Fortress Festival, the biggest black metal event in the UK, which will take place on 31 May – 1 June 2025 at Scarborough Spa in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, is now sold out. All available weekend passes and limited day tickets have been snapped up, cementing Fortress Festival as a must-attend event for black metal enthusiasts across the UK and beyond.
This sell-out success comes as no surprise given the festival’s exceptional and unique line-up, boasting a host of exclusive performances and international debuts. The event will be headlined by the European Exclusive appearance of legendary Agalloch – the band’s first in the UK since their reformation and the first in the UK since 2015.
“We are absolutely blown away by the response to Fortress Festival 2025,” said Gary Stephenson, Founder and Director of Fortress Festival. “To sell out so far in advance – and for a third year in a row – is a testament to the passion of our audience and the incredible calibre of artists we have curated for this year’s event. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to Scarborough Spa for what promises to be another unforgettable weekend.”
1349 will headline the main stage on Saturday, 31 May 2025, following the release of their eighth studio album The Wolf And The King. New Zealand unorthodox death metallers Ulcerate will perform a UK exclusive set following their recently released Cutting the Throat of God. RUÏM – with iconic former Mayhem guitarist and Vltimas founder, Blasphemer – will perform a UK debut and exclusive show. Forteresse will perform a UK exclusive show at Fortress, returning to the stage following a seven-year and ice-cold slumber.
Moonlight Sorcery comes to Fortress with an international exclusive set, a UK and international debut and the only show outside of Finland until at least 2026. UK atmospheric black metallers Fen will perform a UK exclusive full album performance of their 2009 debut album The Malediction Fields. Dödsrit will now make their UK debut in the Grand Hall at Fortress Festival after having to withdraw from the 2024 bill. Expect a wall of soul-tearing riffing and D-beat-infused vigour on the main stage next year.
The Great Old Ones and Spirit Possession will perform UK exclusive shows, while it will be a UK debut and exclusive show for Belore. South American project Selbst will bring its music to a UK stage for the very first time with a UK debut and exclusive set, while Akhlys will perform a 2025 UK exclusive set. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of its debut album Syner, Grift will perform the album in full with a UK exclusive set.
Perennial Isolation will perform its iconic 2021 album Portraits in full in what will be a UK debut and exclusive performance from the Barcelona-based atmospheric black metal band. Australian acts Suldusk and Aquilus will perform their UK debuts with exclusive shows. Aristarchos, the otherworldly and mysterious Scottish black metal project, will make their Fortress Festival debut. Abduction, the UK black metal band, will return to Fortress and perform an exclusive full album set of their fifth album Existentialismus. Devastator also return to Fortress Festival with its fist-pumping blackened thrash following the band’s appearance at the event’s inaugural edition in 2023.
Slovak post-black metal/ambient outfit Autumn Nostalgie will make their exclusive UK debut at Fortress Festival and perform their 2020 debut album Esse Est Percipi in full. Atmospheric UK black metal act Nemorous (formed from the ashes of Wodensthrone) will also present their yet-unreleased and unannounced debut album at Fortress Festival.
The 2025 edition will see the seated theatre stage transform into a candlelit atmospheric escape on the Fortress Saturday (31 May) for attendees seeking something different in their music. Darkher, a haunting trip through the mind and spirit of founding member Jayn Maiven; Osi And The Jupiter, a neo-folk project from Ohio, United States, consisting of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sean Kratz; and a returning Sylvaine, the solo project of Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Kathrine Shepard, all make up the bill for the new stage in 2025.
The theatre stage will revert to accommodate industry speakers on the Fortress Sunday (1 June) for Fortress Forum with the running order to be announced soon.
