Samhain Festival (Day 2) - Muziekgieterij Maastricht, 26 October 2025

Samhain festival in the Muziekgieterij, that meant two firsts for me: festival and venue. The festival is build around black metal mainly. Do not think of the church burning face painted black metal, but more the save the planet variations. Lots of atmospheric long build ups here. Now Black Metal is not my base stream in metal, but the Sunday had my three favourites of the line-up playing. Knowing that Frank would be there with Daan , so no wandering around alone made me decide to drive down to Maastricht. Rain and a badly signed roadblock around Eindhoven resulting in a large detour, made the way down a long drive indeed.

I knew I would miss part of openers Wiegedood, but did not expect this much. The band Wiegeddod would open the festival playing two hours passing their De Doden Hebben Het Goed trilogy in full. The last bit I did see sounded good. Dark moods and atmosphere is their thing over long songs. 

Next band were Phuthulmu. Not an easy name, nor is their music. The only vowel they use in bandname and songtitles is the u, but you struggle understanding anything anyway. The small hall meanwhile turned out to be of very decent size, so throughout the day there never was a moment it felt too busy. This also as the festival did not sell out. So I stayed short and checked out te venue better. A great large hall with two balconies going high up. A large bar area with lots of different beers, which I did not touch as driver. Than upon entering there was enough space with some foodstands and merch in a different side hall. So the venue overall was great and I hope to be back more often.

Meanwhile in the main hall Sylvaine were preparing themselves. This band is build around Norwegian multi instrumentalist Kathrine. When the band kicked off her heavy vocals surprised me, as her fragile looks made me fear angelic singing. That was a plus and so were the French /German band. They went through their dark set in style and I liked it from start to finish. Maybe not for me to play at home, but live a good band. We agreed that Daan's idea for them to sell huge blond wigs as merch should be a hit.

In the small hall the metal was upped hereafter. Necronautical played a set that came closest to a proper metal set. Lots of energy, lots of fists in the air and a set that flew by for me. I also meanwhile found out that staying inbetween the Baroeg alike poles gave a better overview of the stage. For me Necronautical became the first true highlight of the day and I knew a next one was waiting fo rme.

Fen were preparing themselves in the main hall and they were the biggest reason I drove to Maastricht to start with. I saw them once before, when they toured their magnificent Winter album. I told Frank and Daan I considered them to be the Rush of Black Metal. This maybe mostly based upon the tact that they are a trio and vocalist /guitarist The Watcher looks like Geddy Lee from a distance. Musically their music is atmospheric Black Metal with long songs, where at times clean vocals are blended in. During the first song sound was being perfected, but hereafter we got a beauty of a show. Their energy on stage was great and the playing tight and flawless. This hour really flew by and they reconfirmed to me why  consider them possibly my favourite black metal band.

For me at festivals after an absolute high the next band suffers. In this case Shagor, from The Netherlands. I gave them a few songs, but than went for a bite. Being a Dutch band I count on seeing them again somewhere along their tours. Meanwhile it turned out that the vegan paddo Kroket was great indeed. 

In the big hall it was time for Winterfylleth and I decided to watch one show from the balconies, being able to hang for a bit. Winterfylleth I saw before with Fen and they play Black metal, but their looks make you expect different. Three vocalists with one being the guy from Necronautical and one Mark Deeks I know from Ard. It was nice to see keyboards, being played live on stage and adding to the fun. This was again a pleasant surprise as I did not expect liking them this much. 

Hemelbestormer play instrumental black metal and are Dutch too. I looked at the remaining program and decided to give myself a rest. I saw one song and went  looking for a chair in the bar area for talking music and life with Frank and Daan. Interesting how Maastricht being three hours away still resulted in meeting more known faces over the day. It's a small world we walk in, when it comes to metal in Holland.

T

he second main reason for attending Samhain for me were on next and this was Dodheimsgard. I saw them a few years ago in Musicon and loved their set. When they released Black Medium Current two years ago I bought it and it still an album I go back to when I want to hear something extreme, yet different and orignal at the same time. They opened the set with the opener of BMC and immediately it was clear we were in for a treat. Their frontman Vicotnik is a performer we had not seen yet on stage. Crawling around, dancing wildly or banging his head, he kept all eyes on him. Well not only him as the different looking band memebers also impressed massively. Looking at show and performances this was the highlight of the day and also musically they were ace. It Does Not Follow was maybe the absolute high to me, as I do know the song and the danceable intro is so damn catchy. If I liked their show last time, now I turned into a proper fan (just like the Fen fan in me).

So after a highlight etc. Well Sunken came on in the small hall ad were comepletely differennt indeed. These Danes from Aarhus presented the thickest wall of sound of the day. The shrieking emotional vocals over it made it an impressive sight. Yet for me it reminded me of the Blues. After some 20 minutes I saw enough, while to Daan they were the highlight of the day.  

And than it was closing time with Moonspell from Portugal. This tour they only go back to their past, playing Wolfheart in full. It was immediately clear that we got a band with experience on stage. On the vocal front being helped by the female vocalist of Glasya they presented their album great. The only side step was to their EP that came before. I liked it all over, but the songs where they go too folky and almost pirate metal could have been skipped for me. Than again I am not the most typical Moonspell fan as my favourite by them is 1755. Well it was great ending with a set I did recogniz eand than it was driving home, which all went smooth. If one thing got I confirmed today is that I shall follow de Muziekgieterij agenda more closely. A lovely venue and who knows a weekend Maastricht is in the cards one day.