After a slow day of touristing in Tallinn in perfect Howls of Winter tradition it was once again time to set foot at Tapper for the first full night of the festival, following yesterday’s warm-up.
An obscure Estonian one-man band from the late nineties seemed like the appropriate way to begin this edition of HoW: enter REALM OF CARNIVORA. The pagan, misanthropic black metal project features two live guitars for the performance (including members of other bands from the local scene), and a drum machine. There are also some hanged mannequins decorating the stage, setting the atmosphere for this hooded act. This intense show offered a rare chance to see one of those bands that otherwise would be largely unknown to most outside of the country, which is always a plus at this event.
The mysterious MNIMA from Athens – listing no active members while still having an active status on Metal Archives – brought some more raw blend of black metal, mixed with noise elements. The mainman – with his face fully covered – spent a great deal of time brandishing some kind of flag-like cloth with plenty of writing that sounded too Greek to us for an attempt at translation. Having just released a new EP (“Endless Void of Negativity”), there is new, bleak material to present to the audience, who seemed to be really taken by the show and its energy. Towards the end, the frontman dropped the mask and went among the crowd to sing and hug people, thanking everyone. There are certainly some layers to the performance of a band singing about death, whose early vocalist died. The mystique around the gig and the atmosphere created by the music were perfect for this kind of intimate underground festival.
AEON WINDS was next with their atmospheric black metal with dark ambient overtones, and the return of some familiar faces on stage from last night’s show with KROLOK. The Slovakian band, originally started as a solo project by the vocalist Svarthen, also had the chance to present their latest effort, and 4th full-length “An Ode To The Mountains,” a testament to how the culture and the mountainous nature are deeply sewn into their music. It was also by far the most colorful and smoke-free show of the evening, offering definitely different vibes compared to what had been seen so far during the night. This was clearly felt by the crowd (or maybe the level of alcohol was steadily increasing) because there were some very excited fellas in front of the stage.
Slovenia-based GRAVE CIRCLES (originally from Ukraine) took over the stage shortly after. The anger, the sinister growls, and uncompromising black metal offering made this the most positive surprise of the night. With some elements nodding to other Ukrainian bands of the genre but overall an approach that sounds both old-school and modern in the right ratio, they did a really good job bringing to the live setting all of these nuances, with special focus of course on their last effort “World Within the World,” which has since been spinning for a while in our ears.
The more seasoned, Parisian ensemble MERRIMACK was certainly the most recognizable of the names on today’s lineup. They played with a contagious energy and delivered pretty much as expected, further fanning the flames in an already ignited atmosphere with their experience. Clearly, part of the audience was waiting for this, as the band and the fans fed off each other’s energy. Being one of the main staples of the French black metal scene, it’s no surprise to see how they captivated their fans from the get-go with their furious riffs and blasting sound. Leaving a positive mark on what so far has been a good roundup of underground black metal acts in different shapes.
The night ended with the Swedish HEAD OF THE DEMON and their way more doomy sound, effectively countering the atmosphere so far and considerably slowing things down. The gig itself was not deprived of some technical hiccups that further slowed the rhythm, and if anything, at this point, it weeded out the audience, leaving only either the fans of the band or those still curious to see it live. By the end of the show, only a handful of people were left in the hall, while many had left earlier to other destinations. Perhaps this hypnotic occult combination of black and doom – largely in line with bands like their American colleagues NEGATIVE PLANE – was too much for them.
Without further ado, for us it was time for a traditional post-festival session of editing photos while trying local beers and snacking before heading to some much-needed sleep, waiting for the next and last day of this traditional Tallinn black metal weekend.
REALM OF CARNIVORA
MNIMA
AEON WINDS
GRAVE CIRCLES
MERRIMACK
HEAD OF THE DEMON
