Fire in the Mountains released the nearly complete line-up a few weeks ago for their 2026 iteration, set to run from July 23 to 26 in Cut Bank, Montana. The festival already had a strong ensemble with a 16 Horsepower reunion, Sigh, a rare Gallowsbraid set, Wayfarer, Enslaved, and Baroness, but the final additions shot it over the moon. Agalloch will perform Ashes in the Wake in full, and Abbath’s one-off side project with Ice Dale and Armagedda, I, will play their record Between Two Worlds for the second time ever live. This is all without the yet-announced surprise headliner, whom festival organizers have been tight-lipped about.
As exciting as this is, Fire in the Mountains’ appeal lays beyond its marquee acts. The picturesque location in Red Eagle Campground is a far cry from the corporate sponsored and ad-infested metagame of most festivals. The fantasy of going off grid into the woods and getting closer with nature, for whatever esoteric or incantatious purposes, is central to Fire in the Mountains. Organizers work closely with the Blackfeet Nation to build solidarity and community between festival goers and host populations. As their site states, “It’s the deliberate curation of music, art, education, food, social responsibility, and adventure with the intention to cultivate our intrinsic nature through the act of rewilding; that is, to reconnect and immerse oneself with the natural world, thus strengthening our ancestral roots.” Yes, every festival is a gathering of like-minded people and a chance to connect, but Fire in the Mountains is more intentional about what that community means.
And that community extends to the performers, some of whom come from indigenous populations or who may fly under the radar when names like Agalloch and Abbath are thrown around. However, they aren’t to be missed. Here are some of the lesser-known bands on the bill that you should check out.
…
Yaotl Mictlan
The Salt Lake City-based trio Yaotl Mictlan (“Warriors from the land of the Dead” in Nahuatl) are interesting to compare and contrast with the rest of Fire in the Mountains. They have the same longevity as their peers higher up on the bill, yet retain more of black metal’s venom than, say, modern Enslaved or Borknagar. And while there are many permutations of black metal on the line-up, Yaotl Mictlan are the only ones heavily influenced by Mayan culture, going beyond lyrical themes and incorporating indigenous instruments and textures.
This manifests as equal parts pagan and atmospheric black metal that swaps Nordic overtures for Mayan ones, at least on their most recent album, Sagrada Tierra Del Jaguar (2020). It’s familiar but novel. That’s difficult to achieve for a genre as resistant and stubborn as black metal, but, ultimately, it’s what most search for. “Entre Lluvias Fuertes,” the first track from Sagrada Tierra Del Jaguar, serves a vertical slice for the group; it puffs its chest and marches to a war drum. On it, Yaolt Mictlan play tributes to the fallen heroes of Mexican history, summoning blood moons in their honor. The pre-Hispanic instruments largely replace synths as atmospheric flourishes and plant the band’s flag squarely in Mexico without disrupting black metal’s principles.
Yaotl Mictlan have a small discography, especially in light of their multi-decade career, but it’s diverse. Their current pagan black metal is much different from their debut, Guerreros de la Tierra de Los Muertos, which turns 20 this year. It’s the type of feral offering befitting a debut album, though the track “A Batalla Vamos” plants the seeds for their later style. Meanwhile, their sophomore record, Dentro Del Manto Gris de Chaac (2010), is somehow more depraved, raw, and melodic, as “Hun Hunapu” and “Gemeos Heroes” prove.
The high-batting average of Yaotl Mictlan’s output is enough to justify carving out time to see them at Fire in the Mountains, but they’re more fascinating when considered through a larger context. They show how black metal developed in different countries and offer an alternative to their viking metal contemporaries, showing what, for example, Enslaved could sound look like if the Norwegian group didn’t progress so much.
…
Savage Oath
Savage Oath only have one album under their belt, but their personnel holds a pedigree higher than their place on the Fire in the Mountains schedule implies. They’re a supergroup of sorts, boasting some of the most impressive players in the US heavy metal scene. Brendan Radigan from Sumerlands (who are also appearing at the festival) and the last Pagan Altar album performs vocals, Leeland Campana from Visigoth (whose vocalist is set to perform as Gallowsbraid) provides guitar, and Phil Ross of Manilla Road and Ironsword is on bass. Likely, you know exactly what they sound like based on that information alone.
The group’s lone full-length release, Divine Battle, is identifiably power metal, jubilant and free of self-doubt. The shredding solo that opens the record’s great halls wipes away any pretense. It announces that Savage Oath are something of a respite for its members, a chance to perform as brightly as possible with the only limitation being that they have to kick ass. Fortunately, the troupe is practiced and talented enough that the proclivity for fun never gets in the way of itself or undercooks the songs. Every track has wings, flying to a high echelon befitting the epic imagery. As such, Savage Oath are perfect for the sweaty, bond-forming atmosphere of Fire in the Mountains.
…
Galvanist
Galvanist aren’t traveling too far for Fire in the Mountains since they call Bozeman, Montana home. Unlike other acts from nearby who draw from Montana’s country roots, Galvanist pull from the overwhelming nothingness that is wide open space. Montana is the third least densely populated state, after all. The distance and scope between other humans, the mountains and fields, the pressure to create meaning out of countrysides that do not succumb to our morals, and how that impulse confronts our sense of control and reveals how poor it is, all things considered, are what Galvanist take from their home state and its swaths of open air.
Their genre of choice is doom metal, but Galvanist inject so many different subgenres that it’s both limiting and disingenuous to pin them to doom alone. Death, black, sludge, and post-metal all contort Galvanist’s atmosphere-first take on doom, and their songs are typically long enough to shuffle through each. I mean, their debut record Connection, which the band deems a demo even though it’s quite fleshed out, has only three tracks and runs for 40 minutes. From it, “Tears of Eros” provides the best overview of the band.
Connection dropped in 2022, and Galvanist are set to release their next album, The Silence Between the Stars, this month. The first single, “Hauntology,” is their most direct track yet, blending modern black metal (think of the artful and experimental strain that’s cropped up over the last decade) with doom metal and arresting drum work. It’s as if Galvanist learned how to speed up and condense Connection‘s dread while illuminating their explosive ticks. Fire in the Mountains is in no way short of doom this year, but Galvanist’s take is ideally suited for the festival’s isolated outdoor setting.
…
Nocturne
There isn’t much available about Nocturne at the moment. Hailing from Tiwa, New Mexico, the trio formed in 2023 and have a single demo to their name. Excluding the first track (it’s an intro), they only have three songs. It’s then hard to determine much about them and how they’ll use their time at Fire in the Mountains. As it stands, Nocturne feeds the craving for raw black metal. They still sound like they’re in their infancy as Vengeance Demo plays exactly like you’d expect a demo to–ideas are sketched out, but few are expanded beyond their blueprint. That’s not necessarily a knock given how new Nocturne are. Vengeance Demo is then a document of them figuring themselves out.
Still, Nocturne contrast the high gloss and progressive leanings of the other present black metal bands. Cowboys, Malazan-lore scribes, viking elders, and psychedelic freaks will each appear at Red Eagle Campground, leaving a drought of rugged corpse paint music. Nocturne fill that void. What they’ve made available is noisy second-wave black metal worship that gets a decent amount of mileage out of that premise. They lean heavily on the atmosphere of feedback and fuzz, and the dynamic shifts on “DESOLATE” are interesting. This is to say, Nocturne have potential and a solid foundation. Given their commitment to corpse paint, blood, and blasphemy, they should be exciting live.
…
Fire in the Mountains tickets are available here.
