The Chronicles of Tarbathian Metal Anno 2025
Now that our home planet has completed another year-long orbit around its home star, we will try to look back on the path we have traveled and carve all the deeds worth remembering into history. In fact, a lot happened in Tarbathian metal in 2025. Fortunately, we were able to continuously update the Pergerus website throughout the year, which makes it much easier to create an overview now. At the same time, I have also gathered information from several other sources to create a more or less competent overview of the developments in the Tarbatu dark music scene. How well I have succeeded is up to the reader to judge.
Early harvest
It was a productive year for Warhorn Records. Especially in winter and spring, the record label released a whole series of new albums – the EP “…der Waldgang” by the philosophical black metal duo Hasswald, the Estonian-German-Swiss-Scottish old-school death metal prophets Death Kommander’s album “Never To Grow Old”, and the pagan black torchbearer Pagansarv’s album “Pööriööl”. In addition, the cassette label Trash Can Dance released the experimental ambient project 1695’s album “Vana maa” in the winter. An interesting common feature of all of these releases is that they represent the second album/EP in the discographies of the aforementioned bands and projects. Perhaps it indicates that the collectives, which were founded only a few years ago and are still new in many ways, are gradually maturing and achieving stability. This is a good sign, as it gives hope that we can expect more fresh material from all of these artists also in the future.
Tarbatu’s main labels, Warhorn Records and Gatekeeper Records, offered new and old music and other themed merchandise at the Black Market held at the Genialistide Klubi in April. Gatekeeper Records also opened a small physical store in the town in the summer, which can be visited if you contact the company in advance.
Signs of life of bands
In early spring, live music also began to wake up from its hibernation. At the beginning of March, death metal bands Swarn and Death Kommander kicked off a mini-tour to our southern neighbors in Riga and Kaunas. They were joined in Latvia by Trencheard and Deodium, and in Lithuania by Protocol F40.1 (a more detailed overview of the trip has also been published here). In April, it was time to head south for the blackened death metal trio Ziegenhorn, who were expected at the Dustant Fest in the capital of Lithuania Vilnius. Despite technical problems with their vehicle during the trip, the band arrived safely and the performance went as planned. Thanks and greetings to the good tech faeries of Ukmergė!
Ziegenhorn at Dūstant Fest, Vilnius on the 12th of April 2025. (Video: Gronn)
Things were happening in Tarbatu itself. On March 22, Moor from Germany, Tenebrae Aeternum from Finland-Switzerland, and the act of the Tarbathians Karachay formed an alliance at the Rock & Roll club. On April 4, the club Rock & Roll in Tartu hosted a black metal concert Must Kevadtorm, featuring Karachay and Pagansarv from Tarbatu and Lein and Bestia from Tallinn. Lein presented their new demo cassette “Maarjamaa Viimne Koit” (Gatekeeper Records) and Pagansarv presented their album “Pööriööl” (CD from Warhorn Records, cassette from Gatekeeper Records). Pagansarv had a pretty active concert year, performing in Tallinn – including opening for Patriarkh from Poland –, Valga, and Käbliku.
Langenu continued to introduce Setonic metal to a wider audience. On April 4 – coincidentally on the same evening as Must Kevadtorm – the band performed at Tallinn Music Week on the Fenno-Ugria Night stage. The feedback from the audience and the media was surprisingly supportive. In June, Langenu played their entirely Seto-language set for the first time in Setomaa, more specifically at the FUFF Finno-Ugric Film Festival in Uusvada. The feared lynching did not follow, allowing the band to embark on more serious recording plans in the second half of the year.
In early May, Swarn brought horror and chaos to the northern coast of Estonia Tallinn, playing at the club Tapper with Loits, Humanity, and Mexican black metal veterans Ereshkigal. The event was recorded on Swarn’s first live album, “Live From The Abyss”, released on cassette by Trash Can Dance and Northern Terror Underground. The summer brought another release from Swarn’s production line – the seven-inch vinyl EP “Deathcult” (Warhorn Records), featuring three previously unreleased tracks. Armed with fresh ammunition, the quintet formed an unholy union with Hasswald, Death Kommander, and the Tallinn atmospheric metal band Thou Shell Of Death, with whom they headed to Germany for the Barther Open Air Festival, where Estonian bands had previously performed several times. An audiovisual presentation of this epic journey has been created by Mr. Pähnapuu.
Tarbar(ii)tus: Tarbathian Autumn Days of Extreme Music
And then the golden autumn arrived, which meant that the plans made during the year for the new Tarbariitus festival had to be put into practice. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but this event was also launched for the second time in 2025. The festival, which took place on October 10 and 11, brought altogether 14 bands from nine countries to the stages of Tarbatu. Karachay, Sõjaruun, Death Kommander, Goatsmegma, and Aš-Šur held the flag high of the Estonian scene. Lithuanian band Protocol F40.1 (the same band which had shared the stage with Swarn and Death Kommander in the spring) unveiled their debut album “Fatalritual”, released by Warhorn Records, at Tarbariitus. At exactly the same time, the Finnish band Victimarum also released their brand new album “Seitsemän soihdun valossa”. Both evenings were brought to a majestic close by Ukrainian black metal giants Moрoк and Severoth.
Similar to the debut in 2024, Tarbariitus offered a variety of cultural content alongside the bands. Before the festival, the organizers held serious discussions with several bands, which were recorded as podcasts. During Tarbariitus, cozy conversation sessions with musicians took place under the arches of Hell, and jewelry artists, guitar crafters, and local record companies presented their works of art. Those who did not quite catch flames in the daylight could take part in a town tour with an emphasis on a history of the local dark music scene. The new magazine MUST, which appeared at Tarbar(ii)tus, is definitely worth mentioning. Several figures from the metal scene in Estonia and abroad have contributed their writing and art to it. To purchase the magazine, I recommend contacting Warhorn Records.
Let’s also share the review of the main organizer of the event, Kruxator, on the second coming of Tarbar(ii)tus.
The end of the year brought more news of new ice cladden music. The obscure black metal duo Northern released a concept album on cassette, “The Sannikov Land: Of Willpower and Other Calamities” (Trash Can Dance). Also, Karachay had their live incarnation on the 12 of December, supporting the album presentation of the Tallinn death metal band Intrepid at the club Rock & Roll.
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The new year has burst through the door faster than we could even think. Suddenly, the score for the whole year is back to zero, and we have to start another relentless push to fill it up. Still, there’s no point in worrying too much: something will surely come together. We already know that in just a few weeks – on January 30 – the first cold wave will hit the Tarbatu club Rock & Roll when in the framework of their tour “Death Knocks at the Eastern Gate” Death Worship (Canada, Germany), Fides Inversa (Italy), and Kringa (Austria) will take the stage alongside our very own Hasswald. I assume we’ll see you there…
