Richmond, VA – The third day of the festival which sold out returned to Odin’s House of Sound with Philadelphia’s black metal band Profligate, Richmond’s blackened thrashers PlagueFever, Baltimore’s Cemetery Piss, Lexington, Kentucky’s blackened thrashers Tombstalker, South Carolina’s blackened thrashers Demiser, New York City’s blackened thrash outfit Satanic Magick, New York City’s black metal band Woe, Forest Lake, Minnesota’s avant-garde black metal band Suffering Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio’s melodic black metal outfit Valdrin and Lyndhurst, New Jersey’s funeral doom metal band Evoken.
One of the bands that came out of Philadelphia’s black metal scene is Profligate who kicked off day three of the festival playing a set of songs from their 2023 self-titled EP.
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While I knew I had seen PlagueFever play live before, I didn’t realize it had been almost three years since I last seen them!!!! The band doesn’t play often, but when they do, they bring it!!!!
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Cemetery Piss is a band I have heard a lot of over the years but until the festival I had never caught them live. While they did not play “Rest In Piss”, their set was pretty brutal and was well liked by the crowd.
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One of my favorites was Tombstalker who just came in and kicked everybody’s ass. Would love to see these guys again!!!!
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Almost three years ago I was at a weekend horror movie/metal festival called Carolina Chainsaw Massacre, this is where I saw Demiser live for the first time. The crowd loved these guys, there was lots of headbanging and moshing throughout their set.
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I was looking forward to seeing Satanic Magick live and they did not disappoint. Loved their look and they sounded incredible. I would to see them perform in front of a hometown crowd.
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Woe released their sixth full length album “Legacies of Human Fraility” on January 1st, just in time for the festival. Melodic black metal with death metal style vocals, there is a lot to like about Woe and they kill live!!!
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Suffering Hour released their third EP “Impelling Rebirth” on October 3rd, 2025. Seeing them for the first time what impressed me about them is their ferocity for being only a three piece band, they sound a lot bigger than that. Definitely check them out if you get a chance.
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Valdrin released their EP “Apex Violator” on June 20th, 2025. What I liked about Valdrin is how they sound at least to me more like a technical death metal band than your typical melodic black metal outfit. I hope to catch them again at some point in the future.
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I was unable to see Evoken play, but watching video of them from their headlining set, they were definitely worth the wait.
Wrapping up the coverage of this festival, I have to apologize for the lateness of the third day review. An illness left me taking multiple days off of work and pretty much unable to function. Back at it now and closing out the remaining coverage. The Heart Of Winter Festival was an outstanding success and all of the people involved should be proud of their accomplishments. Dates for Heart Of Winter 2027 have been set – January 14-16th.
