After a day of “touristing” around in Tallinn (one of the perks of being here only once every few months), it was time again to head to Tapper for the second time this week and the first proper day of Howls of Winter XI on February 9th, 2024. Fridays always take a bit longer to get there as the venue opens just around rush hour, but everything still went smoothly despite the many complaints from the taxi driver about the road conditions when arriving close to the venue.
Once inside, it was still possible to chill before satanic black metallers GROM made their appearance on stage. Despite being around for over two and a half decades, the Tallinn-based veterans haven’t been very prolific in terms of releases, but they do play pretty straightforward black metal and can be seen as having the real underground spirit of those people who have been walking the local scene for a long time.
VOIDESCENT from Spain, in contrast, takes a more experimental tone with their dissonant riffs and oppressive vocals, nodding to bands like SVARTIDAUÐI and DEATHSPELL OMEGA, for instance. It helps to speed up the pace and get the increasingly crowded venue into the mood.
Further exploring the Bosnian black metal scene after bringing acts such as OBSKURITATEM and SULFURIC NIGHT to the festival in earlier editions, ARJEN does not disappoint and delivers a strong show in front of an audience that looks equally fired up. For those familiar with these bands, you might know more or less what to expect; otherwise, one could be positively surprised. There is something about the bands coming from that music circle that gives them a certain energy, but I cannot quite wrap my head around it.
Moving to a different scene, it’s then VOËMMR‘s turn. The Portuguese band is shrouded in mystery but does have some BLACK CILICE vibes in their raw black metal offering. An imposing presence from the hooded (and spiky) vocalist adds to their ritual, which has strong — and dark — old-school roots. Not sure why at this point it looked like there were a bit fewer people in the crowd (a feeling that continued for the rest of the night, compared to a few moments earlier), but maybe it was just the different kind of energy that got people more engaged with ARJEN.
One of the several bands named MORTUUS hails from Umeå, Sweden, and has a two-decade-long career in their metal scene. Their slower, raucous satanic black metal sets a different tone, more complex and introspective perhaps, as we were headed towards the end of the night. Heavier and slower pacing at this time of the evening might take a bit of a toll, but in the right context, the band does have its place (not to mention their members have links to OFERMOD and — formerly — to ONDSKAPT, among other projects).
Can it be a proper black metal night without a band from Norway? (Yes, it can, but not today). BEYOND MAN headlined this Friday night with the authority of their frontman, who is, of course, also the vocalist of DARVAZA (and for the Finnish audience, also BEHEXEN‘s guitarist alongside Infection). The band from Trondheim resurfaced during the COVID times, releasing their self-titled first full-length the following year. Powerful as much as captivating, and of course very much in line with the tradition of Norwegian black metal, this was definitely an apt conclusion for the first half of the festival. Primal and in-your-face, this last gig gave a good adrenaline boost to the audience to carry on over the rest of the night.
GROM
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VOIDESCENT
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ARJEN
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VOËMMR
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MORTUUS
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BEYOND MAN
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Photos by Marco Manzi