RITUAL KING, THE HIVE, EDINBURGH, OCTOBER 22 2026

Heavy psych/stoners on tour, in an oddly lightless Hive. Not sure why it was so dark. Maybe somebody forgot to put 50p in the meter...

Line-up:

ARDUA: Local metalcore lads. Their first ever gig, it seems. Confident and clearly well-rehearsed. Singer sometimes seems unsure of what to do on stage when he's not singing. 

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/eKE7S3qcz6g   https://www.facebook.com/ArduaUK

KURNEL FIST: The first hefty psych/blues stoner power trio of the evening, this one from Dundee.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/7xrJi_qNatQ  https://www.facebook.com/kurnelfist

OBSIDIAN SAND: Sludgy post-metal trio, mostly very loud, occasionally less so. Fond of long songs.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/wlTbHqbLy98   https://www.facebook.com/ObsidianSand

RITUAL KING: Tonight's main feature, and the second hefty psych/blues stoner power trio of the evening. All the way from Manchester. Didn't let a couple of feedback gremlins spoil the fun.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/QHH6kLfjSTg   https://www.facebook.com/ritualking

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR, GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART, OCTOBER 17 2026

A post-post. And the reason I couldn't go to the second night of that black metal thing in Edinburgh, as mentioned in the previous post.

Line-up:

OTAY:ONII: Solo performance project of Chinese artist LANE MINGYU SHI. Visceral, electro/industrial/cabaret/jazz/metal. Amongst other things. She plays what looks like the biggest keytar ever, or maybe it's a regular one and she's just very small. She also makes electronic noises by twisting a thing that looks like a flower on a coil of metal tubing. As you do.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/UFiYcCXAJHE   https://www.facebook.com/Laneshiotayonii

CASPIAN: Taking nothing away from the other artists on the bill, this is the real reason I am here tonight. It has been far too long since CASPIAN were here, and I was NOT going to miss them. And they are glorious. Post-rock of the highest order - delicate, beautiful and crushingly hefty. Thick smoke and hostile lighting only enhance the show, even whilst making it very hard to take photographs.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/GcKK3yk8bsw   https://www.facebook.com/CaspianTheBand

AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR: Did I say CASPIAN were hard to photograph? ASIWYFA take it one step further. Smoke, lights, AND hyperactive musicians. Now can legitimately be called 'veteran' post/math rockers, they've been kicking the shit out of stages over the world for bloody ages. They rip through a set culled from the whole of their career. They've got nothing new to promote, so there are no great surprises. Until...

They come out for an encore and leave us with 'The Voiceless', a song from their very first record, one of my absolute favourites, and one that I believed I would never see played again. 

Somewhat unfortunately, I managed to fuck up the audio recording to some degree so the video below is not without its issues, but it is what it is and I'm happy that I got to get a record of that song.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/TuU6eAUjQrY   https://www.facebook.com/andsoiwatchyoufromafar

DARKNESS OVER EDINBURGH, BANSHEE LABYRINTH, EDINBURGH, OCTOBER 16 2026

The latest black metal showcase from WULFHERE PRODUCTIONS.  Well, only half of it really, for reasons which will become clear later.

 Line-up:

MELYXYLEM: Visceral BM quartet from Aberdeen, apparently quite fond of Classical languages. Singer looks too slight/young to produce THAT voice

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/XtdSbO5zoyA   https://www.facebook.com/melyxylem

ÚLFARR: WULFHERE 'house band' from Cumbria. Old school BM, complete with corpse paint, bullet belts and hoods.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/aZHmTBqEQVo   https://www.facebook.com/ulfarr666

BLASFEME: From Bristol, possibly the most 'tuneful' band of the night. Still hefty, though.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/gjo2OuUtdI0   https://www.facebook.com/blasfemeband

HEATHEN DEITY: Tonight's no-nonsense headliner, purveyors of 'true English Black Metal', from Derbyshire. Which is, indeed, in England. Bass player is also in SINNERS SERMON, whom you might have seen in a post from a couple of weeks ago. Extra credit to the singer for telling some chatty folks in the crowd to 'SHUT THE FUCK UP'

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/QLYvoTHfmOM    https://www.facebook.com/heathendeityofficial

Another sold out gig for WULFHERE, and a packed BANSHEE. A big round of applause for the sound engineer  - whose name I still don't know - for doing a grand job. Have to miss the Saturday half of the event - for more details, see next post. Back in November for more of the Black stuff.