Richmond, VA – The second day of the festival was a sold out first floor event performed at the Canal Club with Fredericksburg’s black metal band Archael leading the charge, followed by Asheville, North Carolina’s Widowed Light, Raleigh, North Carolina’s Mo’ynoq, Somers Point, New Jersey’s Krieg, Philadelphia’s blackened thrashers Daeva, Richmond’s sludge/black metal outfit Inter Arma, Charlotte, North Carolina’s melodic black metal band One Of Nine and Olympia, Washington’s Hulder.
Archael got things going with a set of classic black metal. It has been just under a year since the last time I saw them live, they looked and sounded amazing. It was good to see them play live again.
Archael online
Website|Facebook|Instagram|Bandcamp
For many, one of the surprise hits of this night was the performance by Widowed Light who played their EP “Whitted Knoll” released on July 22nd, 2025 in its entirety. The EP only has three songs, but those songs take the listener on a journey from depression to nothingness. For a young black metal band, they a look and a sound that is raw and bleak. If you have never seen them before, Widowed Light should be on your short list of bands to see.
Ageless
Nameless
Worthless
Widowed Light online
Instagram|Bandcamp
For many of the bands playing the festival, this my first time seeing them live. Mo’ynoq is one of those bands I always seem to miss for one reason or another. They sound more like a death metal band, particularly the vocals. I liked what I heard and saw and hope at some point in the future I can see these guys again.
Mo’ynoq online
Facebook|Instagram|Bandcamp
Krieg is another band I am seeing for the first time, up until this I had never heard of them. Keep in mind that I normally follow thrash and death metal bands, so this is no surprise. They played a set of mostly older material that went as far back as 2001’s “Destruction Ritual”, which I find unusual considering most bands play newer material and only a couple of older songs for the diehards. They played their asses off and the crowd loved it.
Bulwark
Circling The Drain
Every Wound Burned
Solitarily, A Future Renounced
Bonewhip
Fallen Princes of Sightless Visions
Black Ash Snowfall
The Sick Winds Stir The Cold Dawn
Krieg online
Facebook|Bandcamp
Over the years I have seen a lot of thrash bands, some that do nothing more than play, some play harder, and then there is Daeva who come to the show to “rip your head off and dump down your neck”. From Steve Jansson’s military precision riff attack to Edward Gonet’s outrageous behavior with the crowd at the front while belting out a brutal set of songs. This is the way thrash, blackened or otherwise should be played, in your face with no apologies!!!!
Facebook|Instagram
I am almost embarrassed to say I have been attending metal shows since 2009 and this is the first time I saw Inter Arma live. One of my friends who was next to me for most of their performance told me that is was a very rare performance for them. The band mostly plays sets of covers and this was a show where they played their own material. So the crowd got to witness a rare event. They were on point and tearing things up!!!!
Citadel
New Heaven
Violet Seizures
Gardens in the Dark
The Long Road Home
Transfiguration
Inter Arma online
Website|Facebook|Instagram|Bandcamp
One Of Nine released “Dawn of the Iron Shadow” on October 31st, 2025 named number 19 of Metal Injection’s Top 25 Albums for 2025. For a band that is not quite four years old to be noticed in this way says a lot about their music. Their sound is different than most black metal bands I have listened to, sounding in some ways more like death metal than black metal. The crowd loved the music and the backlighted visuals as they played. The perfect lead up to Hulder.
Age Of Chains
Silence Of Heaven
Dreadful Leap
Quest Of The Silmaril
The Siege Of Gondolin
Of Desperate Valor
One Of Nine online
Instagram|Bandcamp
Possibly the most anticipated band of the three days of Heart Of Winter Fest is Hulder, the one-woman black metal project who resides outside of Olympia, Washington when she is not on tour. Since her start in 2018, she has managed to garner a lot of attention with her music and reclusive lifestyle which has resulted in her headlining the Decibel Magazine Tour in 2024 and playing Maryland Deathfest in 2025, which is no mean feat considering the quality of bands that get selected for such shows. She released the EP “A Beacon From Darkened Skies” on August 19, 2025. Their set consisted of songs from the recently released EP and her last two full length albums “Verses in Oath” and “Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry”. An incredible performance. Black Metal at its finest.
A Beacon From Darkened Skies
Enchanted Steel
Sylvan Awakening
Vessel of Suffering
Boughs Ablaze
Heksensabbat
Unholy Divine
Upon Frigid Winds
Creature of Demonic Majesty
Verses in Oath
Harken The End
Hulder online
Website|Facebook|Instagram|Bandcamp
Show Date: 01.09.2026
