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Three black metal bands. Three different styles. This evening was a showcase of how varied a genre that black metal can be. Despite certain fans of the genre having some of the most close minded attitudes in metal, the genre itself is probably the richest and most diverse within metal. This was the first show of a near sell out tour and a packed out Fleece in Bristol enjoyed a barrage of black metal goodness.

Opening the show were Spanish band Noctem returning to the UK for the first time since 2022. Valencia might not seem the most likely location for a black metal band but there is nothing warm or sunkissed about Noctem’s sound or performance. This was a bludgeoning assault from start to finish with the band pouring every bit of energy into their short performance. Noctem’s brand of black metal is very blast-beat heavy with elements of death metal mixed in meaning this was music that was brutally heavy yet darkly atmospheric. The atmosphere was maintained between songs with dark ambient noise interludes whilst the band’s south mediterranean heritage came through in flamenco style acoustic guitar parts. With machine gun style blast-beats, crushing guitar riffs and the bestial roar of frontman Beleth, Noctem certainly grabbed the audience’s attention with plenty of headbanging and horns thrown. By the time their set came to a close, Noctem had gained some new fans and appeased their established ones.

Next on the bill were the biggest and most well known band in UK black metal – the mighty Winterfylleth. With their new album “The Unyielding Season” still warm off the record press, a good chunk of the set was dedicated to the new material – we were actually the first crowd to hear the new material in a live setting. No complaints here as the new songs sounded absolutely incredible. Incredible is the term that could be used for this set in general as Winterfylleth absolutely stole the show with one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from the band. Whilst Noctem bludgeoned the crowd, Winterfylleth took everyone on an epic and atmospheric journey. There were many in the crowd, myself included, who were just lost in the music and the band also got the loudest cheers of the night with it being clear that the majority in attendance were there to see Winterfylleth. Considering it was the first show of the tour, the band chemistry was in full flow and they were a well oiled machine though it was hard to take your eyes of keyboard player Mark Deeks who looked like he was having the time of his life. As well as new material, there were Winterfylleth set staples such as ‘The Reckoning Dawn’ and ‘A Valley Thick With Oaks’ which got some of the best reactions from the crowd. From a slick performance to a fantastic song selection, Winterfylleth were in incredible form and it felt like they should probably have been in the headlining slot.

Headlining the evening were the band I was least familiar with – US act Blackbraid. There has been a lot of hype around Blackbraid in recent years most likely due to the unlikely marriage of black metal and Native American themes and mythology. On record, Blackbraid are the sole project of Sgah’gahsowáh who writes and performs all the material. However for live performances, he is joined by a bunch of excellent musicians to bring his vision to the stage. With a set drawn from the three albums, Blackbraid performed a mix of atmospheric and melodic black metal with nods to bands such as Bathory, Watain and Dissection in their sound. The inclusion of Native American flute to the band’s performance in the last two songs added to the performance and made for an epic conclusion to the band’s set.

It was an animated performance with the frontman barely keeping still and putting a lot of energy and physicality into their performance but there was a distinct lack of crowd interaction and some awkward silences between the songs. With the band being hired live musicians rather than a full time band, there wasn’t much in the way of stage presence and chemistry though it was a very solid, competent and enjoyable performance with a very high level of musicianship but it just felt like it was lacking something in comparison to the previous two bands that had played in the evening. Blackbraid is impressive on record but they were very much outshone by the support acts in the live setting.