KULK, HOME BAR, EDINBURGH SEPTEMBER 26 2026

 Been really looking forward to this one

LINE-UP:

OBSIDIAN SAND: Colossally loud sludgy post-metal.  Play in the dark, so only one photograph because I don't like using flash.

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

IAN: The most innocuous of names, the most crushing riffs. Post-metal done right. With a cello. And they had some lights on.

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/thY1h8Ul3R4   https://www.instagram.com/iantheband

KULK: Back to darkness with this VERY loud doom/noise duo, out on tour plugging their new record. Which you should buy, obviously.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/HnnRtfZjSSc   https://www.facebook.com/kulkband

UNDER, BANNERMAN'S. EDINBURGH, SEPTEMBER 23 2026

Another offering from EERIE EIDOLON. On a Wednesday. So I have to take a day off work. Oh dear, what a shame, never mind.

Also Stu from FotG/EE said that I'd be on the guest list and didn't need to buy a ticket, but that didn't seem fair so I bought one anyway. 

Line-up:

FALL OF THE GATEKEEPERS: Local post-sludge lads getting things under way.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/u68oM9wl9Yk   https://www.facebook.com/fallofthegatekeepersofficial

ACIDSAURUS BONG: The dankest of sludge. I have no idea why the font for the video link is so large. Not MY doing.

VIDEO:    https://youtu.be/gaXm4VhERhc    https://www.facebook.com/acidsaurusbong

UNDER: Excellent sludge/noise from Stockport. It's sludge, Jim, but not as we know it. Sludge with weird chewy bits in it. Awkward sludge. Uneasy listening. 

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/TM5QhkFXrH8   https://www.facebook.com/understockport

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, LA BELLE ANGELE, EDINBURGH, AUGUST 3 2026

US black metal legends in, for a change, Edinburgh. Been waiting for years to see these lads, but always managed to miss them for various reasons. Will they be worth the wait?

Line-up:

GOUT: Glasgow's most excellent sludge/noise quartet, filling in at short notice when the original opener (Serena Cherry's NOCTULE project) called off. An odd choice, perhaps, as they don't feature a shred of 'black' in their metal. It's nice to finally see them in a bigger venue. It's no more than they deserve.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/pL5veYJOeQc   https://www.instagram.com/__gout

SPECTRAL WOUND: 'Aristocratic suicidal black metal', whatever that means. From Montreal. In Canada. If you want to know what ASBM is check out the video below, because that's the title of the song.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/yeKECgvew_s     https://www.facebook.com/spectralwoundcontramundi

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM: Atmospheric black metal from Washington, USA. Apologies for the extra-horrible pics, but it was, y'know, dark.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/8y0EEHs5fEI   https://www.facebook.com/wolvesinthethroneroom

So. Was it worth the wait? Well, I'm glad to have seen them at last but, to be absolutely honest, I'm a tad disappointed. I was expecting something a bit more...special. They were fine, but no more so than many other black metal bands. Gout were awesome, though.

STRANGEFORMS FESTIVAL, DAY 2, BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, LEEDS, APRIL 19 2026

 Something to do in Leeds on a Sunday...

Line-up:

THE SOUND OF MODESTY: Something gentle to ease us into Sunday? Not a bit of it! TSoM's perky J-rock/indie-pop blend cuts nicely through the hangovers.

VIDEO:   https://youtu.be/VugNSclu50U   https://www.facebook.com/thesoundofmodesty

PEACH: Excellent post-punk from, I think, Bristol, featuring Ellie Godwin of IN VIOLET on vocals. I would've bought a CD from them, but they don't seem to deal in such out-dated technology.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/0LCL81STBhw  https://www.facebook.com/wearepeachbanduk

TAYNE: Bumped up the bill because COWBOYY got held up in traffic. London industrialists, any resemblance to HEALTH is totally co-incidental. They're really good, but hard to photograph, bathed in red lights as they are.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/n9QEcxdStn8  https://www.facebook.com/tayneband

COWBOYY: Here at last. Worth the wait, though. Ridiculously talented super-widdly math-rock, pedal boards the size of Belgium. Huge fun.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/Hl2LiM0Z7y0   https://www.instagram.com/cowboyyband/

SHAKING HAND: More math, but math of a completely different colour. This is progressive, chin-strokey math. It's equally excellent, but in  a very different way to COWBOYY. Less dance, more think.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/oGF9BolFHZw   https://www.instagram.com/shaking__hand/

SUGAR HORSE: And now we step away from math-rock. Far, far away from Math-rock. Sugar Horse are explosive, devastating sludgy post-metal. Their guitars sound absolutely feral. They are colossally loud. One of my very favourite bands. I wish they could play for longer.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/9B6kom0xcHA   https://www.facebook.com/sugarhorseruinedmybirthday
 

KOWLOON WALLED CITY: My microphone has barely recovered from the battering by Sugar Horse, and now the poor thing has to endure KOWLOON WALLED CITY's brutal sludge assault. Californians stopping by after a Euro tour, they are phenomenal. I knew nothing of them before this, but I shall proceed to correct that forthwith.

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/ngK0QTCi244  https://www.facebook.com/kowloonwalledcity
 

DARKHER: So happy to see DARKHER here, as her show in Edinburgh not long ago was cancelled when the tax-man shut down the venue (BOOO!). Haunting, delicate and doomy, utterly beguiling. A special way to close the fest. Also, not that it's particularly relevant, but she has SPECTACULAR hair!

VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/Nr1Kb8JCX3Y   https://www.facebook.com/DARKHERMUSIC

Thanks to Stewart, Kerry and the StrangeForms crew for everything. See you again next year.