Friday Part 1 

Holding the inaugural event of this three day festival within the finery of Scarborough Spa is possibly the most unlikely of venues you could imagine, but was an absolute stroke of genius. The journey from West Yorkshire was fraught with weekend travellers all going to the East Coast for a break themselves creating a lot of gridlock on a slow laboured journey there. I’d always planned to get there as early as possible before the event started and luckily I did manage to check into the hotel early, which cost me an extra tenner, but worth it.

As the door time was pending I ventured out for the beautiful walk down to the venue as plenty of black clad metallers were milling about in the gorgeous sunshine of Friday afternoon. There was a slight delay in the doors opening which gave me an opportunity to buy a festival shirt, which promptly sold out the same day it looked like.

As the doors opened and I got into the venue I was greeted with a room far bigger than I expected and looked like a ballroom with a very wide audience area and fairly low stage and photo pit area. I’ve always found wider venues more accommodating than long ones because it means you can get close if needed even if the venue is full and this really did work for the festival. With tables scattered around the fringes it also meant you could chill out whilst watching bands all day if you managed to get a table each day, which I did thankfully.

My beer radar was blinking furiously so I got to the bar only to find there was no one serving, don’t they realise what metal fans are like! The queue of thirsty punters stretched for some distance but I eventually got a pint and found a table with my friends at the back to await black metal act Andracca to kick the festival off with their brand of Tolkien inspired extremity tempered by melodic surges.

For a change the first band got a decent sound and even if there was a lack of power within it the band put on a fine display airing a new song that is apparently going to appear on their forthcoming new album due later this year which I think was called ‘Antithesis of Hope’.

The tune was the best in their set, its ululating melodies balanced by black metal causticity replete with a wintry bleakness in the toning to great effect even though the venue was bloody warm.

With a good start to the day Hungarian Andartar followed but were ten minutes late that was only marginally clawed back as the day went forward.

I particularly enjoyed this band, so much so I bought both their CDs they had for sale at great prices, the corpse painted ghouls epitomised the old school black metal ethos, stripped riffing set against a blurring nihilistic assault captured perfectly on songs such ‘Stigma of Slavery’ and ‘Human Infection’.

I’ll admit that at first I was a little nonplussed with their music but that was soon changed as they progressed plus I really do not like it when a band starts later than their scheduled time due to the knock on effect it has on other bands.

That being said the band was a triumph, clearly seen by the number of people waiting at their merch table when they had finished.

With a welcome breather my shooter got us both a beer from the bar downstairs where the bar person said he didn’t think the ceiling was going to survive this weekend. Black thrash terror exponents Devastator were up next, a band I’ve seen a few times now as the corpse painted demons appeared on stage.

However something wasn’t quite right as the opening tune seemed to linger as an intro before eventually smashing into the crowd with new tune ‘Liar In Wait’ and following it with ‘Worship the Goat’. Another new tune was aired and dedicated to the speed metal maniacs called ‘Death Forever’ and indeed was true 80s speed metal homage, glistening with violence but super melodic.

With some chat about their first time in Scarborough and that it is a lovely town they crashed into ‘Howling Night’ and ‘Baptised In Blasphemy’ before concluding with a fine rancid rendition of ‘Iron Fist’. Whilst possibly not the most blistering show I’ve seen by Devastator they clearly gained a new horde of fans here and I for one am looking forward to a new album which hopefully will appear soon, as the vocalist said it will… honestly.

Atmospheric black metallers The Sun’s Journey Through The Night were a new proposition for me as the preview listen I gave the band before coming to the festival did no justice to the stunning musicality that eschewed during their performance.

They played their set garbed up as the vocalist looked like the Night King from Game Of Thrones to me, the visual spectacle matched the sonic output superbly as they teemed their tracks onto the crowd, blanketing us in superb musicianship and staggeringly good atmospherics.

Balancing the outright black metal ferocity with more ambient like segments was seamless crafting a magisterial malevolence that permeated every track they played. Their set listened like one composition with very little interaction, instead focusing on the aura their music created.

Critically I thought the drum sound was rather tepid but in the scheme of their inherently grandiose set was a minor point as I scurried off to buy some stuff of theirs only to find that they hadn’t brought any… bugger.

Before I settled to watch the black metal wrath of Wode I saw that Havukruunu had brought some merch to buy and like the proverbial rocking horse shit I bought their latest EP before it sold out as I expected it would.

With vinyl in bag Wode came on stage with unceremonious nonchalance but once they kicked off the ensuing terror that rained down on songs like ‘Serpents Coil’ and ‘Sulphuric Glow’ (I am so glad they spell sulphuric with a ph and not f as is now expected, it just looks better that way).

Whilst generally Wode lay waste to any venue I’ve seen them play, they tempered their set with slower phases as the awesome ‘Celestial Dagger’ with its complete Bathory like riff sliced into the crowd. Now I think they played a new tune as I didn’t recognise it before closing with ‘Lunar Madness’, cutting the audience to shreds with its embittered riffing and soulless potency.

My shooter and his wife decided to go for a wander to take some scenic shots of the Scarborough high tide lapping at the walls just outside the Spa as I remained to guard our seats like I was at the Battle Of Helm’s Deep such was their coveted appeal.

Having seen Finnish pagan black metallers Havukruunu at Atmosfest in 2019 I was very much looking forward to the band because they absolutely floored me back then. As expected their immense epic structuring was blended with sublime a triple vocal styling that permeated the now sizeable crowd that had gathered.

They were utterly devastating balancing outright black metal rage with more atmospheric and even folk like elements to craft a set of scintillating brilliance. Opening with ‘Uinuos Syömein Sota’ the band had this way of brutalising you yet also caress you with their eloquent extremity.

Songs were hurled out as ‘Kuu Erkylän Yllä’ from the band’s latest EP produced an intense epic thrust that immersed you in a world of malignancy. As waves of intensity emanated from every song they played so did the adulation as their blazing riffage drew more and more people from outside, probably via people texting saying get your arse in here because this lot are awesome, which they were from start to finish.

Stunning performance and a highlight of the entire weekend.

Swiss act Cân Bardd were hotly anticipated as it marked their debut UK performance and as the crowd came in from the dusk a nervous air was felt before they started up. No one was disappointed however as the band exemplified how atmospheric folk metal should be played by smothering the audience with sublimity as I thought having this band following Havukruunu was a stroke of genius like the venue choice.

At times I felt their music was similar to Austrian act Anomalie due to post-black tendrils threading through their songs but overall they were firmly within atmospheric black metal similar to Sojourner, Summoning etc.

Noticeably I felt their sound was embellished with a fair amount of backing track as I couldn’t see much on stage but be that as it may the band was exceptionally emotive, their songs soaking the crowd in wonderful atmospherics as I went off to buy some of their merch along with Saor, which was a good decision because the queue at Cân Bardd’s merch table after they finished snaked down the venue somewhat.

I’ve seen Scotland’s Saor only a couple of times prior to this headlining slot on Friday and was really looking forward to seeing them again. Having this band close Friday night after the previous two acts was equally a masterstroke because the way the evening blended into one cohesive soundscape captured everything that makes black metal and especially atmospheric black metal so captivating as the band kicked off with ‘Origins’ from their latest immense opus.

With only six songs on the set list each was given time to wrap itself around the crowd and completely hypnotise. As their opener got underway it seemed the security wasn’t happy with some drunken punter who they ejected from the venue, though when he tried to get back in with them chasing him into venue it was very comedic.

I have to give special mention to Ella Zlotos who’s flawless flute playing was sublime when counterpointed with the cleaner vocal elements embedded in the set. It also made a change that the band was afforded some blue light instead of what seemed like the constant red or orange the other bands had, that made it very difficult to take photos I’m sure.

All the subtleties of their songs were beautifully blended as they went back to ‘Carved In Stone’ and indeed the band played a track from each of the releases in the discography. By now my energy levels were bottoming out as they aired ‘Bròn’ and ‘Children Of The Mist’ but you couldn’t help but be drawn into their epic mastery.

As they started playing ‘Tears Of A Nation’ I decided to head off into the calm cloudless night and enjoy the exquisite night view of an illuminated Scarborough.

Review: Martin Harris

Photos: Andy Pountney (@shot_in_the_dark_photography2)

Part 2