Samhain Maastricht 2026 @ Muziekgieterij

Gehenna

There are three bands named Gehenna. The first Gehenna (Norway) was formed in January 1993 as a nameless project by Sanrabb, Dolgar and Sir Vereda. They didn't give the band a name until they had enough material which would represent their voice. In May of the same year, the trio entered the studio to record a Demo. Sanrabb and Dolgar shared the duty of guitars, vocals, bass and synth, while Sir Vereda took his seat behind the drum set. The demo was recorded between the 3rd and 7th of June 1993 in Soundsuite Studios. It was released under The name "Black Seared Heart" as a tape limited to 100 copies. After several years of inactivity, the band returned with WW in 2005, heralding a much welcomed return to their black metal roots. The following is a far more accurate biography taken from allmusic.com: According to some gospels, when Jesus Christ referred to Hell, he often used the word Gehenna, which was actually the name of Jerusalem's garbage dump -- where fires were constantly kept burning to cope with the city's refuse. Fast forward roughly 2,000 years and the name was adopted by one of Norway's most influential black metal bands, which formed in the town of Stavanger, in January 1993, in the wake of local forefathers Mayhem's ascendance, and integrated a now heralded generation also including such contemporaries as Emperor, Enslaved, Darkthrone, and Ulver. Initially comprising vocalist/guitarist Sanrabb, guitarist/bassist Dolgar (real name Steffen Simenstad), and drummer Sir Vereda, the initially nameless project that would become Gehenna recorded a pair of demos, Black Seared Heart and Ancestors of the Darkly Sky, in their first year, before earning their Scandinavian black metal stripes in dubious fashion when the drummer joined several other more prominent scene members behind bars. Even so, by the following year, Sanrabb and Dolgar had drafted bassist Svartalv, keyboardist Sarcana, and drummer Dirge Rep (aka Per Husebø), played their first local shows, and recorded a debut mini-album entitled First Spell for Head Not Found Records. Still widely regarded to be their definitive work, First Spell showcased a unique style of black metal, both somber and melodic in nature, and earned the group a new recording contract with Cacophonous Records, which also released subsequent efforts Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (1995) and Malice (1996) to serious acclaim in the underground metal world. But Gehenna almost came to a grinding halt in 1997, when internal tensions led to Svartalv's departure to found thrash band Nocturnal Breed, Dirge Rep's defection to Enslaved, and Sarcana's retirement from the scene. Sanrabb and Dolgar would re-emerge the following year with a new album entitled Adimiron Black for Moonfog Productions, and new members E.N. Death (bass), Blod (drums), and Damien (keyboards), but the latter would soon be dismissed due to Gehenna's distinctly more aggressive sound. In fact, by the release of 2000's Murder, Gehenna had reinvented themselves as a death metal band, leaving many observers puzzled. Come 2005's WW, they'd once again returned to their haunting black metal roots, but time has yet to tell whether their fans returned to it with them. The other Gehenna is a nihilistic metallic hardcore band from San Diego, CA. / Reno, NV. one of hardcore's most notorious and vicious bands, thats have released records on CrimethInc, Crawlspace and Area 51. Third band is Progressive Heavy Metal band from Mexico.Back in 1987 this band released one LP called "EN BUSCA DEL VALLE DE GEHENNA" Also note, there is a Swedish Metal band called Gehennah. They play an old style of Thrash. Note; they spell their name with an "h" on the end.

Mork

Lumen ad Mortem (the dying light) was formed in 2019.

From the cold ashes, forged through the smoke and flame of primeval times. A time where grim melodies rose from the forest floor and blasting rhythms carried the embers to engulf and inspire all that is black metal.

After releasing their debut "Upon the Edge of Darkness" in 2023 and playing Australia's premier festivals: The New Dead, Necrosonic, Essence and Froth and Fury in 2024, the band entered the studio in 2025 to record their second full length album.

Vemod

Wode

Vinterland

Soulburn

Walg (NL)

Paradise Lost

More than three decades into their career, and with over two million albums sold, Paradise Lost remain the undisputed kings of metal’s dark side. Formed in Halifax in 1988, the band quickly became noted as the pioneers of gothic metal through their early groundbreaking albums like 1991’s aptly-titled ‘Gothic’, a mixture of heaviness intertwined with shadowy melody and atmosphere.

Never a group to remain creatively static, across their career they’ve explored a myriad of avenues of dark music, from sludgy doom-death roots, to conquering the metal mainstream with the enormous, lush sounds of 1995’s ‘Draconian Times’, to more experimental, electronic leanings, leaving an influence on a trail of artists.

Now, in 2025, the Yorkshire quintet return with their staggering 17th album, ‘Ascension’, a record that sees their crown continue to gleam as it underlines just how they attained their position. The albums 10 tracks traverse the multitude of sounds in the band’s arsenal, from full-bore heavy metal to sky-high melody, all the while keeping a minor-key melancholy that remains irresistible.

The NEW album ”Ascension”, is out September 19th, via Nuclear Blast Records, Pre-Order and Pre-Save: paradiselost.bfan.link/ascension

Wolves In the Throne Room

Nearly two decades into their journey as masters of US Black Metal, Wolves In The Throne

Room have emerged from the forest with PRIMORDIAL ARCANA. Their most majestic

album to date.

While the proverbial blaze in the northern sky remains the band’s artistic palette of choice,

Primordial Arcana expands upon black metal to include musical forms that pre-date the

genre’s devastating second wave. “After we discovered Metallica and Slayer in our early

teens, the first extreme metal bands we were into were Deicide and Morbid Angel,” Aaron

explains. “So death metal was there from the very beginning, and I think it especially comes

to the fore on this record.”

It’s all more evidence that Wolves In The Throne Room are a band with few

contemporaries. “We have a singular and unique voice in the extreme metal world,” Aaron

says. “We’re coming from an unapologetically real and personal perspective, and we haven't

made any concessions to what's expected of us. We’ve always done things exactly the way

we want to do it and in a super DIY way.”

That methodology has reached a new peak with Primordial Arcana. “We’ve gotten even

deeper into the DIY aspect by building our own recording studio from the ground up, and

producing and mixing the record ourselves,” Aaron points out. “And now we’re making our

own videos within the local wilderness. So we’ve been able to keep all of the creative

control between the three of us while raising the bar creatively. As we become more insular

and rely on ourselves more, the art gets better and sharper—a more perfect representation

of what the band is all about.”

Lifelover

Cited as one of the driving forces behind the ultra-bleak, black metal subgenre depressive suicidal black metal (DSBM), Sweden's Lifelover was formed in 2005 in Stockholm by Jonas Bergqvist and Kim Carlsson. Bergqvist chose the deliberately ironic name Lifelover after being having the phrase hurled at him by an acquaintance he particularly loathed. Combining elements of post-punk, goth rock, dark ambient, and doom metal, Lifelover issued their debut album, Pulver, via Goatowarex in 2006, followed by Erotik (2007), Konkurs (2008), and Sjukdom (2011), the latter of which proved to be the band's last studio album as a result of the accidental overdose death of guitarist/co-founder Bergqvist. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi

Oranssi Pazuzu

“Oranssi Pazuzu conjures sounds from the dark corners of space and mind.” The band was formed in 2007 by Jun-His (vocals, guitar) and Ontto (bass guitar), who started jamming with Korjak (drums), and Evill (synthesizers, organ, effects) in order to travel into uncharted musical territories. Very soon Moit (guitar) completed the lineup and Oranssi Pazuzu, The Demon of the Wind with the Colour of Cosmic Energy, was born. During it’s initial months the band wrote songs collectively, fusing together various influences from space rock to black metal, to capture different states of mental cosmos. These early songs were recorded by Sami Jormanainen in Korjak’s family cabin in the late summer of 2008 and released as the group’s debut album Muukalainen puhuu by Violent Journey Records in April 2009. In 2009-2010 Oranssi Pazuzu played shows around Finland and continued to write music that twisted towards more metallic and aggressive moods. In September 2010 they played first concerts outside Finland in Germany and the Netherlands. In November a split album with friend’s band Candy Cane was released as a co-operation of two labels Firebox and Verdura Records. Kosmonument, their second full length album, was recorded in the old cold Karhu Manor in March 2011. Candy Cane’s Marko Neuman acted as an artistic advisor, while Sami Jormanainen returned to the engineering and mixing duties. A concept album about a drifter lost in the void, Kosmonument was released in October 2011 as a cd by Spinefarm Records and as a double vinyl album by Blackspin Music. Also a vinyl version of the debut Muukalainen puhuu was released in May 2011 by Svart Records. After the release of Kosmonument, Oranssi Pazuzu played various European festivals in 2012, including Roadburn and Hellfest. They returned home satisfied, having also met Nikos Giagoudakis, who kindly decided to start as the band’s manager. Being dropped from Spinefarm label, the band decided that it was time to move forward, and returned to writing new material with a newfound enthusiasm and freedom. Agreeing to work with Jaime Gomez Arellano, a London-based producer and engineer, Oranssi Pazuzu travelled to his Orgone Studios to record their third album in February 2013. After a succesful session with Gomez, the band finalized a new record deal with their old vinyl label Svart Records and with 20 Buck Spin for the album’s North American release. Oranssi Pazuzu’s third album is called Valonielu, and it will be released on in October 2013. Produced, recorded and mixed by Jaime Gomez Arellano, it includes six songs that rank among the band’s most ambitious yet, from the album opener Vino verso’s trance metal to the epic finale of Ympyrä on viiva tomussa. An European tour is also planned to coincide with the album’s release. Merchandise available here: www.oranssipazuzu.bigcartel.com

Conjurer

Heretoir

Der Weg Einer Freiheit + Au Dessus + The Devil’s Trade

With Innern, their sixth studio album, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT return with their most introspective and compositionally expansive work to date. A meditation on suffering, transformation, and the fragile thresholds of the human psyche, Innern refines the band’s signature blend of black metal intensity and post-metal atmosphere. The title, German for “inward”, anchors the album’s conceptual weight: a turning away from the external, into a realm of personal reckoning, silence, and renewal. Across six meticulously crafted tracks, the band explores cycles of disintegration and emergence, inviting listeners to confront the deep and often contradictory nature of existence itself.

DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT stand now at the peak of a fifteen-year evolution. Their music is as concerned with silence as it is with sound, as shaped by introspection as by fury. As they prepare to bring Innern to European stages in autumn 2025, they do so not as provocateurs of extremity, but as artists navigating the fragile space between collapse and clarity. In a genre often defined by spectacle, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT remain committed to vulnerability, transformation, and truth.

Múr

íslensk þungarokks hljómsveit (spilar á föstudagskvöldi)

Primitive Warfare

Samhain Maastricht 2026 @ Muziekgieterij

Flytjendur