Live Review: Winterfylleth with Wormwitch and Bizarrekult at Downstairs at the Dome, Tufnell Park, London (08/11/24)

Not content with having released one of the best albums of the year, atmospheric black metal icons Winterfylleth go two for two with one of the best live performances of the year as well. Delivering a stellar set of Winterfylleth classics alongside newer and bleaker slices of brilliance. ‘The Imperious Horizon’ reflects a world that is dark and dangerously fractured, but tonight everyone can forget about the hellscape outside the walls of Downstairs at the Dome for a brief period.

It’s not just Winterfylleth who are here to distract though, and the support has a very international flavour. First up is Norway’s Bizarrekult and like the name suggests, they offer up a peculiar style of black metal that has atmosphere and post-like elements infused but is robustly intense for the most part. Nowhere is this better understood than by watching and listening to the vocals, which range from shy whispers and calming tones to explosive ferocity and blackened horror. It’s dark, it’s cold, and it’s often dour, but it is exceptionally watchable and listenable.

Speaking of watchable and listenable though, on any other night and on any other bill, Wormwitch would have been the band of the night, such is the brilliance of their blackened heaviness. A style that has unrelenting savagery at the forefront, but a style filled with massive melodic moments and even ‘black and roll’ aspects, although from a much more intense place. It’s barrage of noise, delivered with poise and power, proving that not all great black metal comes from the frigid world of Scandinavia, it sometimes comes out of the darker corners of Canada.

It’s back to Blighty though with the headliners, Winterfylleth, who arrive on stage to a cacophony of noise from an audience eager to have their minds, bodies, and souls broken by their power.

Let’s get this clear right away, there is no such thing as a bad or disappointing Winterfylleth show as the band are always on form. Few bands can replicate the intensity, beauty, heaviness, and emotion that exists in their music on stage to the level that Winterfylleth can, and once again, they deliver a show that can be summed up as simply unforgettable.

Eighty-minutes on stage feels like half that, and the ease in which the newer tracks fit with the old confirms the iconic status of the new album already. Take your pick, but few aren’t head-banging and screaming along to tracks like To the Edge of Tyranny and The Reckoning Dawn itself. Calling it immense doesn’t fully cover it, as to witness Winterfylleth in the flesh is to witness one of the tightest bands in the world, and not just the UK. From the guitars to the drums to the vocals, this band is sounding stronger than ever, and its shows like this that prove it unequivocally.

One of the best albums of the year and now one of the best shows. Winterfylleth are on the form of their lives right now.