Live Review: Darkness Over Edinburgh (June 2026)

Intro

During a heatwave causing some of Britain's highest temperatures on record, where else would you rather be on a Friday night than at a sold out show held in a haunted pub's basement? That’s exactly what I got up to on the 26th of June for Darkness Over Edinburgh, a gig hosted by Wulfhere Productions.

Originally meant to be a two day festival with the likes of Abduction, Old Corpse Road, and other contenders of the British black metal scene, it unfortunately got downgraded to just a single nights show due to logistic issues with the prior venue. Less of “Darkness Over Edinburgh” and more “Some shade over Edinburgh” but nonetheless I went along looking forward to our lineup featuring four acts of the UK scene.

Back in the familiar maze of The Banshee Labyrinth in the Old Town area, I grabbed a drink and prepared for the night to begin.

SoulGrief

Opening up for the show was SoulGrief, a relatively new band on the British scene from West Yorkshire with only a few songs under their belt so far. This was their Scottish debut, which as the singer/bassist happily pointed out now made them an international act! 

This three piece delivered crushingly fast extreme metal, beautifully intertwined with strong melodies - evocative of post-black metal at times they sounded fantastic.

A brand new song was played for us due to be released soon, Misosophist - a song focusing on the topic of ignorance, something there’s far too much of going about these days.

As they finished with The Pale Wanderer off their 2025 EP Hope Dies the guitarist flung his pick into the crowd, only to immediately be mortified worried he hit someone in the face (thankfully he didn’t!).

Great act to open up with, and looking forward to seeing more of them as they showed a lot of promise.

Úlfarr

It wouldn’t be a Wulfhere show without Paul stepping up from running the event and onto the stage. Cloaked and covered in corpse paint, this was black metal with plenty of “oeugh”. 

Kicking off with Spit in the Face of God the rapid distorted riffs and thick bass sound possessed the small venue in true black metal form. Some slight eagerness from the drummer as he went to continue the blast beats during the more mellow sections, but a subtle finger wag told him to hold back each time.

Their five song setlist ended with Black Flame, and it was all over incredibly quickly - surprising even the sound crew. “We play fast” replied Hrafn down the microphone after being told they still had a lot of time left on their set. 

Means more time for another drink and a catch up with those in attendance.

Ruadh

Our first of the Caledonian bands for the evening, Ruadh incorporate more atmospheric and folk elements into their music weaving tales of Scottish history and mythology.

Melodic as f*ck. That’s the one liner I’ll give for this performance, absolutely gorgeous instrumentation work combined with strong vocals. This was especially noticeable in the clean sections where this vocal work delivered a strong emotional punch to juxtapose the harsh blackened metal that filled the rest of the act. 

Crowd interaction was also a strong element of their set as they asked us to chant along in a pagan heritage style. The Wheel from their 2021 album Eternal was included, much to the pride of lead singer/guitarist Tom who described it as one of their greatest pieces - before coming to an end with the instrumental backing track bookending their show with some folk music of a local flair.

Cnoc An Tursa

Kilted and booted, our headliner took to the stage ready to show off their prowess - having recently released A Cry for the Slain their first album in nearly a decade (and one of my favourite albums of 2026 so far). 

This was the second time I’ve seen them this year, having also been at the Wulfhere festival A Weekend of Darkness in early May - and it’s no wonder these guys are being put down for many shows this year. As they kicked off with Winter A Dirge they could have been playing to ten people or to a thousand people, their performance was impeccable. 

Melodic tremolo riffs that were meticulously clean, sensational basslines and on-point drumming this band was on fire tonight and dominated the gig. Their set encompassed the bands full discography, a greatest hits of Scottish folk metal including my favourite song off their new album Am Fear Liath Mòr which is as catchy as it is headbang worthy.

With The Lion of Scotland as their grand finisher, the band thanked the crowd and got a group photo with everyone to commemorate the night, and the gig came to a close.

Conclusion

All four bands played to peak performance, and despite being a small basement venue the sound was very impressive throughout the evening so hats off to the sound tech crew. A shame that the two-day festival fell through, but that was out of anyone’s control and it was great to see that the single evening show remained sold out and fully attended with such a supportive scene.

Spending time afterwards with the bands and the attendees, everyone seemed to be in great spirits and enjoyed the evening thoroughly. 

In less than two weeks I’ll be at the next Wulfhere festival - The Woods, with the likes of Lunar Spells, Fuath, Winter Eternal and Old Corpse Road appearing among many other amazing acts. Their ongoing series of A Night of British Black Metal is also set to return this November in Banshee Labyrinth so keep an eye out for a review of that too. No rest for the wicked.

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