Written by:	musclassia
Published:	June 04, 2025
Event:	Fortress Festival 2025 (Website)
Location:	Scarborough Spa, Scarborough, United Kingdom

In addition to the already quite numerous long-running metal festivals across the UK, several more seem to emerge every year. Some never make it to fruition, while others seem likely to remain a one-off occurrence. That said, there is evidently still room in the market for new faces to establish themselves, as 2025 marked the third edition of Fortress Festival, a black metal-focused event hosted in the Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough. Perhaps best known from the classic folk song “Scarborough Fair” (covered by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, Queensrÿche and My Dying Bride), the town dates back to the times of the Vikings, but doesn’t have much of a metal reputation (although, saying that, Judas Priest are appearing there in July), yet its Spa, more typically hosting orchestral or jazz music, has become a home for some of the hottest black metal going.

The previous editions featured the likes of Panopticon and Wolves In The Throne Room as headliners; the organizers pulled out all the stops this year by snagging Agalloch as the showpiece act, and were duly rewarded with a sold-out event. However, Fortress Festival 2025 was more than just one band; the organizers clearly have their finger on the pulse of the current scene, as a number of serious players and rising forces in the global underground contributed to the weekend’s entertainment.




Looking at that poster, it is striking to see the number of UK debut performances that Fortress managed to play host to, as well as the number of special full-album sets. This was a special line-up that promised much for the nation’s extreme metal fans (black metal was the dominant style, but other sounds popped up across the weekend). My companion and I arrived in the town late on Friday, and were treated to a very picturesque seaside sunset.




Having never been to Scarborough before, I was pleasantly surprised by what a charming location it was, offering a good amount to explore each day before bands began playing, between its parks, beach front, and clifftop castle. It’s a place I could easily see myself travelling to in order to enjoy a weekend away without any musical accompaniment; nevertheless, the festival was the reason we were here, so after fitting in a trip to the local parkrun course on Saturday morning, it was time to descend upon the Spa, like so many other metal fans (whose abnormally abundant presence was noted by many of the locals we spoke to).




Table Of Contents

Saturday

Sunday

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Before getting onto the bands, it must be noted that the organization of the festival, by and large, was very impressive; having dealt with very unimpressive queues to make it into the recent Desertfest (meaning a good chunk of the audience missed a lot of the opening band’s set), not to mention the various issues encountered by attendees of Incineration Fest, it was a welcome relief to get wristbands on with plenty of time to grab food and a drink before watching the opening band of the day. Drink queues were very reasonable all weekend; merch queues were a bit less so (the issues with card machines struggling to connect to the unreliable internet playing a major part), while a couple of stages were overly cautious with queue management for some bands (more on that later), but aside from that, there was little to grumble over. Add to that a remarkably high standard for audio production across the whole weekend (more on that later too), and from a technical standpoint Fortress Festival was setting the stage perfectly for the various talent they had invited to shine.

Nemorous 12:00-12:50, Main Stage




The first band of the weekend were British act Nemorous, who premiered their as-yet-unannounced second album in full. As noted above, the good organization meant that the crowd in the 1,500-capacity main stage of Scarborough Spa was already quite full as the opening group took to the stage, and to the envy of festival opening bands pretty much everywhere else, they were granted 50 minutes for their set. Fortress gave every band on the bill a good allocation of time, which combined with the small number of clashing sets meant that everyone on the line-up was given a good opportunity to shine.

Another thing that helped Nemorous and those that followed to shine was the live mix; issues with producing black metal live have been discussed extensively elsewhere on the site, and I have had similar experiences with seeing bands in this genre to what corrupt described at the festival he attended in Berlin, but Fortress was about as polar an opposite as one could find. Across both of the primary stages, band after band was afforded an almost unbelievably consistent level of clarity and power, ensuring that pretty much every instrument cut through clearly and effectively. This was the case right from the beginning of the event, as the Fen-like atmospheric black metal of Nemorous came through very clearly. I was initially somewhat indifferent towards the band’s performance, but as the set wore on, the songs grew in memorability factor and became increasingly compelling, such that I was fully engaged by its closing stages, and will make a point of checking the album out once it’s finally released.

Perennial Isolation plays Portraits 13:00-13:50, Ocean Room

Those stage queues I mentioned earlier first reared their head for the second band of the day; those migrating from the main stage to the second stage in the Ocean Room were treated to a gradually paced queue slowly letting people in. I can understand the reasoning for this, considering this stage had a notably smaller capacity than the main stage, but given the ample space available upstairs once we finally were able to make our way up, perhaps they were on the overly cautious side. What we were eventually able to see was a UK debut performance from Spanish melodic black metallers Perennial Isolation, who were performing 2021 album Portraits in its entirety.

While the main stage was more on the long and narrow side, the Ocean Room was short and wide, and yet somehow the sound was equally crystal clear; the melodic hints to the black metal riffs and the sorrowful guitar leads carried across remarkably well. Less clear were the long song titles when announced by the frontman, but I nevertheless appreciated his energy and relentless pushing for crowd interaction. Perennial Isolation were another new name to me, and while I’m not necessarily rushing to check out Portraits on record, I’m definitely open to giving a listen to whatever they conjure up next.

Aquilus 14:00-14:50, Main Stage




Several of the acts making UK debuts were travelling from far-flung regions of the world; this included Australia’s Aquilus, whose country of origin was very evident from project mastermind Waldorf’s accent during his brief stage chat. We opted for the upstairs balcony for this set in order to be well placed to get into the Spa Theatre for the following act, and I did unfortunately end up with a big pillar blocking part of my view as a result, but I was still able to see the violinist and keyboardist, whose contributions were firmly audible throughout. The guitars initially were a bit more buried in the mix, but grew substantially more discernable as the set progressed, and with this, the Agalloch-meets-Opeth-meets-Ne Obliviscaris nature of the band’s music (at least here) came across very satisfyingly. I was slightly surprised that such a cult act was placed so early in the day, but they grabbed the opportunity with both hands and made clear to anyone in the crowd unfamiliar with them as to why the arrival of their Bellum albums in the past few years was so long-awaited.

Darkher 15:00-15:40, Spa Theatre

While there were no clashes for bands on the main stage, practicality did mean that some second stage slots clashed with appearances in the Spa theatre, an all-seated room able to fit around 500 people. On Sunday, it hosted ‘in conversation with’ sessions with band members, but actual musical acts performed on the Saturday, and in doing so caused some tricky clashes. One clash I did not find myself agonizing over was Darkher up against Devastator; the dark atmospheric folk of the former promised to be a welcome change of pace from much of the rest of the festival’s roster, so we ducked out of Aquilus early to nab a good spot in the limited-capacity theatre.




A post on social media had requested theatre attendees to keep their mobile phones away due to the intimacy of these performances; while not everyone followed this request, I duly complied, and allowed myself to be immersed in the tender, subdued music of British duo Darkher. Jayn Maiven’s understated clean guitar textures and evocative vocals (possessing a distant anguish) were ably supported by the soft toms from the percussionist. This haunting set was a welcome dose of feels amidst the avalanche of frozen-toned riffs otherwise on offer in Scarborough.

Spirit Possession 15:50-16:35, Main Stage

The next slot on the day’s agenda was followed by several in succession that I was keenly anticipating, so we took the opportunity for refreshment during the performance of US group Spirit Possession, catching a portion of their set from a distance. What I did hear of them was some solid thrashy black metal, which once again was bolstered in all the right ways by the live mix.

Suldusk / Osi And The Jupiter 16:45-17:30, Ocean Room / Spa Theatre




Now this was the first of two painful clashes for me; both Australian atmo-black Suldusk and American neofolk act Osi And The Jupiter were crossing oceans for debut appearances in the UK. Due to capacity of each stage, we opted to join the long advance queue to get into the Theatre and see the latter first, before switching over to the Ocean Room for the former afterwards. Osi And The Jupiter opened with cellist Kakophonix playing alone, before Sean Kratz and a guest bassist joined him; the sound was as mellow and charming as could be expected from the albums of theirs I’ve heard and enjoyed previously, but I must confess that the understated music, in combination with several pints, comfy chairs and a warm, dark room, did have me starting to nod off, so after a handful of tracks, we switched stages.

Suldusk had come a long way, and Emily Highfield had recruited 2 guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a violinist to bring her creations from albums such as last year’s warmly received Anthesis to life. The various instruments coalesced remarkably well in the mix; the folkish parts were rich and moving, while the black metal outbursts were fierce. I wish I’d been able to catch more of the set, but we left early to capture a good spot for the next band on the main stage.

The Great Old Ones 17:40-18:30, Main Stage




This was not my first time seeing The Great Old Ones live in 2025, having also been very impressed by their set in support of Cult Of Fire in March. I was disappointed that they had not brought their Cthulhu mic stand this time around, and the stage lighting was not quite as eerie either, but in spite of this it was another great time watching them. While the occasional clean vocals didn’t quite carry, the sound was otherwise once again remarkably solid; the blasting sections, the slow heavy riffs, the groovier rocking, and the atmospheric parts all worked very well. The set mostly drew from this year’s Kadath, but “Antarctica” from Tekeli-Li made for a sensational ending to their performance.

Selbst 18:40-19:25, Ocean Room




Up next was another tough clash; I do wish I could have seen Sylvaine, but given the difficulties of getting into the theatre once sets started, I elected to stick to the Ocean Room for the entirety of Selbst, as this was the UK debut of the Venezuelan-Chilean act coming hot on the heels of 2024’s remarkable Despondency Chord Progressions. Dissonant black metal such as this seemed like something that could be especially susceptible to subpar sound, but once again I was awestruck by how perfectly their music was conveyed. The drums were absolutely thunderous, but aside form the very beginning, the guitars were very discernable, even during blasting sections, with the dissonance, melancholic riffs, and melodic guitar lead parts all cutting through pristinely. There were occasional clipping artefacts that I think I may have picked up on, but that aside this was a really fantastic performance, bringing everything great about Despondency Chord Progressions to life.

After that run of bands, it was time to grab some dinner; unfortunately, the burger stall in the venue’s courtyard ran out of burgers just as I was about to order, so instead we had to go slightly further afield, in doing so missing out on RUÏM. Whether their music has merit beyond Blasphemer’s reputation, I am unable to say, but I have no regrets on missing it.

Akhlys 20:35-21:25, Ocean Room

Possibly the most controversial name on the line-up, Akhlys were evidently also one of most alluring, as the queue to access the Ocean Room for their set was massive. We missed over half their set in the queue, which made their decision to end 10 minutes earlier than allocated especially unfortunate, but what we were able to enjoy was very impressive; their sinister black metal was afforded both clarity and chunky weight by the mix job, conjuring up hellish sounds that made evident why their releases to date have been subject to so much hype.

1349 21:35-22:35, Main Stage




In truth, 1349 are one of the main names from the Norwegian black metal scene that I know nothing about, or at least knew nothing about until catching part of their headline set here. Going in with certain preconceptions of what they may sound like, those expectations were very much met, as this was a fierce, ferocious, but somewhat rudimentary and one-dimensional black metal sound, one that veers away from my true interests in the genre. Nevertheless, what we caught was entertaining, a flurry of tremolo and blasts punctuated by pyrotechnics, and the sound was again good, although the set was temporarily halted for some apparent drum issues, although seeing as the drums sounded fine in the song they completed just before this pause, it’s unclear what exactly was the issue.

Still, with a long day in store tomorrow, I opted against sticking until the end of this, choosing instead to leave slightly early and enjoy a good night’s sleep.






Abduction (UK) plays Existentialismus 12:00-12:50, Main Stage




Just as on Saturday, the festival began with an up-and-coming British black metal band playing their new album in full; in this instance, however, said album had actually already been released. Abduction (UK) unleashed all 45 minutes of Existentialismus to a similarly busy crowd to the one that saw in Saturday, suggesting that hangovers weren’t too big a hindrance for the majority of ticketholders. The set once again had a great mix; the music was initially very blast-heavy, but sharper riffs and more atmospheric, doomy or melodic elements came more towards the fore later, translating well. On record, Abduction (UK) is a one-man band; presumably, bandleader A|V was the vocalist here, considering the intense and evident passion on display by the frontman (plus a few surprisingly funny quips). The vocals were unsurprisingly predominantly harsh, but some unexpected yet strong harmonized cleans came through very clearly in the mix on a later track.

Belore 13:00-13:45, Ocean Room




There was no real ‘theme’ to either day, but despite the ferocity of the opening band, Sunday tended to lean a bit more towards melodic and atmospheric black metal, and one of the most melodic of them all was up next in Belore. This was the UK debut of Aleevok’s folky atmo-black, and it was an emphatic introduction to these shores. His microphone was a bit on the quiet side, which made his between-song chat and occasionally some singing a bit hard to discern, but otherwise the mix was fabulous again; the metal instruments and screams, but also the on-stage pipes, guitar leads, vocal harmonies and backing track keyboards/acoustic guitars were perfectly positioned in the mix. This is a style I enjoy quite a bit, but haven’t really had much opportunity to see live outside of Moonsorrow (bar a couple of songs of Saor at a festival), and I really enjoyed getting to revel in this very evocative, lush and fantastical performance. This was right up there with my favourite sets of the festival.

Dödsrit 13:55-14:35, Main Stage

Another UK debut, and this time it was Sweden’s Dödsrit, whose impressive Nocturnal Will earned a deserved nomination in last year’s stacked Melodic Black Metal category in the Metal Storm Awards. Another perfect mix allowed those hooky meloblack riffs, guitar leads and subdued sections to shine through, while also lending power to the blasting assaults.

Autumn Nostalgie plays Esse Est Percipi 14:45-15:35, Ocean Room

Slovakia’s Autumn Nostalgie followed Perennial Isolation’s cue in combining their UK debut appearance with a full album set, again opting for a lockdown-era release in 2020 debut Esse Est Percipi. It’s an album I enjoyed upon its release, and while I skipped a chunk of both the beginning and end of this set for festival energy maintenance reasons, I did enjoy the post-black/blackgaze from the album in the live setting. The vocals were perhaps a bit too loud, and the melodic post-y layers deeper in the mix, but compared to most gigs for this style it was still a solid sound. There were a couple of instances of audible feedback, and a mid-set halt for guitar-related technical issues did unfortunately also curtail their momentum.

Moonlight Sorcery 15:45-16:30, Main Stage




Having thoroughly enjoyed both their hyper-meloblack 2022 EP Piercing Through The Frozen Eternity and more melodeath-leaning debut full-length Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle in 2023, I was rather excited for Moonlight Sorcery’s UK debut, and went early to get a slot close to the main stage. As a result, I caught their soundcheck, and was a tad concerned by how muddy everything bar the vocals initially sounded, but there was notable improvement across the soundcheck duration. Nevertheless, this was probably the set that suffered from the least clear mix of the weekend; the guitar leads and solos were very audible, but at least initially, the riffs were muddy, and the keys were pretty much non-existent. I even opted to pop my earplugs out for a few songs just to enjoy it more: a frequent experience for me at black metal(-adjacent) gigs, but thankfully a one-off here. These did get better towards the latter half of the set, but even with these factors in play, their performance was very entertaining, energetic and upbeat, although admittedly the slower, sorrowful song they did towards the end translated a bit better than the more frantic material that dominated most of their setlist.

Ulcerate 17:30-18:15, Main Stage

Up next in the Ocean Room were Aristarchos, a band I did not know; ordinarily, this would be a good opportunity to discover them, but considering the rest of the festival’s schedule, this was an opportune slot to get some food before an onslaught of great bands to come. Others will have to report on what their set was like; after chomping down on a burger now that the stall had restocked, we again grabbed a barrier slot for a band who were a bit of an odd-one-out stylistically, the disso-death masters Ulcerate. I already caught the band on tour last October, but a band both as stellar and as far away from their home of New Zealand are not a band to skip over whenever an opportunity to experience them presents itself, if nothing else than to marvel in the impressive band-wide dearth of hair on display.




What they lack in curly locks, however, they make up for in overwhelming talent across the board. Across 45 minutes that drew exclusively from their two most recent albums, the trio put on a devastating display; an ominous intro dominated by eerie electronics lead into an onslaught of dissonant technical death metal that was backed up by a dazzling strobe-heavy light show (along with a backing video). The drums, as jawdropping as they are, were initially a tad overbearing, but eventually the stringed instruments balanced out, allowing said emphatic drumming to back up the thick riffs and captivating dissonant atmospherics. The riffs, in spite of their complexity, were bulldozing and juicy headbanging fare due to the power of the drums; in marked contrast to the intensity of the music, the stoic stage presence of the trio was compelling in its own way. Definitely a clear highlight of the weekend.

Grift plays Syner 18:25-19:10, Ocean Room

Grift weren’t a name I recognized coming into the festival, but looking them up afterwards in our database, my memory was jogged; in spite of the band’s black metal genre tag, the one release I’ve heard and covered of theirs is the neofolk diversion Dolt Land. As it was, this set, which celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their debut record Syner, exhibited elements of both styles. The double bass drumming sounded very heavy and backed up the black metal portions, while the folksy guitar leads cut through well, and I enjoyed the neofolk/post-rock vibe of a couple of songs. The vocals also reminded me a smidge of A Forest Of Stars; while this band isn’t in the same tier as that group, this was another enjoyable set.

Forteresse 19:20-20:10, Main Stage

One thing I really appreciated about this weekend was the wide range of black metal that was on display courtesy of the various acts. That said, the more straightforward and tremolo-heavy classic take on the style is not quite my favourite, so Forteresse were not a top priority for me. Their sound came across well, and I enjoyed some of the melodic lines in the tremolo riffs, but like with 1349 the previous day, this style doesn’t quite offer enough for me to be as enthusiastic towards it as some of the other performances on display this weekend.

Fen plays The Malediction Fields 20:20-21:30, Ocean Room




Going into Fortress Festival, alongside corrupt’s report from Berlin, I also had Fen’s set from last year’s Damnation Festival firmly in the back of my mind as a concern over how the festival could sound; that had been one of the worst examples I could remember of black metal live devolving into blast beats and a load of amorphous noise. How fitting, then, that the band were afforded one of the standout mixes of one of the most impressively-produced festivals I can remember attending. A polar opposite to the Damnation experience, Fen’s sound was super clear and huge-sounding, allowing the enchanting atmosphere of their seminal post-rock-meets-atmo-black debut The Malediction Fields to take full hold of the audience. With such an unmissable band due on right afterwards, I did leave this set before the end in order to get as good as spot as possible for Agalloch, but it was hard to draw myself away from a hugely enjoyable performance that validated for me why I was actually excited to see Fen at Damnation last year in the first place.

Agalloch 21:40-23:10, Main Stage




Still, I was OK sacrificing 20-30 minutes of Fen to have a comfortable viewing spot for what was a hugely anticipated performance. I had seen Agalloch back in 2015 right before they disbanded, and was personally a bit disappointed that my only taste of them live was of a set dominated by The Serpent & The Sphere: a great album to be sure, but certainly not one I would have picked over the rest to focus a dream setlist on. Still, I had been contented to have caught them once before they broke up, but their reunion eventually afforded me a second bite at the cherry. This time around, the set was more career-spanning, but did orient towards their classic albums; four songs from Ashes Against The Grain were joined by two apiece from their first two records (although devastatingly, no “In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion”), and one each from their final two albums.

90 minutes of Agalloch promised to be a joy almost worth going to Scarborough to witness by itself; however, I was initially a bit concerned by an oddness to the bass tone that sounded a bit like it was clipping, which did distract me for the first couple of tracks. Once that disappeared, the sound was once again very well balanced, although perhaps lacking a bit in power compared with the other acts on that weekend. Still, that might be expected, considering how much more melody- and atmosphere-focused this band are compared with most of the roster. John Haughm’s stage banter wasn’t the most natural I’ve ever heard, but the music ultimately did the talking, and when they got into the likes of “Not Unlike The Waves”, “You Were But A Ghost In My Arms” and “Fire Above, Ice Below” (performed live for the first time only this year), one couldn’t resist being drawn into their beautiful music. The set peaked at its end with a stunning rendition of “Bloodbirds”, and as their music descended into the harsh noise of “The Grain”, Don Anderson and Haughm collapsed to the ground, the former then striding out towards the front of the stage guitar aloft while the latter writhed to the sounds of the end of the world.

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And with that, my first Fortress Festival reached its conclusion. It was my first time seeing a whole heap of fascinating bands, each of whom delivered in style, and the biggest attractions all fully justified the hype. The festival itself was a triumph organizationally, with stellar sound throughout, generally efficient provision of resources and directing of queues, and very friendly security and support staff. Combined with a pleasant time in the town of Scarborough itself, and we had a fantastic time across the weekend.

It's certainly a festival I can see myself returning to, although after landing such a coup with Agalloch as a headliner, the question now is where can they go next. Well, the first headliner announcement is Old Man's Child, a band that have caused excitement in their own right as a returning act after a prolonged absence. I personally am unacquainted with them, but based on the roster of the three editions of the festival to date, the organizers clearly have their finger on the pulse when it comes to top-quality up-and-coming black metal, so I am excited to see who else they manage to bring to these shores next year; should the line-up be half as good as this year’s one, I can definitely see myself making another trip up to Scarborough next June.