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2026 Fire In The Mountains – Part Four
2026 Fire in the Mountains – Sunday
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday can be found here.
Sleeping was once again difficult after Saturday, as strong winds continued until sometime in the morning hours. Sunday morning I went to charge my camera battery for the final day, only to find that the Media Tent had blown away! Fortunately, my charger was still there, and I hadn’t left anything else very valuable there (like my laptop).
I headed to Lower Two Medicine Lake for my morning dunk. The place was deserted except for the members of Sigh and their families. I said おはようございます before wandering over to the somber “Embers that Remain” session dealing with suicide loss. My tears of sadness turned into tears of laughter in the next session.
Hilarious Robert Hall led “Riffs as Ritual”, which featured Mike Scheidt of YOB, Joe Strong-Truscelli of Wayfarer, and Gina Gleason of Baroness. The first thing Hall had them do was an “air-guitar” competition in which Hall provided the riffs through his microphone. During Mike’s air-guitar performance, a gust of wind caused a bunch of feedback. Hall expertly noted that “Only Mike Scheidt could generate feedback in an air-guitar battle.” If you are familiar with YOB, you’ll understand how funny that is.
“Making the Noise Visible”, with John Baizley of Baroness, was going to be my last workshop of the festival, but somehow I forgot to attend. So, instead, “Warriors and Outsiders” rounded out my non-music agenda at Fire in the Mountains.
This panel consisted of Dave Bland of Full of Hell, Nate Newton of Old Man Gloom and Converge, Curtis Running Rabbit of Signatory, and Joey Running Crane of Ponoka with Steve Von Till moderating.
The first band on the final day was Phobophilic from Fargo, North Dakota.
The touching and heartfelt speech just before mentioning that the next song was called “Nauseating Despair” showed some true metal spirit.
Before Galvanist hit the stage, some of the stage security jumped into the front row of the audience. I was thinking, WTF?
An unprecedented event then unfolded with about a dozen security personnel starting the circle pit! Pretty funny.
Tanner Erhart of Galvanist
Sumerlands did a short set, not sure why.
Dreadnaught went on a west-coast tour with Sigh after their Fire in the Mountains appearance on the same day.
SubRosa reunited for this festival. I was hoping to get a t-shirt, but they sold out quickly. The SubRosa performance was powerful. I would love to hear new material from them or from The Keening. SubRosa will be playing at least one more show, in January 2027 at The Stanley Hotel in Colorado.
During the last song of their set, “The Usher”, a marriage proposal happened in the audience.
“All of my life I've been waiting for you
With open arms, I'll come running towards you” – SubRosa “The Usher”
I’ve seen SUMAC a few times, Converge once, and Mamiffer with Aaron Turner as well. Old Man Gloom was a first, though, as they don’t tour much and have never played near my abode.
After loads of regular crowd surfing, a bale of hay tried to surf its way up to the stage. Another first. I saw Gutalax have crowd surfing porta-potties at the 2019 Brutal Assault Festival, but that was more planned. The hay bale was quite spontaneous.
With the festival coming to a close, I needed to get a shot of the last sunset and the double-stage layout. The small stage is in the foreground. The main stage has the crowd as they prepare for Borknagar.
I was really looking forward to Borknagar, as I’ve been a fan for a long time but never seen them live. Unfortunately, I was tired, my back was killing me, and I was even more interested in seeing Sigh and the final act, so I ended up sitting and resting for most of the Borknagar set. Despite this, “Up North” is what stuck in my head as I tried to sleep later.
Sigh is another band that I’ve been into forever but had not previously experienced live. They brought the families out on stage, which was cute and at times hilarious.
The scene went along perfectly with songs like 殺意~夏視のあと.
Last but not least, the band with the most-difficult-to-Google name, “I”. Hence, they went with “Between Two Worlds” instead to perform their only album live for just the second time ever and first time in 20 years.
I bought that album when it came out and listened to it quite a bit for a few years. I never expected to see it performed live, so this set was a blast. I’ve now seen Abbath live with Immortal, Abbath, Bombers Bergen, and I. Maybe Old Funeral will reunite and play next year?
And with that, the festival was over, and real life began again. We did some hiking in Glacier National Park after Fire in the Mountains, but the smoke put a damper on those adventures.
For more photos from Glacier National Park, click here. More coming soon.
2026 Fire In The Mountains – Part Three
2026 Fire in the Mountains – Saturday
Thursday and Friday can be found here.
Fierce winds on Friday night and early Saturday morning blew most of the smoke away. Yeah! Unfortunately, extreme winds later Saturday gusted the smoke right back in. Booo!
This was the clearest view we ever had at Lower Two Medicine Lake.
My nostrils, and lungs, took a beating at this festival. Between the smoke, dust from the wind, and dirt being kicked up in the mosh pits, it wasn’t easy to breathe. If you attend Fire in the Mountains in the future, be sure to bring a mask, or at the very least a bandana to filter the air a bit. The few bands that brought headwraps to sell as merch sold out of them immediately.
Ravon Chacon & Iggor Cavalera’s postponed set from Friday was first up on Saturday. The last time I saw Iggor live was 1989!
Too hot to watch their whole set, I headed back to the lake, where my son taught me a trick he learned on Friday. If you went all the way into Lower Two Medicine Lake, you would stay cool for about a half hour. But if you simply put your shirt completely under water and then put it back on, you could stay cool for almost two hours! That was my go-to solution for the heat for the rest of the festival.
The water was cold. Yes. But as one guy who went under near me screamed one morning, “Better than coffee!!!”
There is a lack of shade at the stages (and GA camping has no shade). With the high winds, I doubt a solution will emerge to this problem in future years. The wet t-shirt solution worked very well though.
While we are on the topic of what to bring and too much sun, you’ll be told to wear sunscreen and drink lots of water. No surprise there. I wore my sunscreen, so my skin did not burn. However, I received my first-ever sunburn on my lips at Fire in the Mountains. Not pretty and kind of painful. On Sunday and Monday, my lips were actually bleeding. My advice is to not stop at sunscreen for your skin. Also apply lip balm with SPF. Lesson learned.
Let’s blast through some photos of subsequent bands in order of appearance.
Savage Oath singer Brendan Radigan was also in Sumerlands on Sunday. I first saw him live in Pagan Altar about a decade ago.
Nocturne
Although The Ruins of Beverast is a one-man project in the studio, for live performances, several hired guns are needed. I’ve seen Job Bos, the keyboardist, play live before for In the Woods…, Satyricon, and Dordeduh.
Alexander von Meilenwald is not only an amazing musician, but I was surprised by the variety of vocals he was able to achieve. Huge talent.
View the photo above on a big screen to get a sense of the persistent dust issue.
Tarantella
My ninth time seeing YOB.
The circular headbanging in the pit during “Adrift in the Ocean” went perfectly with that song. I challenge moshers everywhere to recreate that experience at future YOB shows.
Gallowbraid
Smoke sucks for breathing, but it can make for some unusual sunsets.
Enslaved’s set was one of my favorites of the festival. In addition to playing songs off of eight different albums, they did a couple of special things.
The first was having Steve Von Till of Neurosis provide spoken word over Enslaved’s “Heimdal”. Very moving.
A couple of songs later, Kevin Kicking Woman from Blackfeet Nation joined Enslaved for the song written for Fire in the Mountains, “Spirit Helper”. Chills galore.
Full of Hell headlined the small stage on Saturday. Another suggestion for future Fire in the Mountains is to have a larger second stage and improve the lighting. Bands seemed cramped up there—especially Sigh on Sunday night, and the constant red lighting was meh.
Charlie Speicher and Robert Hall of the Firekeeper Alliance presented Steve Von Till and Neurosis with a decorated bison skull before the Neurosis set.
The Neurosis set, oh the Neurosis set! Talking about and seeing videos of it, don’t come remotely close to doing the live experience justice. My photos are crap compared to what it looked like in person.
Neurosis live has gone through multiple eras. The constants are that they don’t talk to the audience during their set and they never do encores. Those things didn’t change. The lighting, though, was really different than prior tours.
The visual effects and performance of “We Are Torn Wide Open”, for instance, was like nothing I have ever experienced before. The rest of the set was also incredibly impactful.
They played most of the new album (An Undying Love for a Burning World), one of my favorites--“The Tide”, and a couple off of Times of Grace. Beautiful perfection.
As if that wasn’t a marvelous enough day, Amigo the Devil treated us to a campfire singalong to finish up the night/early morning. “Hell and You” has been stuck in my head ever since.
2026 Fire In The Mountains – Part Two
Our Friday edition will include a bit on the food available at the 2026 Fire in the Mountains Festival. We brought a cooler full of food, thinking our primary source of nourishment would come at our campsite. We ended up bringing most of it home, as we spent very little time at our campsite. More on that later.
Tickets to the Fire in the Mountains BBQ sold out many months before the festival and before we even knew that there were BBQ food tickets once available, so that wasn’t an option.
The daily BBQs were $35 if you were able to purchase the very limited tickets. The lines for the BBQ did not look pleasant. They were long and unshaded, so we didn’t feel too bad about missing out on the BBQ option. Instead, we had a meal or two each day at the food trucks for about half the BBQ price. The lines were short or non-existent, and the food was good. Both the BBQ and food trucks were sort of between the GA camping and the stages, so that was pretty convenient. One suggestion for future years is to have a food truck or two near the stages. A couple of times I wanted a quick bite during a performance but didn’t want to walk all the way back to our campsite or to the food trucks halfway to our campsite.
Mornings and early afternoons at Fire in the Mountains are for sound checks and workshops. My tent was too hot by about 9 a.m., so napping, unfortunately, wasn’t an option.
The workshops were awesome!
The first one we attended was “Indigenizing The Mind - Animism and the Living World”. There were so many people in attendance (and it was too hot to sit in the sun) that we opted for no view of the presenters and our feet in Lower Two Medicine Lake while listening. Steve Von Till of Neurosis was the moderator.
Next up was “Music as Medicine Panel Discussion: Coping, Connection, and Catharsis” with an all-star panel including Mike Scheidt of YOB, Dylan Running Crane, Rebecca Vernon of SubRosa, Aaron Turner of Old Man Gloom and Neurosis, and Danny Kiranos of Amigo the Devil. The stories and experiences shared were wonderful.
Get this… As “background music” for these workshops, you get to hear epic tunes from the nearby stages as the bands playing later in the evening are doing their sound check. I remember getting chills as Mike Scheidt was speaking over Agalloch’s “Ashes Against the Grain” sound check. (I saw YOB open for Agalloch 11 years ago so the two bands are already somewhat fused together in my brain!)
Rebecca Vernon’s 1515 story, with Aaron Turner sitting next to her, brought tears to my eyes.
Before the first performance on the main stage began, Everett Armstrong and his wife provided the crowd with a Tribal Council Welcome. We sang “happy birthday” to their young daughter, also on the stage, who was turning a year older the following day. Fun.
Yaotl Mictlan kicked off the live music on Friday on the Running Eagle Stage (hereafter referred to as “The Big Stage”).
Great band! I picked up one of their shirts at the merch tent. I randomly ended up eating at their table after their set and heard they will be recording a new album soon.
You never know who you will be standing or sitting next to at a festival like this. You may find yourself ordering fry bread next to Steve Von Till or sipping a boba tea with Amigo the Devil. How about taking a bath with Abbath in Lower Two Medicine Lake?
Black Metal in the middle of the day isn’t ideal, but hopefully we’ll be seeing Yaotl Mictlan after dark in a future installment of Fire in the Mountains.
I noticed something really cool about the teepees on both sides of The Big Stage. They weren’t just for decoration. They were the green rooms for the artists. Nice.
El Welk then inaugurated the second, much smaller stage (called the Lone Walker Stage). Typically, there was about a five-minute break between the acts who played on two different stages. You could see every minute of every band if you could withstand the heat. I couldn’t, so I think I headed to Lower Two Medicine Lake after a couple of El Welk tunes.
Wayfarer was up next on The Big Stage. I wasn’t going to miss a minute of their set as I’m a big fan.
With band members performing double (or triple) duty in other bands, like Stormkeep and Blood Incantation, substitutions are sometimes necessary for live events.
I thought we may get to see David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower guest on Wayfarer’s new song that he is featured on since he was “in the house” (or maybe the teepee) at the time, but they played “Hollow Hearts On The Trail To Eden” without him.
Side note: I saw Opeth and Bloodbath on the same day at a festival in Sweden almost 10 years ago. Did Mikael Akerfeldt perform his own vocals for Bloodbath on that day? Unfortunately, no.
Is this a photo of Stormkeep or Wayfarer? No way to know…
Battle vests make a lot of sense in frequently chilly Scandinavia. In late July in Montana, a battle breechcloth is far more appropriate.
At this point, Raven Chacon & Iggor Cavalera were supposed to play on the small stage. Iggor had travel issues, so their set was delayed until Saturday.
I love Baroness, but a butterfly hindered my view for some of their set.
Baroness played “Pale Sun” for just the second time to a live audience. It went well with the place and time of day.
Is it time to talk about the wind? The wind came and went during the festival. When it was in full force (which frequently was the case), it was incredible. My tent, which was a four-person tent and over six feet tall and with just me in it (the blue one in Thursday’s report), would entirely concave so that both sides and both ends were completely touching me. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep.
I think it was just before the Midwife set that an announcement was made for campers to check the camping area as many tents and canopies had blown away.
I watched one song from Midwife and then headed to GA camping. Our tents were still intact, but our E-Z Up was down and in pieces. I don’t think anyone’s pop-up canopies survived. I took the stakes out of our E-Z Up and used them to reinforce our tents. We would spend no more time at our campsite other than to (try to) sleep.
Agalloch performed “Ashes Against the Grain” in its entirety. Amazing! “Not Unlike the Waves” is one of my favorite songs of all time.
I’ve been a fan of Amigo the Devil for several years, but this was my first chance to see a live performance. Fantastic, hilarious, fun, fun, fun. Oh, and heavy/dark enough to not seem out of place at a festival like this.
I must admit that I had never heard of 16 Horsepower until I knew I may be going to Fire in the Mountains. “Gothic Country”? What the hell is that? I don’t like country music, but I did get into 16 Horsepower in the preceding months. I enjoyed their set on Friday night. A frisson ran through me on multiple songs. Try getting “Black Soul Choir” out of your head while the wind tries to send you to North Dakota at 2 a.m.
Stay tuned for Saturday and Sunday.
2026 Fire In The Mountains – Part One
This four-part Road Report on Fire in the Mountains will be a bit different than others on Metal Underground. Instead of just having a focus on the bands and performances, expect a bit of a travelogue, what to expect if you want to attend in future years, and suggestions for possible improvements. Of course, there will still be loads of photos from the event and some discussion of the bands.
Fire in the Mountains is not an ordinary metal festival. Beyond the music, there is much to be had in the location, Firekeeper Alliance, Blackfeet Nation, and morning/early afternoon workshops.
Let’s begin.
We drove about 1,000 miles, over two days, to get to Browning, Montana on Wednesday. We met several people at the festival who had driven much farther. We spent Wednesday night at the Glacier Peaks Hotel because of its location and because it was the only place near East Glacier with an EV charging station.
We looked up the highest-rated place to eat in Browning on Google (there are only about four places to choose from), and that turned out to be Billie-Jo's Home Of The Bigfoot, which we assumed was a regular restaurant. Our education about “Rez Life” was about to begin.
Billie-Jo’s was an indigenous (although we were soon to find out they still use “Indian” instead of “Native”, etc.) woman’s home. While Billie-Jo was cooking us up some dinner, her young son came in to show us the worms he had just dug up. She apologized for the disruption, but we were thoroughly enjoying the experience.
This education in Browning before the festival was key to our understanding later when we met or heard from Blackfeet people daily during the festival. We could picture what their lives were really like—something that most festival attendees probably just had vague guesses of.
GA camping opened on Thursday at noon. As nothing was on the festival schedule until 3 p.m., we opted for a hike in Glacier National Park instead. We drove to the South Shore Trailhead at Two Medicine Lake to walk to Aster Falls, Paradise Point, and a few spurs for a bit over 4 miles of lovely strolling. About a fifth of the hikers were going to the festival. Flashing the horns to fellow travelers and seeing smiles, reciprocated horns, and t-shirt comments is a great way to enjoy our national parks.
The views were stunning, despite some wildfire smoke and an AQI approaching triple digits. We then headed to Red Eagle Campground to check in and set up camp.
GA camping isn’t exactly in the regular Red Eagle Campground. I think the regular sites were used for premier or glamping. Instead, we were in a cow-trodden meadow with no flat ground to speak of. Our campsite included at least two large cow pies, fortunately old enough to not be a big deal. Every step was a potential twisted ankle or fall, especially after dark. I’ve experienced similar campsites at other festivals, so this wasn’t unexpected.
The views were nice, but the porta-potties were far away—maybe 200 yards, so not fun getting there on uneven terrain in the middle of the night or even in the day. I think there were enough honey buckets at the festival (I only had to wait in line for one a couple of times for under a minute or two), but they were in only two places. One suggestion is to have them in four or five places, including some near the smaller stage and some out in the middle of GA camping.
I’m not sure if these are even legal in the USA, but the urinal stations found all over festival grounds in Europe are awesome. For males anyway, you never have to walk far to pee at those festivals. The women probably appreciate the less-used honeypots in such scenarios, even if they can’t use the urinals.
Back to the program.
Three local high school bands got things started. We were still setting up camp, so we missed the first two. We are very glad to have not missed the third one, John Doe, as they created one of the most touching events of the festival.
The members of John Doe gave suicide-prevention speeches, thanked their teachers, Firekeeper Alliance, and their families. The drummer said it was the best day of his life, before saying how much he loved his mother for all of her love and support. His mother was standing next to me, and she burst into tears. I followed suit for the first of many times during the festival.
A young audience member was enjoying their show so much that they pulled the fan onto the stage for the last song. Headbanging ensued, everyone enjoyed the enthusiasm, and the magic of the festival had officially begun.
We decided to check out Lower Two Medicine Lake, which is a short walk from the stages. This lake is fed from Two Medicine Lake, which we had visited earlier in the day. After the festival was over, we hiked to Upper Two Medicine Lake, which drains into Two Medicine Lake. Lower Two Medicine Lake proved to be our go-to spot for relief from the heat. We spent far more awake hours here than we did at our campsite.
The opening ceremony and powwow came next. We didn’t arrive early enough for a good view, and the heat was getting to us. We watched and listened from afar, in the shade, until the end when we moved in closer for the audience participation portion.
Our path back to GA camping included a stellar view of the artist tents.
Three bands with roots in Browning (Radiation Cradle, Ponoka, and Senterline) rounded out the night.
Ponoka’s drummer, Robert Hall, is a new hero of mine.
Sigh Treats London To An Old School Night
The Dome in Tufnell Park may not be as recognised as The Underworld, or have the financial backing of the 02 Academies, but metal fans will attest that it's a venue headbangers in London have to keep an eye on. There have been some certified legends taking the stage here, from Raven to Eyehategod and so many more, not to mention a former home base for rising company Pro Wrestling Eve, the Dome offers two floors of live entertainment, and that was in no short supply tonight when Sigh rolled into town to perform a setlist consisting of material from their first four releases, "Scorn Defeat," "Infidel Art," "Ghastly Funeral Theatre" and "Hail Horror Hail."
Kicking off the festivities tonight were local black metal crew Craven Idol. They've been around for a while now but I confess to being unfamiliar with their work. As it turns out, they were a great choice to open the show, delivering black metal fury from beginning to end. Their stage presence is pretty strong and the music itself holds even firmer, with the white hot rage being complimented by some truly excellent rhythms which keeps it all together. There were a number of people in the audience who didn't know the group, but many of them were won over pretty quickly by the raw power of Craven Idol. They came, they thrashed, they left and the audience was better for it. More...
Mystic Festival 2026 - Highlghts And A Goodbye
Mystic Festival is Poland’s preeminent summer metal festival. This was my fifth year attending it in a row and I’ve watched it grow and change for the better. If you don’t trust my biased opinion, the festival was nominated and landed in the running for the top spot for 2025 by the European Festival Awards. If you asked any one of the 30,000 attendees, I’m betting they would concur with my assessment also.
The 2026 edition recently took place at the Gdansk Shipyards in Gdansk, Poland, which the festival has called home for the past five years. That’s going to change next year. Mystic Festival will move to Gdansk Letnica is notably home to the Gdansk Stadium, the city's central stadium. However, this year’s sendoff at the Shipyards was proper and incredibly memorable.
Rather than diving into another exhaustive day-by-day and band-by-band recap, I’ll keep this year’s report focused on the standout moments and biggest highlights.
Behemoth!
Without a doubt, the best thing about this year’s festival was the lineup. It wasn’t so much about the headliners like Megadeth, Black Label Society and Behemoth (other than it was proper for them to close out the Gdansk Shipyard location by headlining the final night), it was the variety of bands in between. There was thrash, death-metal, black metal, nu-metal, hardcore, sludge and every genre in between.
Although many of the artists on this year's lineup were familiar to me, I also had the chance to catch several bands for the first time. Not every act featured music I would normally listen to, but some delivered performances that were impossible not to enjoy. After all, a great festival is about more than just your favorite bands, it's about discovering new artists and being entertained along the way.
I was blown away by the energy and visuals of India's Bloodywood. With every tour and festival appearance, the band seems to be gaining more momentum, and after seeing them live, it's easy to understand why. Their stage presence is captivating, with constant movement and interaction that keeps the crowd fully engaged.
The audience's enthusiasm was contagious, creating an electric atmosphere throughout the set. I also appreciated how they incorporated traditional Indian instruments into their music, giving their sound a unique identity that set them apart from many of the other bands on the bill. More...
Voivod And Midnight Dock In Bristol
A co-headlining tour is always an interesting prospect. Fans get to experience plenty from either headliner they wanted to see, and if they're a fan of both, then that's even better. Sometimes, the pairings are obvious, such as when Alice Cooper toured with Rob Zombie in this fashion, other times, they're less so. The combination of Quebecois progressive thrashers Voivod and Cleveland black 'n roll kings Midnight may not have fallen into the former category, but knowing how exciting both bands can be in the live setting, it did appear be a good match. So, when it was announced that they would trek across the United Kingdom, and make a stop in Bristol, performing on a boat no less (The Thekla venue,) there was no way in Hell I was missing out.
As it turns out, there was one way this would have happened, as myself and friends very nearly ended up taking the wrong train, which would have taken us to Wales, but thankfully we realised our mistake at the last second, poured out of the train door and boarded the next one to Temple Meads, a mere ten minute walk from the Thekla. We arrived shortly after the night's openers Cryptosis got underway. Despite not being familiar with their music, for some reason the cover art of their debut, "Bionic Swarm" has always stuck with me, so it was interesting to give them a proper go. I'm glad I did, because the Dutch trio proved that they weren't just there to make up the numbers.
For those unfamiliar, Cryptosis plays a very fierce style of thrash metal. One that doesn't sacrifice heaviness for speed, and there's plenty of technical and progressive elements too to really pepper the steak. As one might expect, most of their set was dedicated to their latest album, "Celestial Death," which was released last year through Century Media Records. Cuts like "Ascending" and "Absent Presence" sounded absolutely superb and they were helped by a really strong stage presence. Frontman Laurens Houvast frequently held his guitar aloft or pointed it towards the audience in a successful attempt to get them going. It's also worth mentioning that of the three bands on the bill tonight, Cryptosis had the most impressive backdrop, utilising a video screen featuring clips from their music videos. This was a really impressive display and I'm eager to check out a longer set from the band in future. More...
Acid Reign Rules Over The Underworld
British thrash is truly an interesting take on the genre. Sure, American and German bands had more commercial success, but there were some beloved names and cult favourites in the British Isles. As I'm sure you've guessed from the title of this article, one of the most popular names from back in the day was Acid Reign, a band as honest about their punk influences as they were their metal ones. In the 2000s, many of Britain's thrash metal veterans returned to some capacity and fans were constantly demanding that Acid Reign did the same. Eventually, singer Howard "H" Smith was able to put a new lineup together and the band returned officially in 2015. In those eleven years, they've worked their arses off, releasing a new album "The Age Of Entitlement" in 2019 and only last week, they unleashed another album, "Daze Of The Week." They've been a prominent live act since their return and finally, my wish was granted and I was able to see them for myself. So, was it worth the wait?
It was an early night in Camden, with the doors opening at six and the first band, Neuronspoiler, hitting the stage soon afterwards. They were perhaps a more traditional heavy metal band than one might have expected to see at a thrash metal show, and they would have been a perfect addition to the recent Tygers Of Pan Tang/Demon gig at the same venue. Nevertheless, they were impressive. They've been going since 2009 and have obviously honed their craft during that time, creating some really good songs such as "Hiding In Plain Sight" and "Ascend To Death," the latter of which taken from their new album, "The House Always Wins." There were a few sound issues affecting my enjoyment of their performance, but despite that, they were an exciting band which can still find a fan base with their energy and quality. More...
Hellripper Ripped Prague To Shreds And Then Some!
I missed Hellripper’s set at last summer’s Brutal Assault. From what I heard from fellow media members covering the festival, it was one of THE sets to see due to their skyrocketing popularity. They played on the smaller, tucked-away Obscure Stage, and the crowd was packed so tightly that it extended all the way into the open field leading up to the stage. We’re talking about a football-field-sized area overflowing with headbangers, with no wiggle room. Knowing that I had missed one of the most talked-about sets at the festival made me sick to my stomach. So, when I read the announcement that they were returning to the Czech Republic in April, I made sure I wouldn’t make that same mistake again.
Hellripper just dropped their new album, Coronach, a few weeks ago. I knew that the hype surrounding it was going to be huge, and I wondered how that would translate into their show in Prague at Subzero, a minuscule underground dive bar that can barely hold one hundred patrons at best—even though a Google search lists its capacity at 250 people. Being as popular as they are currently, I knew I had to jump on this show weeks in advance because it was more than likely going to sell out.
I arrived at the venue in the middle of Schizophrenia’s set. From what I heard, they play your standard death metal, but what really caught my ear was when they covered Morbid Angel’s “Maze of Torment.” Altars of Madness is my favorite death metal album of all time, so after that, I’m going to start following Schizophrenia and perhaps show up on time the next time they play in Prague.
After Schizophrenia’s set finished, I made my move to grab a spot up front for Hellripper. But alas, there were at least two rows of people who were either bladder-control experts, non-smokers, or simply not thirsty enough to refill their drinks. Whatever the reason, I had to settle for finding the shortest person standing near the front, hoping to get some unobstructed shots and video of the band. The open-air space was diminishing minute by minute. I had made my bed at that point and was going to deal with the nightmare of pushing through the jam-packed room later to get shots from different areas.
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Hellripper tore into “All Hail the Goat,” and within ten seconds, the only thing I was thinking was that they should have booked this show at a more spacious venue. It was like a fucking bomb went off. Bodies and beers were flying—including my camera lens into the back of someone’s head. That had to have left a mark, and hopefully they knew it wasn’t intentional. This wasn’t my first rodeo when it comes to frenzied crowds while trying to get my shots, so I hunkered down for a song while the crowd’s adrenaline dipped for a spell. To be honest, it never really happened. More...
Lik Proves Death Metal Still Rules Prague, Czechia
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Ahhhh… Swedish death metal. For fans of the genre’s extreme sounds, what came to mind when you read that? Perhaps Entombed? Or maybe Grave? How about Unleashed? There are too many to choose from—it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The formula hasn’t changed much since its inception in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and that’s exactly why one of the newer members of that brotherhood has been steadily rising in popularity since the first time they stepped on a Boss HM-2 pedal. That band is Stockholm’s own Lik.
I’ve written about Lik several times already. I first saw them at Poland’s Mystic Festival in 2023, reviewed their latest album Necro, and caught them again at last year’s Brutal Assault. I’m writing about their live show once more—this time at the cozy confines of Prague’s Music Club Modrá Vopice, as they passed through the Czech Republic on their current European tour.
As I mentioned above, Modrá Vopice is quite small for a band with Lik’s popularity. Inside, it’s essentially one divided room, with a bar in the back that sits almost on top of the entrance. It’s not an ideal space for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia. Modrá Vopice also hosts the official Brutal Assault afterparty. I’ve been to a couple of these, and they live up to the cliché of feeling like sardines in a can. I don’t believe there’s even a posted maximum capacity limit—and if there is, absolutely no one gives a fuck. In the summer, you’ll be dehydrated after two songs, but at least the beers are cheap (45 CZK—just a little over $2 per draft)! More...
70k Tons of Metal 2026: A Survivor's Account
This year’s 70,000 Tons of Metal was definitely one for the record books to its loyal faithful, aka "survivors". For the first timers, it was definitely an experience they won’t soon forget.
For those that are new to Metalunderground.com, or by chance stumbled upon this article haphazardly, this incredible music festival takes place every year in February on a full-size passenger cruise ship with 60 bands representing just about every genre in the heavy metal universe.
The constant vibe among “survivors” onboard 70k of Metal!
The festival takes place over five days and the ship has always sailed to a sun-drenched location in the Caribbean such as Mexico, The Bahamas, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. This year’s port was Nassau, Bahamas. This is the 14th rendition of the festival and besides a few obscure incidents, this festival has gone off with nary a hiccup…until now.
Let me preface this by stating that it is 100% fact that 70,000 Tons of Metal cannot control the weather. Andy Piller, the founder and skipper of the festival, is not Zeus. Now that we are clear on this, if you ask the “survivors” what they remember most from this year’s festival, I’m betting most of them will say, it was cold and it was windy.
Even though the weather did indeed suck, the one thing that I can say coming from someone that is a 7 time “survivor,” is that this was the most memorable and the most thrilling time that I’ve ever experienced during all of my 70k of Metal experiences. I loved spending time in Nassau, I loved the bands that played this year and most importantly, I loved that all of us “survivors” were having a blast and soaking up (literally) this year’s wild ride!
Without further ado, I’ll summarize this year’s edition of 70,000 Tons of Metal as best as I am able to.
What stood out most at this year’s festival were the bands that performed. Anthrax was the biggest name on the roster and they just killed it at both of their sets. Their second set on the Pool Stage saw Joey Vera from Armored Saint taking over bass duties from Frank Bello while Frank was accepting a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance honoring the late Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. I have to hand it to Joey Vera though, he was a natural fit with one of thrash metal’s Big Four giants.
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Anthrax with Joey Vera filling in from Armored Saint
Another band I really enjoyed was Kanonenfieber, a German blackened death metal band that garb up in German World War I costumes. It was my first time seeing them live and I was wowed by their stage performance, it definitely had a theatrical feel to it.
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Kanonenfieber on the Pool Deck
Some of my other favorite sets were from Heathen, Satan, Wolf, Groza, Trash Panda, Vader, Hirax and the much-anticipated reformation and return of the Dutch death metal legends, Izegrim.
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Marloes Voskuil of Izegrim More...
Napalm Death Lights Up The Electric Ballroom
Winter (at least after Christmas,) is a bloody horrible time to live in Britain. I mean, it's not the happiest place on Earth generally but the weather's at its worst, everyone's extra miserable and half the football matches get cancelled every week. There is one thing over the last few years that has made it worth getting through to the end of Winter, and that's Napalm Death's annual Campaign For Musical Destruction tour. Every year, the grindcore godfathers put together a hell of a lineup and decimate the eardrums of fans across the country. In the previous two years, the tour's London stop was held at the Electric in Brixton, where we recently visited, but this year, it was held in the famous Electric Ballroom, perhaps the best venue in Camden. So with the stage set, how was the show? Allow me to tell you.
The show began in one hell of a heavy fashion. Polish stoner/doom metal quartet Dopelord walked on stage and decided that those who attended weren't going to have a laid back night as they kicked off the night with "The Chosen One," the only selection from their latest album, "Songs For Satan." I'd heard quite a buzz about the four-piece and within seconds, I could see, and more importantly, hear what all the fuss was about. Dopelord are a perfect band to show any friends who mention they're thinking of checking out doom, as their music is skull crushingly heavy, with a great rock and roll fire burning underneath that makes it fun too.
Vocal duties are shared between bass player Piotr Zin, who stood front and centre, while guitarist Pawel Mioduchowski took the mic for the majority of the night, pulling some of the craziest facial expressions as he did so. The band also seemed to step up a gear when he first made his voice heard, as they unleashed "Hail Satan," a song that really commanded everyone's attention, before the sheer chaos of "Headless Decapitator." It was a relatively short set but "Reptile Sun" and "Doom Bastards" brought it to a close in spectacular fashion. They came, they saw, they ripped everyone's arsehole open like a cheap velcro wallet, then they left. Dopelord were honestly one of the best doom bands I've seen in a while and what a brilliant choice it was to have them open. More...
Kataklysm Leads A Death Metal Charge In London
Death metal is quite a strange genre when you think about it. No one can deny that it changed metal music forever, taking on the intensity of thrash and transforming it into something more aggressive, ferocious and altogether beastly. Yet, as influential as it is, few get to really stand out. It's perhaps the most overcrowded of all metal sub-genres, but nonetheless, the cream rises to the top and in Islington, North London tonight, fans got to witness three of the very best to have every done it ply their trade.
Norway's reputation in metal is always very much focused on the infamous black metal scene, but they have always had a strong death metal presence too. There have been a number of groups which come highly recommended, but one that has always been one of the first names on people's lips is Kristiansand's own, Blood Red Throne. Only two months ago, they released their latest album, "Siltskin," their second with vocalist Sindre Wathne Johnsen, who only joined in 2023, so it's an exciting time to catch the Scandinavian veterans. This being my first time seeing Blood Red Throne, I can't compare their performance to previous lineups, but I can tell you that they meant business and straight away, they got the party started, egging on the crowd as they appropriately launched into, "Unleashing Hell."
While it was a relatively small crowd at the Academy tonight, though by no means empty, everyone was in a great mood and were very receptive towards Blood Red Throne, chanting their name frequently throughout the set. Of course, being an opening act, they had a fairly short stage time, but nonetheless were able to fit in some favourites, with "Itika" from the "Imperial Congregation" record going down particularly well. Their latest offering was also represented with "Beneath The Means" and "Vermicular Heritage," before the curtain came down, metaphorically, with "Smite." Though their time was short, their impact was huge and Blood Red Throne delivered a hell of a performance. More...
Avatar, Alien Weaponry & WCS Take On Bristol
Some tour lineups seem just perfect. Last week was a prime example, when we covered Mayhem's London show, where they were joined by Marduk and Immolation. Then there are times when groups that seemingly couldn't be more different come together and it just works. Such was the case this week, when I had the privilege of seeing Swedish heavy metal band Avatar roll into Bristol, with Maori metal ambassadors Alien Weaponry and Norwegian black metal trio Witch Club Satan in tow. As it turns out, not only do these three bands compliment each other, but together they put on a show that no one in attendance will ever forget.
Entering in an eerie manner, complete with elaborate costumes and the haunting intro tape, "Witchcraft Techno," Witch Club Satan immediately grabbed the audience's attention. It's quite rare to see an audience so perplexed by what they're witnessing, but that's exactly what happened. After trudging their way onto the stage and belting out some witch-like shrieks, the crowd reactions ranged from stunned silence to laughter to absolute bewilderment, but soon enough, the trio tore into the song, "Hysteria" and black metal permeated the room, which became all the more confrontational with the next song, "Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy." The theatrics continued as the band slowed the pace, telling a story as much as they were playing music. "Mother Sea" was particularly entrancing, before "I Was Made By Fire" brought back the abrasive attack they had demonstrated a little earlier.
Regardless of how they'd been feeling up to this point, the audience gave Witch Club Satan a big cheer as they condemned Benjamin Netanyahu and Jeffery Epstein, before things got even crazier with "Black Metal Is Krig" They stepped back from their demonstration of aggression to thank the audience for being open minded enough to watch them and embrace them, then finishing their set with "Solace Sisters." I'll admit, I had no idea how to react at first, even turning to a friend and asking, "What the fuck is going on!?" But as their set progressed, I had nothing but admiration for WCS. They're definitely not for everyone, and they're not trying to be, but they have a vision and a mission statement that they stick to regardless of what anyone else thinks. It was one of the truest artistic expressions I've ever been fortunate enough to witness. As I said to the guy next to me once they finished, "I've seen nearly seven hundred bands, but I've never seen that" Truly amazing. More...
Igorrr, A Trascendental Experience In Prague
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Vocalist Marthe Alexandre
There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of great and original musical acts that exist or have existed since the birth of the term Heavy Metal. Over the past five decades give or take, hundreds of sub-genres have emerged from that term and we as music fans have inserted our favorite bands (sometimes with great accuracy and other times with reckless disregard) into sub-genres with varying degrees of success. Currently, one of the most difficult bands to place into a sub-genre never mind just a plain genre of music has to be France’s Igorrr.
If you don’t know anything about Igorrr, please do me the huge favor by Googling them before reading this Road Report. I just don’t see the need to waste a paragraph or two explaining who they are when Wikipedia great for these situations. The rest of my report is about their mind-blowing, and insanely entertaining set that recently took place at the ROXY in Prague in the Czech Republic. There are only so many qualifying adjectives that I could use to describe Igorrr’s live show, but if I had to narrow it down to one, it would be…overwhelming…but in a transcendental way. I’ll do my best to explain this in terms a live show review.
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Igorrr performing at ROXY, Prague More...
Mayhem Reigns Over London
Europe often gets treated to amazing metal lineups. Be it at a festival or a tour, there's usually an exciting combination of bands joining forces to thrill the continent (especially in Germany.) Sadly, thanks largely to some ridiculous politics decisions over the last ten years, the United Kingdom is beginning to get left behind on this front, as it's becoming too expensive for artists to come to our grey, piss stained island. So, when three of extreme metal's fiercest names come together for a tour and there's a British date on the schedule, it doesn't matter if it's a Tuesday night in a city you don't live near, it can't be missed! And such was the case for the "Death Over Europe" tour, where Mayhem were showcasing their brand new album, "Liturgy Of Death," released a mere four days before the show.
Only twenty minutes after the doors opened, fans were treated to the first band of the night, Immolation. They've long been one of the most respected death metal bands to emerge from the New York scene, and one of the most reliable too. You know that Immolation will give you no nonsense death metal every time you hear them and tonight was no exception. It must be hard to boil down thirty five years of albums into ten songs but the quartet covered a lot of ground, with the most recent album, "Acts Of God" being the only record to feature more than one song to represent it, including opening number, "An Act Of God." There was no shortage of old favourites too, including the title track from their debut album, "Dawn Of Possession" and "Higher Coward" from the beloved, "Close To A World Below." Immolation has a strong stage presence, while also encouraging the audience to participate and enjoy themselves, without the cliche lines like "Are you ready to party!?" This was the perfect way to kick off the night. More...
Dopelord Fuzzes Out Prague's Children Of The Haze
When the weather turns cold, misty and generally depressing in general, most of you would probably relate it to black metal. Am I right? However, in this case you would be wrong, tonight’s weather was the perfect backdrop for tonight’s show, Poland’s Sabbalicious stoner doom band, Dopelord. I had the honor of covering them during their most recent tour stop in Prague, Czech Republic.
The show took place at the underground (literally) music venue called Subzero which is located approximately a half hour’s walk from Old Town Prague on the west side of the Vltava River that splits the city in half. Subzero’s stage room is located down two flights of stairs below the venue’s entrance doors.
Subzero’s layout is simple, there’s a small, wooden battered bar to the left and just to the right is where bands hock their wares via a white plastic folding table like the ones you find at local band gigs. The venue and vibe was perfect for a gig like this. I’m guessing on a hunch that Subzero probably could hold 200 people comfortably but tonight’s tally was probably around 80 to see Poland’s most popular doom band at the moment.
The last time I saw Dopelord was at 2024’s Brutal Assault Festival that coincidently enough takes place in the Czech Republic every summer. I was wowed by their stage presence and their groove. Let’s be real, stoner doom is a genre that basically remixes Black Sabbath riffs and regurgitates them into a mishmash of notes and rhythms until it’s technically not considered Black Sabbath anymore. It’s a fun genre, but not necessarily mind blowing. Dopelord is a band that does it very well with the difference being they are a terrific live band and have always sounded great every time I’ve seen them. This time was no exception.
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Dopelord Fuzzing It Up In Prague More...
Helloween Puts On A Power Metal Spectacle
Hammersmith. Just the name alone evokes memories and lore of rock and heavy metal's past. It's in this West London area that we find the Apollo, formerly known as the Odeon, which has been the setting for the transformation of heavy metal bands into icons. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, AC/DC... They've all headlined this famous venue and everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Celtic Frost have recorded live releases here. Hell, this writer's first show was seeing Motorhead here in 2003, so it's fair to say there's some personal attachment to the Apollo, as well as the legacy it already holds. Tonight, Hammersmith was once again hosting an important name in heavy metal, as power metal pioneers Helloween were set to headline on the only British date of their 40th anniversary tour.
Entering into the small but grand lobby and heading up the stairs, excitement was in the air not just for the legends, but for tonight's support act, one of Europe's fastest rising power metal stars, Beast In Black. Formed in Finland ten years ago, Beast In Black has three studio albums to their name, with a fourth almost completed, as confirmed by vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos during the show. While they're definitely in the power metal category, the quintet also holds a strong electronic influence, forging the kind of metal which appears in the Eurovision Song Contest every so often. This all comes together to create an upbeat, animated energy that permeates every inch of the room as soon as the first notes of the opening song, "Power Of The Beast" were played. More...
Paradise Lost Ascends To Another Level In London
Great lineups can be like buses. You'll wait ages for one, then two come along at once. Only last week, Testament rampaged through the UK with Obituary, Destruction and Nervosa, and now fans of Gothic doom have their own dream tour as Paradise Lost embarked on the UK leg of their first European tour to promote their new album, "Ascension." It's an exciting time to see Paradise Lost, as "Ascension" has been hailed as an instant classic, with some going so far as to call the seventeenth outing their best yet, which is no easy feat considering their legendary status. It's not just Paradise Lost with a buzz about them on this tour, as joining them on the trek are Messa, the Italian doom band whose latest album, "The Spin" is also a contender for album of the year, and High Parasite, the "death pop" band fronted by Aaron Stainthorpe, whose departure from My Dying Bride after thirty five years was confirmed on the first date of the tour.
Speaking of which, it was High Parasite who got the evening underway, and very quickly too, hitting the stage mere minutes after the front doors opened. They released their debut album, "Forever We Burn" last year and it's another record full of superb tunes, gripping atmospheres and impressive song writing, so I for one was very eager to hear how the music would sound in a live setting. As it turns out, it sounds even better. High Parasite performs with enormous energy, getting the crowd moving and clapping along to a number of songs from the get go with the opening number, "Parasite." Stainthorpe himself is in tremendous form, his voice sailing across the room with majesty and force, like a ship charging through stormy waters.
Of course, there's more to the band than their most famous members and every one of them put in a great shift to make this set as fun and memorable as it could be. The singles "Wasn't Human" and "Let It Fail" sounded fantastic tonight and while not everyone was familiar with their work, those who were sang along to every word they knew, particularly on these two songs. "Hate Springs Eternal" was another highlight of the set, before they concluded their short time with the title track from "Forever We Burn." This was an exhilarating performance and, even though they'll be getting Lacrimas Profundere, I feel bad that mainland Europe won't be seeing High Parasite on this tour, as they fit in perfectly and are guaranteed to make new fans with every show. More...
Testament Thrashes With Titans In Bristol
Metal fans have always talked about their beloved genre with a sense of belonging and brotherhood. It's something which can sound very corny and many times, doesn't seem to ring true. However, in the world of thrash metal, especially nowadays, there's definitely more truth to this claim than in other areas. Frequently, when a thrash band heads out on tour, they'll bring fellow veterans with them, with Exodus's tour with Exumer and Hirax last year being one such example. This Autumn, Europe will experience a huge display of such camaraderie in the form of "Thrash Of The Titans," co-headlined by Testament and death metal stalwarts Obituary, while also featuring thrash metal flag bearers Destruction and Nervosa on what promises to be one of the tours of the year. Having kicked off in Hanover, the four bands made their way across the Channel to come to Britain, with their first stop being the Beacon, formerly the Colston Hall, in the south western city of Bristol.
Opening the show was Nervosa, marking what I believe to be my sixth time seeing them. Ten years ago, I conducted my first in person interview with their then vocalist Fernanda Lira at their first UK gig supporting Cryptopsy and Brujeria, so in addition to being a fan, I've always had a soft spot for them and have enjoyed seeing them grow as a band. Their latest album, "Jailbreak," showcased perhaps their most focused material yet and few would argue that guitarist Helena Kotina has breathed fire into their sound, helping to really beef up their sound. This was evident for everyone to hear as soon as the band ripped into the opening number, "Seed Of Death," which landed like a gut punch from Tyson Fury.
From then on, the quartet continued to fiercely shake the Beacon awake with more cuts from the aforementioned "Jailbreak" album, including "Behind The Wall" and the title track, which all sounded superb. They're clearly very proud of the record, and rightfully so, but it was nice to hear material from previous albums too, including "Kill The Silence" from "Downfall Of Mankind," and two helpings from "Perpetual Chaos," in the form of the title track and "Venomous." Nervosa seemed to be having a lot of fun and so were the crowd, including a man in full Elmo costume taking part in the pit and crowd surfing. The audience let out a sad groan when vocalist/guitarist Prika Amaral announced that they had one more song left, namely "Endless Ambition," and the band delivered a final sonic assault before ending their set. As I mentioned, I've been following Nervosa since their first album and I daresay that this was the best performance I've seen from them yet. More...