Live Review: Fortress Festival 2026

Introduction

The sun, the sea, the sand. That’s right, I’m back in the seaside town of Scarborough for another Fortress Festival - one of the UK’s leading black metal festivals which is hosted by Reaper Agency.

This is my fourth year in a row attending, and it’s always a highlight of my year that I look forward to. We certainly had the weather to suit the start of summer too, with it being one of the warmest weekends of the year so far. 

Joining me this year as well as my usual friends in the UKBM scene were a bunch of lovely members from the BlackMetalPromotion discord server who I managed to coerce to fly over from all over Europe to experience this fantastic festival (and the killer lineup helped persuade them too).

There was a pre-show at The Cask and Keg Inn on Friday evening, just a short walk away from Scarborough Spa itself. Blood Countess, Andracca and Wode were playing in the warmest basement known to mankind underneath the pub. Whilst we did get there early to enjoy plenty of Fortress IPA (a tie in with Anarchy Brewery ahead of the Tynebound festival later this year) the queue quickly grew around us as we kept sampling this fantastic beer and so only popped in briefly to catch a little bit of the show. 

It was mostly a night of catching up with everyone who had travelled from all over the UK and indeed the world to be here in this quaint Victorian resort town for a weekend of pure black metal. So, let's begin shall we?

Day One

Groza / Black Cilice

After a slight hangover and a much needed full English breakfast we made our way to catch this years opening act: Groza. This German black metal band is one I've been a fan of since they hit the scene in 2018 with Unified in Void and had yet to see live. I was delighted that they delivered exactly what I hoped for, a perfect start to the festival.

Their impressive sound absolutely filled the main hall which was packed with attendees. Meticulous blast beats and incredibly clean tremolo riffs soaring out to the crowd were accompanied by matching visuals on the on-stage screens it made for a great stage show. These screens were just one of the upgrades made to the festival this year along with the lighting and noticeable sound quality.

I caught a little bit of Black Cilice in the Ocean Room, however it was an absolute furnace in there as it was filled to capacity. Thick smoke and red lights doused the stage, I can only assume there were some musicians in there somewhere but I could not make anything out among the thick fog. Their raw instrumentation and dissonant vocals screamed out to ensure their presence was known nonetheless.

Mesarthim

Now this was one of my most anticipated bands of the entire weekend, and I had hyped myself up for their show. I’m a huge fan of their entire discography, the atmospheric cosmic black metal hits just right, and with the elements of trance and keys in the mix they capture something special in my heart.

It seemed my anticipation was for good reason, they absolutely delivered with their massive sound and although I may be a bit biased it was headliner energy in my eyes. Their synthwork and heavy drums mesmerised me throughout the full setlist starting with Osteopenia and finishing with The Great Filter. 

Their set may have only been five songs, but it covered such amazing compositions that made you feel absolutely lost in the vast cosmos. I could have enjoyed their set all day long, and hope to see them again - especially if their performance can include more songs no matter how long they are.

Whoredom Rife

Another top performance of the day for me, their volatile energy was off the charts and had the entire crowd headbanging and moshing along to their high-octane set.

It’s the first time I’ve seen a mic stand thrown like a javelin at the barrier, the singer perhaps training for the Olympics just decided it was unneeded as he spent the rest of the set between the stage and the barrier chanting into the crowd, his reverberating vocals echoing out over our heads.

I was pressed right against the barrier for much of this set, and his full on crowd interaction was enthralling. I feared my heartrate would never slow down after their relentless set as I left the boiling hot Ocean Room for the last time that day.

Wrap up of Day One

I did catch some of Old Man’s Child, our headliner for Sunday - but I’ll be honest they’re not a band that’s particularly interesting to me (or my friends I was staying with) so we left early to go back to our airbnb and chill to catch up on our thoughts for the day.

There were many other bands that played today of course that I saw but just didn’t take many notes on. Such as the howling vocals of Ossaert who were also fantastic to see, the groovy riffs and raw vocal quality of Totenwache who were another highlight of my Saturday. I also saw some of Akercocke who’s click drums in particular reminded me heavily of Fear Factory of all bands, as their set incorporated sound of progressive death, djent, black, and a bunch of other styles all at once which wasn’t entirely my cup of tea (or cup of IPA, many were drank that day).

Day Two

Sunday’s lineup was absolutely stacked with must-see’s for me with very little chance of having a break. So another big breakfast to fuel us up we headed back to the Spa for our opening act. 

A Forest of Stars / Abigail Williams

A Forest of Stars began us off, touring their new mouthful of an album Stack Overflow in Corpse Pile Interface. Catchy. Their hypnotic background visuals depicting the weird surrealist art was very fitting to accompany their playing, which also included some beautiful violin and synth work. I’ll be seeing them again later this year when they tour with Fellwarden, Nemorous, and Andracca on the Twitching Out to the Binary tour - so I used this opportunity to hit the merch stalls again, just because my bank account doesn’t hate me enough already.

Their set finished, but just like last year after Abduction played, the crowd did not disperse. Our 2027 headliner was about to be announced on the big screen and we waited in anticipation.

The flaming motif of Fortress 2027 appeared on the screen - which by the way I absolutely called when predicting with my friends - and then a very familiar logo appeared on the screen. Emperor. The crowd burst with cheers and applauding, it seemed this was a very popular choice (and who can blame us, the mighty Emperor were amazing last time I saw them play Glasgow and are an all-time iconic act).

I caught a little bit of Abigail Williams although I admittedly knew I wouldn’t be staying for too long having checked them out ahead of the festival. Their long piano intro was heavily juxtaposed as they plunged straight into death-like screams, the heavy chugging riffs along with thick bass lines filled the room, with pounding drums bouncing off the walls you could feel it reverberate within your very bones. 

Darkenhöld / Antrisch

Now here we go, the first couple of bands that I was very excited for on this day, and first up were the French medieval-themed act Darkenhöld. Absolutely classic black metal with profoundly melodic qualities, they were a delight to watch - and it seemed we were a delight to play for as the singer was constantly being thankful to the crowd and including some good chat between each song. Their set was laden with guitar solos, possibly the most I’ve ever heard in a single set at a black metal festival, and each one was played gorgeously to perfection.

Following them up in the Ocean Room were the German explorers Antrisch, emerging into the scene in 2021 they are a relatively new band but quickly made waves with their concept albums each based on historical expeditions.

Wow. I really don’t know what else I can say, but their set was bloody incredible. Such a demanding stage presence, and an expertly delivered performance. Their singer could absolutely howl out a note, as their music played to the beat of a marching army. There was even a quick costume change as our set changed from their Die Passage album back to their debut EP Dissonanzgrat which did unfortunately lead into a slight technical error where the microphone had turned off whilst he got changed. A few verses into the song and it got fixed, resulting in a huge cheer erupting amongst the crowd.

Vespéral

Another band I could not wait to see, though I was completely unfamiliar with them until their announcement for the festival. But upon checking them out, I fell in love - who doesn’t love a bit of Quebecois black metal, especially if it features a little bit of delightful synthwork to supplement the harsh themes of loneliness and mental illness that this band writes about. 

All members of the band stood fully cloaked and completely obscured in black clothing as they geared up for the performance, so it was quite a shock as the lead singer came out on stage shirtless but with his cloak on. After a couple songs, he threw his cloak away- now whether this was for the performance, because of the heat in the room, or to fully show off his inked up body (after all he is also a tattoo artist) I’ll let you decide. 

Nonetheless, his performance was insanely high energy, with his vocals reminiscent of DSBM at times as he poured all of his heart and soul into screaming along with this oppressive black metal sound, stomping all over the stage, leaning into the crowd, and falling to his knees to put on such a rich and dramatic recital. 

My only qualm was that the synths could have been a bit louder, they were buried in the mix unfortunately. But they did close out with my favourite song of theirs: Souvenirs Labyrinthiques from their split with Conifère - a band consisting of basically the same lineup. The bells in that track are just utterly hypnotic and get me smiling every time I hear it.

Gallowbraid

Here we go, our headliner for Sunday and finishing off the entire festival - absolutely the most special announcement made in Fortress history was that this Utah based melodic/folk/atmospheric black metal band would be playing their debut show right here, sixteen years after their only release of Ashen Eidolon. 

Now, a band with only one EP lasting forty minutes headlining a festival may be a bit confusing for those unfamiliar with them, but their EP is pretty legendary as are Jake’s other projects Caladan Brood and Visigoth. Their set time was also over an hour, so speculation began early about what else would they play - would it be Caladan Brood material, would it be brand new songs, would it just be some chat in-between each track as after all he doesn’t play live often. I got to the room early, pressed up to the barrier eagerly anticipating their performance.

Well they took to the stage and began with the titular track Ashen Eidolon, and I was giddy with excitement at hearing this perfect song played live for the first time in the world - it was truly a magical experience as the crowd sang along in unison.

Some issues did occur, such as with the flute in Autumn I falling to the floor and seemingly losing tune because of it, and their stage show was not a well oiled and slick performance it has to be admitted there were some issues that popped up. I can imagine if you weren’t a fan or familiar with them you would possibly wonder why these guys are playing the headliner set at such a big festival.

The time came for what some of us knew was about to happen; two brand new songs. Leaf Dance, and Stormcloud Memories were debuted to the crowd and I did happen to spot a couple teary eyes in the crowd as these new compositions were gracefully presented before us.

Oak and Aspen and Stone of Remembrance followed suit, and it was simply amazing. I caught a guitar pick that was thrown into the crowd - with the Gallowbraid logo printed on it which shall become a treasured item of mine and with that, Fortress came to a close.

End of the Festival and Conclusion

So the weekend was over, but I was not immediately departing for once. I finally visited Scarborough Castle, four years in the making and I finally went - and Jake from Gallowbraid also happened to be there at the same time so we all had a good chat about music, video games, history, and got some photos together which was wonderful. A day trip to Whitby and York for some tourism, and then all of the BMP crew dispersed on our separate ways.

Naturally I had got the first wave of early bird tickets for Fortress Festival 2027 on Monday morning, with or without the Emperor announcement I would have been there for it. No other black metal festival quite hits the same, and I look forward to five years of Fortress and seeing what else Reaper Agency has to offer for this anniversary event.

Broke from merch stands, tired from days of standing and walking, and eager to return to my cats and my own comfy bed I spent the 250 mile drive reflecting on such a wonderful weekend. Every member of Reaper Crew worked their arse off and the full weekend flew by flawlessly without a hitch. 

Whilst Fortress Festival may be another year away, I’ve got Tynebound Festival in September at Newcastle for another round of black metal hosted by Reaper Agency, so stay tuned to see how that goes.

In the meantime, join the discord below! Having now been to two festivals with members of BMP I can attest that it is such a wonderful community of dedicated black metal fans who are also just really chill and friendly.

Bring on Fortress Festival 2027, see you there.

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