific reverb, not to mention the vocals which seem to bark from the void. They choose their live appearances very carefully meaning their appearance at Fortress Festival cannot be missed.
Mortiferum
Preserved in Torment – LP, Profound Lore, 2021
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Although technically an odd-one-out, Mortiferum are the perfect death metal band to sneak onto Fortress Festival’s line-up. Alongside bands like Hyperdontia, Cerebral Rot, and Chthe’ilist, Mortiferum define modern ‘cavernous’ death metal. They unite the unpredictable nature and stellar riffs of death metal with atmospheric indulgence. Preserved in Torment opts for particularly formless production, developing an urgent yet tragic quality. The opener “Eternal Procession” is a shining example, closing out with tragic lead guitar wailing towards an abyss of reverb. Blast beats and dive-bombing solos on “Incubus of Bloodstained Visions” and “Exhumed from Mortal Spheres” should be enough to convince any remaining sceptics.
Ante-Inferno
Antediluvian Dreamscapes – LP, Vendetta Records, 2022
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Ante-Inferno are taking a break from the studio to return to their local festival, promising a fresh performance. It’s easy to see why 2022’s Antediluvian Dreamscapes has gained traction: a neat forty minute mix of atmospheric and melodic black metal. Each track is distinct, with immediately memorable songs despite their progressive tendencies. My choice for the pivotal track is “Two Score and Ten Souls”, an epic excursion that opens side two. An enthralling, slow introduction eventually begets classic blast beats its mid section, bringing that yearning sensation you’ll have felt in the music of genre greats Wolves in the Throne Room. What would usually be a straightforward ending instead arranges itself into a dramatic slowdown. Antediluvian Dreamscapes‘ mature songwriting makes me very excited for what they’re currently refining in the studio.
Andracca
To Bare the Weight of Death – LP, Vendetta Records, 2024
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Andracca started off their project with their lo-fi debut Morgulduin, defining their raw and back-to-basics approach to black metal. To Bare the Weight of Death steps up the production without losing that ferocity: it’s enhanced and crystallised by a classic mix of blast beats, relentless tremolo picking, and foul screams. A plethora of extended, elegant solos decorate the record, such as “Antithesis of Hope” which absolutely goes for it in a way I haven’t heard in eons, plus the opening of “Rise, or be Forever Fall’n” where the band full dons the ‘atmospheric’ mantle. To Bare the Weight of Death has dropped at an ideal time to position Andracca as the UK’s answer to Spectral Wound.