Over 3 days, the event offered us a well-packed work of art full of hand-picked exceptional artists who take us on a dark journey through the depths of black metal in all its variations and the estonian audience was again in for a treat, as this years line-up was the who-is-who (or should we say the who the hell is that?) of the underground Black Metal scene.

On the first day, the organizers offered us four hand-picked acts from different countries at the warm-up show. The trio Ultima Necat from Germany started things off and they delivered a great performance right from the start, while presenting a rather pleasantly laid-back stage appearence - including a St. Mary statue with candles. With their doom-infused black metal, which also occasionally ventures into faster passages, they were able to captivate the already quite big audience and create a rather atmospheric and stunning approach. 

Afterwards, Nagyszeben from Spain held their dark ritual in the rock club Tapper and impressively showed what occult black metal should look like live on stage. With even more chandliers and thrown into red light, the band jumped from devilish fast parts into spellbound, nearly calm guitar supported moments. Especially the clean vocals of frontman M.Ptah.Smrt in particular, had an almost hypnotic effect - while they threw the audience seconds later into energetic guitar riffs and growling crazyness.

And next was an absolute banger! we were able to enjoy what was probably the best performance of the evening and welcomed the Icelandic band Mannveira at Howls of Winter. The unmistakable sound and the pure energy that Icelandic bands tend to present can be clearly heard and felt here too. Headbanging, fast and uncompromsing riffs and another strong vocal performance by singer Illugi pushed the audience into an emotional outburst and marked a fantastic start on day one of the festival.

To round off the evening, the Swedes from Ultra Silvam offered us a flawless performance with raw aggression, pure power and merciless guitar riffs. Despite the breathtaking speed and relentlessness of their songs, the men from Malmö never lost sight of the small details and catchy passages, which increases their recognition value enormously. A thoroughly successful evening and a great start to this year's Howls of Winter Festival was coming to an end and we enjoyed the nightlife a bit more at the Highlander Bar in Old Town, before continuing with day 2 of the festival.

Friday awaits us with some Baltic neighbours named Anapilin from Lithuania, who impressed us with melodic compositions and uncompromisingly precise work on the drums. You should definitely check out their latest self-titled EP! A great start to a festival day fully packed with other highlights.

Zmyrna are one of these highlights for sure. With their style somewhere between Urfaust and more classical Black Metal Works from Bands like Angantyr, the Slovakian Combo really impressed us with the breathtaking clear vocals that came with their kind of music. Above all the great songs in their setlist “Pagus Maledictus“ was one of the most memorable ones. An unique show from Zmyrna and surely some new listeners and fans of them in the crowd. After the show, we were even able to get an interview from founder Michal, who gave us insights about some aspects of Czech and Slovak Black Metal.

Bosnian Black Metal has been more than welcomed guests at Howls of Winter. And also this years edition they attend with another stunning project called Izrod. Like all the years before with outstanding performances from Obskuritatem, Void Prayer or Sulphuric Night, the Black Plague Circle delivers once again and used the stage perfectly to promote their newest EP "Ulica, Trnje I Kamenje" that was released exactly on the day of their Performance at Howls of Winter. 

And also another Black Circle likes to take part in the annual rituals in Tallinn. In recent years we have seen bands from Portugal such as Irae, Vetala and Morte Incandescente on stage and even though the circle has since disbanded, the ties to the Howls of Winter Festival are still unbroken. This year we were treated with Mons Veneris and a charismatic stage show, which ended with in real firework when they played the Tormentor cover "Elisabeth Bathory" for the audience in Rock Club Tapper.

Another big highlight for us followed with the German band Stygian Temple, who let pure black energy rise up in the packed hall of the Howls of Winter Festival. They performed a breathtaking show that also demanded a lot of energy from the audience which was transported by the 5 members on stage, filling the whole room with their unholy presence. The band's powerful set culminated in a "Jesu Død" cover, which also received frenetic applause.

With the energetic approaches of the former bands and late evening, the headliner of the day didn't quite keep the energy and had a rather hard stand. In comparison to last year, when some of us saw them live at the Black Hole Fest and the UTBS Festival, Sargeist nevertheless felt more focussed and determined for some of us, with strong guitars, blastbeats and support base and vocals by Spellgoth. 

Despite fronter „Shatraug“ being quite static on stage, they delivered songs like "Empire of Suffering", ”Satanic Black Devotion” and “Black Fucking Murder” - and were able to provide exciting moments on stage. After Sargeist ended their set the night went on and we joined the aftershow party at the Krypt Spooky Bar in the center of Tallinn for a few more drinks.

Weathered Crest opened the last festival day with raw, unvarnished black metal and were able to win over a few guests in the slowly filling concert hall. The Austrians have already been guests at Howls of Winter with other projects such as Kringa and Alruna and this year there was a real rumble again when, in addition to established songs such as "Armor of Ash and Dust" and "The Archer", they also performed some songs from their upcoming release. Titles as "Immolating the Temple of Apollon" and "Herald of a new Dawn" can be seen on the Setlist and it makes the waiting time a little more pleasant to be able to experience these new songs live.

Another Evil Spirit from Portugal rised with Ventr and delivered us a dark, agressive manifestation on the stage of Rock Club Tapper. Fast Guitar Thunderstorms and a powerful Work on the Vocals also gave the audience new energy for the last day of the festival. They also premiered their first album “Ubique Diaboli Voluntas” with the show at Howls of Winter which was released just a day before their performance and which was well recieved by an already bigger audience.

Next we toon an excursion to Europes biggest island, as the following two groups came from the United Kingdom. First, Lunar Mantra took us on a thrilling journey into the depths - the soundscapes of the band from Glasgow are atmospheric and intense, and also feature dark, almost monk-like backing vocals.

A more than solid performance but it got even better, when Abduction entered the Stage next. For us - and also some other guests of the festival indeed a big surprise and the hidden champion of the last day at Howls Of Winter. An outstanding show with fantastic sound and powerful work of all the bandmembers on stage. To put the cherry on top, they also played some songs from their new Album “Existentialismus” that was released a week after the festival - take a deep dive HERE:

The intense show by Ruins Of Beverast, filled with blackened doom metal, turned out to be a tough nut to crack on the last day of the festival, even though it was visually very colorful. For some, it was definitely too sluggish and exhausting to embark on the journey with the band. But at the same time, it was a varied offering for other festival-goers. Not only older pieces like "Between Bronze Walls" delighted the audience, but also new pieces from the current album like "Anchoress in Furs" were well received.

Vemod rounded things off with a more than successful finale. The Norwegians conjured up an atmospheric soundscape on stage that is unparalleled. First, they covered their current album "The Deepening", which was released in January last year. But "Venter på stormene", the title track from the last long player, also found its way into their setlist. Once again, a real fireworks display at the end of this year's Howls of Winter Festival and we enjoyed every minute of it!