Once again, we came back to Tallinn for what’s one of the best recurring events right at the heart of winter here in the Nordics. Now at its 13th edition, Howls of Winter keeps delivering uncompromising underground black metal with consistent quality, giving a reason for fans from all over the place to return year after year.
After settling down at our accommodation and buying provisions for the weekend, we were pretty much ready to head to Tapper for the warm-up night of the festival. A very nice way to ease into the atmosphere with a chilled night featuring only 3 bands. Of course also less crowded as many people would only buy the tickets for the two main festival days, leaving more room to move around, and fewer queues, e.g., at the bar.
The night began with the Belgian act SOLFATARE, straight from Brussels. Having released their first full-length “Asservis par l’Espoir” last year via Signal Rex, the band got on the festival’s radar, and here we are. Combining tradition with more modern black metal and avant-garde elements, the band presents itself with a ride between French poetry and occasional melodies, which turn quickly into bleak, anxiety-inducing dissonance and a sound which is the expression of this existential chaos. Pretty nice to get the few people present to warm up and get the night – and the festival – started.
Hailing from Oulu, BELETH’S TRUMPET was a positive surprise. This very new, young band clearly takes inspiration from home and the old-school Finnish black metal. They do not reinvent the wheel, but they do what they do pretty well, with a good live energy and stage presence, making for good entertainment as the venue got progressively a bit more crowded. This is a band we will most likely see again at some festivals, and it’s always nice to see there are still people dedicated to no-nonsense black metal even in the younger generations.
Ultimately, it was the Slovakian KROLOK, sharing members, among others, with MALOKARPATAN and AEON WINDS – the latter performing later in the festival – who ended this first night with their atmospheric black metal. There was a lot of energy coming from the band on stage, but also from some of the most enthusiastic fans, despite some small technical issues briefly halting their gig. The vocalist seemed very happy to let people know someone must have taught him how to swear in Finnish – and hopefully also in Estonian – since it would be otherwise the wrong country. Putting these things aside, their show was pretty entertaining, and they certainly did a good job at keeping the attention of the crowd, even though it had been dwindling with the passing of time. As their show ended, the night was still relatively young after all, so plenty of time for most people to party, or to cash in on some extra sleep before the main event.
SOLFATARE
BELETH’S TRUMPET
KROLOK
