Friday (07.03):

Unfortunately I couldn't get it on Thursday to Friesack due to some obligations I had concerning my work so I missed the bands signed by Folter Records by whom the festival is run. What I've heard is that I must have missed a really cool Thursday with bands such as Dutch Kaeck or German Frantic Aggressor or Auro. Well, it is what it is and so I arrived on Friday a little bit late so I wasn't able to see the opener Vel'Har.

Kicking off my festival time with Israeli Dim Aura, it started pretty grim and harsh. The four guys on stage played sort of mid-tempo paced black metal reminding a lot of Finnish stuff such as Satanic Warmaster or Horna. Because it was pretty early the crowd in front of the stage was actually pretty small and still quite reserved.

Next band was Austrian Plaguepreacher. This band was quite the opposite of Dim Aura – dirty, rotten and ugly. Especially vocalist VX was an eyecatcher with his blood-soaked undershirt. They had quite a cool stage show with flaming crosses and stuff like that, only the sunlight wasn't the best weather for such show effects. Musically Plaguepreacher did a mixture of OSBM peppered with some fast blast beat attacks and did quite a good job.

Setlist: Dawnfall (Intro)/ Valravn I / Plaguepreacher / Misanthrophic Terror Squad / Destroyers Of Light / Abyssol / De letzte Sun (Tribute to Barth)

Now it was time for my first personal highlight that day – Serbian The Stone. Being quite a legendary band for many years now and having released ten studio albums so far it should be the first time I could experience them live. And the guys delivered playing an entertaining mix of older and newer songs. Having a great day they did a superb show with front guy Glad performing like a real Slavic demon in the burning sunlight. Especially his wooden mask was very impressive and meeting the guys after the show was really nice. It was some kind of mystery for me why the audience was that reserved though.

Setlist: Trag U Večnosti / Tragom Hromoga Vuka / Kosturnice / Dok Se Blizi Propast Niezbezna / Kletve Lobos / Zakon Velesa / Dani crni

Next German Krater had the pleasure to kill. Stylistically similar to Plaguepreacher (dirty and bloodsmeared) and with some spiked animal skulls the guys from Saxony played fast hateful black metal reminding me of a mixture between Watain and Mayhem only double that fast and here and there meeting Deathspell Omega. Also having released already five albums the guys had to offer some really grim songs that afternoon that cooled down the ears to chilly 14°F.

Another band with a long discography and active for 23 years are Australian Pestilential Shadows. Their latest release "Wretch" from 2025 was a really cool black metal album and so my expectations were pretty high. The guys delivered cool high speed black metal without any intro, it was just a big band explosion. In some parts PS slowed down the tempo to perform some more depressive stuff but most of the time they blasted through their songs. If you have a bad day I can highly recommend you that band to get through it.

Setlist: Intro / Wretch / Hunter & Reaper / Impaled By The Moon / Death-Knell / Armour Satanised / Erebus Divination / Putrid Earth / Devils Hammer 666 / Outro

Now it was time for the band with the longest discography of this festival (and maybe in the world), namely Nunslaughter. They just released their newest album "Satanic Chaos Legions" and so had a lot of music to offer. And they didn't take any prisoners. Almost ADHS-like guitarist Tormentor and bassist Malum were running over the stage and were really a pleasure to see and hear. Vocalist Don of the Dead was shouting and growling like hell and obviously they had a lot of fun playing that evening. Unfortunately the show was over after 50 minutes, I could have watched them much longer.

Setlist: I Saw Your God Die / In The Graveyard / Immune To Poison / Raid The Convent / Looking Into The Abyss / Burn The Cross / Midnight Mass / Worst Nightmare / Cerebus / Mother Cunt Whore / Emperor In Hell / She Lives By Night / I Am Death / Red Is The Color Of Ripping Death / Jesus Is Doomed / God / Unsacrament / Satanic Slut / Smell The Burning Churches

Wolfs howling introduced the next band and everybody who is firm in 90s black metal instantly knows this intro. Correct, it's "Svartalvheim", the intro of the first album with the same name by Norwegian legends Ancient. Performing the whole album back from 1994 the guys had a lot of cool band anthems in this set that actually sounded quite close to the original. Apart from the great songs also the stage acting was excellent. From the make-up to the dress code (especially vocalist Zel with his crown was an eye-catcher that evening) everything looked pretty good and something clicked between Ancient and the audience. Cool show.

Setlist: Svartalvheim / Trumps Of An Archangel / Huldradans / The Call Of The Absu Deep / Det Glemte Riket / Paa Eving Wandring / Eerily Howling Winds / Likferd /Trolltaar / Nattensskjønnhet

Which band has its cult status in the scene only because of two demos and exists since 1985 (with some breaks)? Correct, Hungarian Tormentor of course. Dressed as some sort of morbid monks the guys did a great performance on stage. Their Vocalist (it was Attila from Mayhem) growled and screamed as hell and it was interesting to see them unleash their unholy energy let it jump over to the crowd. Maybe it's time for another album?

Setlist: Intro / Tormentor I / Transylvania / In Gate Of Hell / Beyond / Damned Grave / Recipe Ferrum! / Tormentor 2 / Elisabeth Bathory / Apocalypse / Anno Domini / Mephisto / Live In Damnation / 7th Day Of Doom / Outro

And now it was time for the last band of the day – Thou Shell Of Death hailing from Estonia. The band spread a super mystical atmosphere performing some ambient black-doom stuff. That was a really gloomy show with some sinister tunes. Although I had never heard of them I instantly fell in love with their dark music. I got reminded a lot of Void Meditation Cult, especially the dark growling vocals sounded a lot like these sickos. Maybe it isn't that dark but they tend into the same direction. The oppressive atmosphere got reinforced by the blue lights that only lightened the stage in a dark light. That was a really spooky closer for that evening.

Setlist: A Voice On The Wind / The House Of Fear / The Lost Dream / The Burden Of Desire

Saturday (07.04):

This day started with some really bad news. First of all everybody was talking about the passing of Marduk's former bass player B. War which was announced that morning. If it wasn't enough with these sad news the festival announced that Norwegian Helheim who were planned to be one of the main actors that evening missed their flight and so their gig had to be cancelled. Also the weather forecast wasn't too nice, predicting a lot of rain for that day so that the day started quite bad.

The crowd was waiting for German Seelenwinter and everybody was wondering why the soundcheck lasted so long and why the guys didn't play their show instead. Well, after some minutes we got the solution for this riddle – Seelenwinter were stuck in a traffic jam and couldn't come in time to their time slot so their gig also got cancelled. I won't blame anybody for this but in modern times where everybody had a navigation system on their mobile phone and with a certain time you need to be there plus the fact you don't have to drive from a too remote place to Friesack it leaves a certain taste. So the guys doing their soundcheck on stage were already German Cromlech who did a really cool show with a nice mid-tempo black-thrash mixture. When they reduced their speed they even sounded quite like some sort of depressive black metal band using a lot of minor tunes in their songs. That was a harsh and frosty start into a rainy day.

Setlist: Ash Pillar / Vogelfrei / Ice Curse / Cold And Stiff / Mordlust / Die Gier nach eurem Untergang / Ewiges Eis

Now it was time for tea with some whipped cream and on stage legendary Naked Whipper. Active since 1993 and with two brutal grind-death records in their discography the Germans rocked the stage. Wearing hoodies and sunglasses the guys looked pretty cool and their music left no room to breathe. It was just a blitzkrieg of blast beat attacks and deep growls. With their quite short songs they laid the stage in ruins and probably found some new fans that afternoon. At least I was very impressed of them and had to get me their latest album instantly.

Setlist: The Ultimate Molestor / Depraved To The Bone / Painstreaks / Celebrate Their Downfall / Top Notch Slavedriver / Perverse Delight / The Swinepriest Bedlam / Anal Queen / Nail Or Be Nailed / Rape-N-Ride / Fucked On Cross / Nuclear Solutions

I had the pleasure seeing Dutch Doodswens ("Deathwish") some time ago and what I kept in mind was the endless intro, celebrating the dead with candles, incense sticks and skulls. So this happened this afternoon once again but with the daylight it didn't work as good as it did back then in total darkness. Nevertheless the guys plus gal who did the vocals and the drums did a cool show. Playing harsh black metal without any keyboards they offered really grim music without too many catchy parts. Only sometimes they had some catchy parts and especially the vocals by I. were really grim, I don't want to know how she may freak out at home when her beloved (or shoud I say behated?) ones scorched the frikandel and fries. Unfortunately they also evoked the rain so it wasn't the best circumstance to enjoy the show.

Setlist: Driven By Death / Verrot / Het Zwarte Waterland / In Mijn Bloed / The Black Flame / She Carries The Curse / Devil's Stone / Vlaamse Vloek

The rain was getting more and more and a lot of people were looing to find some shelter from the rain which was a little bit tricky because of not too many opportunities for this. This weren't the best conditions for Iku-Turso which is an international project from Finland and the Netherlands. Kicking off with a nice atmospheric intro soon their music turned into some more or less typical Finnish black metal. High-pitched vocals, frosty riffs and thunderous drums quite similar to their countrymen Vargrav tried to blow the rain away. Musically they absolutely convinced the audience but the shitty weather still wasn't too convinced to go away and stayed a little bit longer.

Setlist: An Adversary's Funeral / Wanderer / As The Funeral Winds Gather / Adinkra / Chastise Thyself / At The Crack Of Dawn / The Capriciousness Of The Galaxy

Finnish Aegrus, the band I was looking forward most to especially because of their superb last album "Invoking The Abysmal Night" also had the pleasure of facing the rain. Fortunately I found shelter under the roof of a beer stall (not for drinking of course!) to enjoy their show. Having one of the most impressive light shows of the festival the guys were fucking epic. This was pure rage and a lesson in black metal. Although the interaction with the audience was almost reduced to zero (okay, they're Finns) it was impressive with how many energy they performed their songs.

Setlist: Invoking The Abysmal Night / Devotion For The Devil / Through Devil's Breath / Ascending Shadows / Embodiment Of Chaos / Temple Of Ardent Worship / The Black Wings Upon Me / In Manus Satanas

One of the most interesting German black metal bands these days is Mavorim. Be it because of the German lyrics or the political background. At least there were some discussions in the audience into which political direction they tend to. There was no clear statement in the set but I have my own opinion not only because of having a guest appearance by Erik of Frantic Aggressor in the cover song "Eisenkult" by Eisenkult. Frantic Aggressor is signed by Folter Records and if you know Jörg you know where to put both bands politically and this is not at the right side of the spectrum. Although "Eisenkult" is not really a cover song when you have in mind that vocalist Baptist and drummer Valfor are playing in both bands. The band did a great show and came over very sympathetic and it was another great show that day.

Setlist: Intro / Ein Zerrbild aller Leiden / Die Welt erstickt / Tod und Teufel / Eisenkult / Als der Menschheit Wille brach / Zerfall / Axis Mundi / Alles stirbt / Träume

The time was right for German black metal legends Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. If you have ever seen them you know that not only their music is pure evil enchantment but also the disguise of Onielar. Also that evening she wore some ghastly witch costumes and was the eye catcher on stage. Musically the band delivered as always and played some kind of best of of their discography. The band cast a spell over the audience and probably everybody was flashed by the show. Let's hope that a new album will be released soon, "Mardom" is already 7 years old.

Setlist: Mordom – Echo Zmory / In The Land Of… / A Beseechment Twofold / Bearer Of Blackest / Malignant Deathcult / Das All-Eine / Imperishabel Soulless Gown / In The Hue Of Night / Spectral Runlets Of Julwod / Nocturnal March

And so the end of the festival was already dawning. Dymna Lotva, originally hailing from Belarus but emigrated to Poland because of their political situation in their home country had the pleasure of being the last band of UTBS 2026. Wearing some traditional Slavic dresses and an intro probably in Belarus the band exuded a lot of Eastern European flair. Combined with their post-black metal came out a very oppressive atmosphere. The high-pitched, desperate cries of Nokt intensified this very dense atmosphere a lot. Although the music might not be the right thing for everybody and it is no easy-listening, it was a very remarkable show.

Setlist: The Pit / Into The Swamp / Funeral…Ground / The Land Under… / Hell / Cruelty / Buried Alive / Outro / Zory / Outro

To resume the two days – UTBS 2026 was, apart from the shitty weather on Saturday and the two cancelled bands, a really great festival. The sound was excellent during all shows and there weren't any people who did trouble. It was a pleasure to meet some old friends once again and to get to know a lot of new ones. I hope that next year will be as great as this year and the first bands for 2027 are already announced: Graven, Sarkrista, Wintarnaht and Ainzamkait. So save the date from 07.01 . – 07.03.2027!