To start with, let us dive into the black metal announcements so far. Judging from the sheer number of updates so far, black metal is always thought fondly of at the fortress. Promoters definitely stroked when the iron was extremely hot, so let’s start with the biggest news of them all, the BATHORY tribute.
The legacy of QUORTHON of BATHORY and his influence on metal overall is absolutely undeniable. He laid the foundations for what is now black metal. To this day, he is still cited as an inspiration by multiple black metal musicians. Thus, over 20 years after his passing, Brutal Assault, a unique performance will be held, named Blood Fire Death: A Tribute to Quorthon and the Music of Bathory — led by members of WATAIN, ENSLAVED, AURA NOIR, VLTIMAS, MAYHEM, BATHORY, and several other exclusive guests.
After his untimely death, multiple musicians paid their tribute to Quorthon on many occasions. For example, at the annual Hole in the Sky festival in Bergen, Norway, musicians from bands like DARKTHRONE, EMPEROR, ENSLAVED, SATYRICON, IMMORTAL, GORGOROTH, and AURA NOIR performed a carefully selected set of BATHORY. On the 20th anniversary of his death, the core members of the original tribute group got together again at the Beyond the Gates festival to once again pay their respect to the legend and the music of BATHORY. This time, the line-up also included E from WATAIN, who also contributed to the stage design and concept. Due to the performance’s grand success, the group decided to give a couple of more shows in the same vein at select few festivals during summer 2025.
Blood Fire Death – A tribute to Quorthon and the Music of Bathory will feature the same line-up as in 2024, which are:
E (Watain) – vocals
Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved) – guitar
Blasphemer (Vltimas, ex-Mayhem) – guitar
Apollyon (Aura Noir) – bass & vocals
Faust (Djevel, ex-Emperor) – drums
In addition to the band, the concert will feature guest singers and musicians such as Grutle (ENSLAVED), Gaahl (TRELLDOM, ex-GORGOROTH), and Frederick Melander (ex-BATHORY), along with a variety of other guests that will be announced soon.
Brutal Assault promoters decided to serve the main black metal course, but further bands are a decent bunch to really look forward to.
MAYHEM’s history made them one of the most notorious bands in metal chronicles to date. Nobody can deny their trailblazers’ rights, and hence they are most welcome back in Fortress Josefov after 3 years! Another Norwegian black metal band joining Mayhem on Brutal Assault’s stages will be TSJUDER, who will destroy the crowd with their persistent and raw music. HELLBUTCHER is the new project of Nifelheim’s vocalist, Per “Hellbutcher” Gustavsson. As Nifelheim, as a project, was put on hold for the time being, Hellbutcher carries on the black metal torch with his new project and has zero intentions of taking prisoners. Rune Eriksen will grace the crowd once again, this time with his black metal project RUÏM, which is his view on the vision of MAYHEM, how he would see it developing had he been in the band. DARK FUNERAL is one of the Swedish black metal staples, which have carried the black metal torch since 1993. And seemingly have no intention of stopping. FURIA is one of the most prominent examples of this genre of Polish black metal, which is particularly strong there. Furia is not afraid to experiment and go outside the borders of the tight corset of the black metal genre.
ABSU is back on track after a 4-year hiatus and still as fierce as ever. Black and thrash metal go well in their performances. ZEMIAL operates in a similar territory to Absu but explores more philosophical and oneiric subjects in their lyrics, and is as intense at the same time. German sludge black metal duo MANTAR will serve a syrupy-thick like atmosphere with fervor one would not expect from literally two people on stage.
If we are talking black metal, one cannot forget about Greeks and their achievements in the field! Thus, a fan favorite had to be invited to this already splendid bill – namely ROTTING CHRIST. Being active for almost four decades, they are legends of the scene and a perfect fit for this year’s line-up. Portuguese GAEREA has one leg standing on black metal territory, however, the second leg is leaning more to post metal, making the band one of the more enthralling acts of the modern scene. Another band in a similar vein is Ukrainians from WHITE WARD, who are exploring the avant-garde niche and making saxophones more metal, as they already are. Think of dark jazz having a baby with black metal, and you’ll get WHITE WARD. Denver-born WAYFARER blends black metal and dark Americana, balancing on the border of country music. As quirky as this sounds, it definitely works well together.
Lineup so far: GOJIRA, DIMMU BORGIR, MINISTRY, AUGUST BURNS RED, ANGELMAKER, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, BENIGHTED, OBITUARY, SUFFOCATION, UNLEASHED, STATIC-X, DOPE, THE KOVENANT, THROWN, PIG DESTROYER
Tickets: https://brutalassault.cz/en/tickets
