Fortress Festival 2027 – 10 Bands We Would Like To See: Opinion
A selection of At The Barrier writers that frequent Fortress Festival offer a pick or two as to who we would love to see on the bill at Fortress Festival 2027.
Fyrdsman – The Free Man: Album Review
Tim Shaw’s Fyrdsman project makes a long-awaited return. The Free Man is a work that examines post-1066 England.
Stormkeep – The Nocturnes Of Iswylm: Album Review
Stormkeep has spent the better part of a decade building a world entirely their own, and with The Nocturnes Of Iswylm, their second full-length, they have not simply returned to that world — they have reshaped it, deepened it, and made it considerably more dangerous to inhabit.
Dauþuz – Todeswerk: Uranium II: Album Review
Purveyors of the finest mining themed black metal, Dauþuz, return with their new album; Todeswerk: Uranium II.
Fortress Festival 2026 Day Two – Scarborough Spa: Live Review
Fortress Festival returns to Scarborough with another specially curated line-up representing the finest in extreme metal from across the globe.
Tyrannus – Mournhold: Album Review
The UK extreme metal underground has been producing some genuinely exceptional work in recent years, and Tyrannus are very much part of that conversation.
A Forest Of Stars – Stack Overflow In Corpse Pile Interface: Album Review
A Forest Of Stars return with Stack Overflow In Corpse Pile Interface; the grandiose sixth album from Yorkshire’s black metal eccentrics.
Black Sea of Trees – Cult of the Sun: Album Review
Progressive metal and Egyptology. Not perhaps the most obvious pairing, but one that Australian band Black Sea of Trees have dived head first into with their new, second, album Cult of the Sun, the follow up to 2023’s The Spiritual Beast.
Archiac Oath – Determined to Death and Beyond: Album Review
Determined to Death and Beyond is the debut album that doesn’t just announce Archaic Oath, but screams it from the mountain peaks with a ferocity that puts bands twice their size to shame.
Wrang – Verwording: Album Review
Wrang have spent over a decade developing their sound within the Netherlands’ increasingly vibrant black metal scene, and with Verwording, their third full-length, they’ve crafted their most cohesive work to date.
Riverflame – Lunar Crusades: Album Review
Riverflame is new band formed from members of Ponte Del Diavolo and Hail Spirit Noir. They create a proper journey back to the heroic times of old.
Sicarius – Nex: Album Review
Sicarius mark the return of founding member Argyris with third album, Nex.
Blackbraid w/ Winterfylleth & Noctem – Rebellion, Manchester: Live Review
American black metal outfit Blackbraid arrive in Manchester with hometown heroes, Winterfylleth. It’s sold out, it’s Friday night…the perfect melting pot.
Panopticon w/ Sunken – The Dome, London: Live Review
Panopticon land in London in support of their forthcoming new album, Det Hjemsøkte Hjertet. Support comes from Sunken.
Këkht Aräkh – Morning Star: Album Review
Operating as Këkht Aräkh, Dmitry Marchenko has assembled a body of work that sits at an uncomfortable and entirely productive crossroads: black metal stripped of the genre’s more theatrical posturing and refitted with something rawer and more personal.