LINE-UP
LINE-UP
20 bands from +7 countries play on 3 stages over 2 days. The carefully curated line-up features pioneers of contemporary black/death/doom and post metal to rock, bands with punk and crust influences, as well as folk, ambient, and experimental artists. Our attractive Dark Arts & Crafts Exhibition featuring 10 visual artists & artisans completes the event.
Scroll down to find out more about the bands and the exhibition.
Artwork: © Sebastian Jerke
BANDS
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT
We are extremely thrilled to present to you progressive, avant-garde black metal experimentalists DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT as the first band for Culthe Fest 2025.
This will be one for the books: the quartet performs its latest 5th full-lengh (2021) within an exclusive SPECIAL SET: NOKTVRN & MORE (feat. Dávid Makó/The Devil’s Trade) – brought to you as a 90-minute headliner show!
Returning to Münster, playing Culthe Fest for the first time though, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT will blow you away with their nastily atmospheric arrangements driven by blastbeats, enveloped in pulsing warm synths, and penetrated by vocals charged with emotions. Night falls on Fri., April 25th, 2025.
(DE, progressive/avant-garde black metal)
AHAB
Ye Old Thunder, the mighty AHAB return to Münster to take position at the quarter-deck of Sputnikhalle, finally rolling over Culthe Fest with blustering waves of funeral doom metal!
The master creators of nautik doom have crafted an unparalleled style during two decades of existence, culminating in their latest 5th full-length “The Coral Tombs” (2023). Merging heavyweight death/doom metal with a post/progressive rock approach, bound together by highly characteristic vocals, the band’s soundtrack-like songs depict all facets: from the ocean’s roar until the vastness and desolation of the barren sea.
Ye sailors and landlubbers will be enraptured right up to the last row, when the captain enters Culthe Fest 2025 with an epic 20 YEARS OF AHAB – BEST OF SHOW, brought to you as a 90-minute headliner performance on Sat., April 26th, 2025. Aye!
(DE, funeral death/doom metal)
UNDERDARK
British post black metal force UNDERDARK will grab you by the throat and blow off the roof of Sputnik at Culthe Fest 2025 on Fri., April 25th. This is not only the band’s first performance in Germany since 2018. What’s more, they come along with their latest, 2nd full-length (2023), PERFORMING MANAGED DECLINE IN ITS ENTIRETY & MORE!
Although UNDERDARK does not primarily want to be seen as a political band, “I very much write about real shit,” says singer Abi Vasquez to Kerrang!, “whether it’s personal or something that affects people on a wider scale.” Thus, “Managed Decline” narrates the decay of a post-industrial town in the British Midlands across three generations, suffering from the long-term effects of Thatcherite neo-liberalism.
Musically, UNDERDARK has forged a unique sonic identity that blends elements of black metal, post rock/metal, and post hardcore. Ethereal melodies and atmospheric textures combine and contrast with intense, emotive vocals and “unabashedly muscular black metal riffs” (Metal Hammer UK). – Be there, it’s a very rare opportunity and a must-see!
(UK, post black metal)
SUN WORSHIP
We will be completely blasted away by black/death power duo SUN WORSHIP, returning to Culthe Fest on Sat., April 26th, 2025. They have just released their brilliant 4th full-length, and thus will be PERFORMING UPON THE HILLS OF DIVINATION (2024) IN ITS ENTIRETY & MORE!
In the years since “Emanations of Desolation” (2019), SUN WORSHIP managed to hone their already elaborated drums’n’guitar assault to maximize impact. Combining versatile, restless, and passionate drumming with detailed, varied, and harsh, high-octane riffing, there’s hardly a second to rest. And still there are rare moments of beauty, silence, and calm emerging from the sonic abyss SUN WORSHIP drag us into. A sense of wonder and relief contrasting the overall doomed caveman-atmospheres provided.
Taste their uncompromising, unpredictable, and unique blend of death, black, and simply no-bullshit metal. Prepare for SUN WORSHIP and a stripped-down, fierce, and primal – yet sophisticated, confident, and well-versed listening and live experience!
(DE, black/death metal)
KOKOMO
Performing one of their rare and selected live shows, KOKOMO will enrich Culthe Fest 2025 with weighty and dark, looming and uncompromising post rock/metal. This established scene force has always embraced heavier elements, but composed its most intense record to date with the 5th full-length “Totem Youth” (2019). In addition, a live album was recently released (2021).
KOKOMO give us an instrumental grave reflection on a crisis-ridden world – combined with the hope and invitation “that listeners will use the music to create their own narratives.” The sonic universe open to interpretation is fueled by powerful post/doom metal riffs which, at the same time, the quintet knows how to lighten up with a great sense of atmosphere and for quieter details, showing a spark of hope in the midst of overwhelming darkness. Putting it all together brilliantly, and carried by a harmonizing light show, KOKOMO offer a massive, evocative experience that we can hardly wait to fall into on Fri., April 25th, 2025!
(DE, post rock/metal)
TAKH
Risen from the ashes of Belgian experimental legend The Black Heart Rebellion, and complemented by drummer Annelies Van Dinter, TAKH will bring their very own vision of suspense-packed, cinematic music to Culthe Fest 2025.
A rough classification somewhere in between stripped down post/punk/rock/doom/alternative quickly becomes unimportant, when this band is going to entrance us by PERFORMING their self-titled debut full-length TAKH (2023) IN ITS ENTIRETY & MORE on Sat., April 26th.
Unfolding a sound that is “as big as it is dark”, in the vein of Swans a.o., TAKH challenge themselves to focus on pure intensity, not shunning the experiment. Expect a concert that can and will truly move you!
(BE, post/punk/rock/doom/alternative)
WORMWITCH
From the rain-soaked woods of British Columbia, Canada’s WORMWITCH descend upon Culthe Fest 2025, Fri., April 25th, to undertake their very first sonic assault on Germany. And we can’t wait for this brilliant blast machine to strike with high-speed, raw, and melodic black/death metal, combined with the ferocity and attitude of crust punk, and rock and roll!
WORMWITCH released their self-titled 4th full-length last summer (2024) – a statement of a band coming into it’s own. With furious drums, piercing guitars, and otherworldly screams, the trio indulges in a revelrous celebration of devilish speed, searing melody and diabolical intensity. They do slow down, sometimes, but only to come back all the harder and faster.
Brace yourselves, headbangers and hellraisers, for WORMWITCH are about to penetrate your necks and scrape out your ears at Culthe Fest 2025. Ugh!
(CA, black/death metal)
FEN
Hailing from the enigmatic, flat marshlands of East Anglia, England, known as “The Fens,” we are delighted to welcome atmospheric/post black metal trio FEN to Culthe Fest 2025.
Formed in 2006 as a studio project by Grungyn, The Watcher, and Theutus (later replaced by JG), and inspired by the windswept, desolate region, FEN set out to fuse the cold rage of black metal with more reflective influences, creating a deeply intense and atmospheric sound which speaks of loss and melancholic yearning. Their latest, 7th full-length “Monuments to Absence” (2023) has been lauded for still delivering exactly that. And yet it is undoubtedly the band’s darkest, fiercest, and most extreme record to date. FEN describe the album as an expression of anger, hopelessness, and despair – anger at the desperate futility of a human species hell-bent on self-destruction. The profound lyrics bear witness to this.
Dive into the downfall with FEN and set off to an underworld come true. This journey can be painful, but it also holds a cathartic power – to be experienced in an overwhelming, thunderous performance on Sat., April 26th, 2025!
(UK, atmospheric/post black metal)
ANCST
It’s “Culture of Brutality” over Culthe Fest 2025 on Fri., April 25th, with the return of ANCST to Münster! The title of their latest 5th full-length (2024) says it all: expect a musical punch in your face from this juggernaut co-spearheading a radical new wave within European extreme metal and DIY HC.
Blending hardcore and metal roots, ANCST crafted a sonic fusion of fierce melodic black metal, punishing death metal, metallic hardcore, crust, scramz, and grindcore. More than that, their music isn’t just a blastbeat-driven sound attack – it’s a canvas for angry, critical, and deeply personal social-political lyrics.
Transforming into a striking live band in 2014, ANCST hit the road relentlessly, gracing myriads of stages, but never lost their DIY core. Founder, fronter, and mastermind “Tom is the bastard” has booked nearly all their shows, has written, recorded and produced all the music, and is also responsible for all the artwork.
We bow and look forward to a staggering powerviolence performance at Culthe Fest 2025!
(DE, extreme metal/crust/hardcore)
UNRU
After ten long years, UNRU return to Culthe Fest with furious black metal, blackened doom, and fragile ambient on Sat., April 26th, 2025.
The band’s latest full-length “Die Wiederkehr des Verdrängten” (2022) is the distilled essence of all their prior works and their most powerful release yet, “sounding the most black metal the band has ever sounded, … fueled by the question of what actual freedom and revolution is within the individual as well as the societal I.”
Blending “emotional purity and existential angst”, driven from hardcore and crust roots to nowadays blackened gloom and fury, UNRU will raise an unstoppable maelstrom of sound culminating in an immersive, all absorbing experience!
(DE, black metal/doom/ambient)
THE DEVIL’S TRADE
When gut-wrenching melodies of darkness and beauty descend upon Münster, it is dark:doom:folk heavyweight THE DEVIL’S TRADE returning to Culthe Fest on Fri, April 25th, 2025.
Well-known for his solo artistry, “Dávid Makó (the man behind the moniker) needed an expansion to his universe”, and thus added drums and keyboards to the 4th full-length “Vidékek Vannak Idebenn” (2023). In accordance, and to our great anticipation, THE DEVIL’S TRADE performs a FULL BAND SET at Culthe Fest 2025!
A new album is also to be released in late 2025, perhaps we can already get a foretaste?
In any case, expect to get crushed by this band in its next sonic phase – coming as a three piece, maintaining its music’s emotional and intimate core, but returning more intense than ever, heavier and most achingly beautiful!
(HU, dark:doom:folk)
BANK MYNA
After their impressive debut in Germany with us, two years ago, Paris-based BANK MYNA return for Culthe Fest 2025 with their highly interesting, multi-layered blend of dark post rock, cathartic doom/drone, and ritualistic slowcore. We look forward all the more as this will be the OFFICIAL RELEASE SHOW OF THEIR UPCOMING 2ND ALBUM EIMURIA!
Heavier and more direct than its equally dark and ritualistic predecessor “Volaverunt” (2022), “Eimuria” (2025) combines lightness and absolute darkness, soft and mystical (over)tones with obsidian-tinged post rock, and atmospheric soundscapes with an electric fury that we hardly knew existed within BANK MYNA. “Especially inspired by … the poetess Alejandra Pizarnik and the sculptor Camille Claudel, and deeply intimate, this second album recounts a process of personal transformation, interspersed with brutal ruptures.”
Don’t miss this unique performance, and get transcended by BANK MYNA’s stunning, mystical, experimental as emotional new songs on Sat., April 26th!
(FR, dark post rock/doom/drone/ambient/experimental)
VERHEERER
Like the storms that ravage their North German coastal home, VERHEERER will descend on Münster at Culthe Fest 2025. The black metal band around its founders SMN (guitars) and BST (vocals) returns with a special set that bridges their future and past, PERFORMING NEW SONGS OF THEIR UPCOMING 3RD ALBUM “URGEWALT” & THE EP ARCHAR IN ITS ENTIRETY (10 YEARS ANNIVERSARY).
VERHEERER are known for their vigorous black metal, blended with heavy and death metal influences, sounding primarily cold and tempestuous, sometimes also threateningly slow, and thus even more destructive. With “Urgewalt”, to be released on April 4th, the band continues on this proven musical path. While the lyrics so far dealt with occultism, VERHEERER now explore the horrrors of the First World War, or the “Urkatastrophe” (primal catastrophe) of the 20th century, in both a passionate and intellligent way.
Beyond ritual and costume cliches, VERHEERER will take you on a journey through time that features exclusive new material as well as a look back at their beginnings. Expect never and rarely heard songs, brought to you in a thrilling, unique performance on Fri., April 25th, 2025!
(DE, black metal)
ALKERDEEL
Brace yourselves for Belgian ALKERDEEL going to savage Münster, drowning Culthe Fest 2025 in a boiling brew of filthy black/doom metal! Their raw, distorted sound is inspired by Darkthrone and Burning Witch, and thus combines Norwegian ice with fiery American heavy doom. The latest expression of this cataclysmic chimera is the 4th full-length “Slonk” (2021), which takes the band’s harsh energy to a new level, and impressively proves that crushing and ear-catching riffs are not mutually exclusive.
ALKERDEEL is a die-hard DIY band that not only creates music, but also takes care of artworks, merch, booking, and promotion themselves. Following this attitude, and true to their credo: “only live is real, only first take is real!”, the band started working on a new album in 2024. We are excited and looking forward to being grinded by ALKERDEEL’s mix of brute force and blackened discomfort on Sat., April 26th!
(BE, raw black/doom metal)
MACHUKHA
Embrace pain and learn how to let it go with outstanding new post black metal band MACHUKHA (Ukraine/Berlin) at Culthe Fest 2025. MACHUKHA takes us on a journey through a harsh underworld come true – yet shows us to withstand atrocities and continue surviving. Blending black metal, dark hardcore, and punk, intricate guitar melodies steeped in melancholy melt into fierce waves of rhythmic fury from the bass and drums.
Both their debut full-length “Mochari” (2024) and their elaborate, video-supported live shows have won enthusiastic praise. All the more we are looking forward to MACHUKHA PERFORMING MOCHARI IN ITS ENTIRETY at Culthe Fest 2025, Fri., April 25th. Their genuine approach, stunning imagery, and compelling music promise: this is going to be intense!
(UA/DE, post black metal)
HEALTHYLIVING
We can’t wait for HEALTHYLIVING bringing their exciting, energetic, and emotionally stirring mix of alternative/dark/post rock to metal to Culthe Fest 2025 on Sat., April 26th!
This transnational collective across Scotland, Spain, and Germany consists of Amaya López-C (Maud the Moth), Scott McLean (Ashenspire, Falloch), and Stefan Pötzsch. Following an approach to songwriting that honors simplicity, rawness, and immediateness, they, however, create a complex, kaleidoscopic, and evocative musical world – commuting across genre borders, drawing from the beauty and horror of the mundane.
HEALTHYLIVING have released their much acclaimed debut full-length “Songs of Abundance, Psalms of Grief” in April 2023, coinciding with their live debut at Roadburn. Now they will take Münster and carry us along with their driving and dynamic heavy music that you do wanna join!
(UK/ES/DE, alternative/dark/post rock/metal)
TÜÜL
Sylvan spirits and free thinkers, please give a warm welcome to Dutch dark folk duo TÜÜL at Culthe Fest 2025, Fri., April 25th! Johanna Brücher and Teun Joshua Brandt take us into the mysterious lower lands, crafting slow, doomy, and highly atmospheric tunes on banjo, accordion, and by two-part singing. Their debut EP “Dead Wood” (2021) sees TÜÜL following a lone wanderer through destroyed woodlands and empty moors, also shining light on the enormous flourishing forces of nature returning.
To our particular delight, TÜÜL told us to come to Culthe Fest 2025 with a new release, PERFORMING THEIR UPCOMING EP MOORLAND & MORE, about what they say:
“Moorland draws inspiration from the wild ‘unlands’ – the vast, boggy landscapes of the lower lands we call home. In the 19th century, these landscapes were reshaped into agricultural deserts, leaving behind only isolated patches of moorland. Our music delves into these remnants, reimagining them as spaces of anti-civilization, steeped in mythology and offering a vision of futures beyond ecocidal paradigms.” – Make sure to be there!
(NL, dark folk)
BIRTAWIL
It is our great pleasure to welcome Xavier Godart back to Culthe Fest, this time with his solo music project BIRTAWIL – ambient/experimental/drone from Bordeaux. You may know Xavier (Mortuaire, Spectrale, LAVA, ex-The Great Old Ones) from several shows at ours. At Culthe Fest 2025, BIRTAWIL performs its first show in Germany and ever outside of France, plus Xavier told us it’s going to be a SPECIAL SET WITH NEW MATERIAL!
With a focus on minimalism and obscurity, BIRTAWIL crafts evocative soundscapes using simple, imperfect textures. The project’s sound is shaped by guitars, synthesizers, looping, and a variety of effects, resulting in a dark and immersive mix of drone ambient. Drawing inspiration from a range of genres, including folk, doom and industrial metal, BIRTAWIL impressively put out 15 records in about 10 years. Most recent releases are the 5th full-length “Ħoll” and “Live at Le Sens de Nyx” (both 2022). Make sure to give a listen, and join us for an immersive live experience on Sat., April 26th, enhanced by video projections that create a powerful visual counterpart to the music!
(FR, ambient/experimental/drone)
HÆRESIS
All hell breaks loose when Berlin-based black metal outfit HÆRESIS returns to Münster for Culthe Fest 2025 on this special occasion: the OFFICIAL RELEASE SHOW OF THEIR UPCOMING DEBUT ALBUM SI VIS PACEM PARA BELLUM FEAT. GUESTS on Fri., April 25th!
Expect nothing less than a killer record, brought to you in an intense live performance – crushing and epic at once. HÆRESIS have taken a big step forward and push the boundaries, fusing elements of black, death, and post metal, film music and ambient into a relentless sonic maelstrom, leaving hardly time to breathe. Lyrically, this is “HÆRESIS’ commentary on the turbulence of modern life, … inner struggles, the fight against organized religion and actual armed conflicts” – condensed in the album title: “If you want peace, prepare for war”.
All of this is given additional credible expression by Ukrainian guest singers Natalya (Machukha) and Yaryna (Salt Falls, Löri) – who will be exclusively present at Culthe Fest 2025, and contribute to make for a unique, stirring experience!
(DE, black metal)
SHAGOR
Making waves with their immersive and haunting atmospheric sound, Dutch SHAGOR are about to enter Germany for the first time at Culthe Fest 2025, PERFORMING THEIR UPCOMING 2ND ALBUM LYKSALVER IN ITS ENTIRETY!
SHAGOR emerged into existence in 2018, unveiling their debut full-length “Sotteklugt” in 2020. Their bleak and mesmerizing sound, as their overall artistry, is indeed “unique in its own right – atmospheric, riff-laden, and aggressive” (Decibel). Thus, the band has already performed Roadburn in 2023 and is going to play Samhain this year as well.
Culthe Fest 2025 will see SHAGOR presenting their second full-length, to be released on February 8th, about which the band says: “‘Lyksalver’ was born from an insatiable thirst for self-determination and is dedicated to those who are battle-weary: the desolate, the sorrowful, and above all, the souls unwillingly hollowed out – those for whom the sacred reflection of what once was has silently decayed into the suffocating stench of severe putrescence.” – Get ready for SHAGOR, for an evocative performance and unrelenting intense experience on Sat., April 26th, 2025!
(NL, atmopsheric black metal)
DARK ARTS & CRAFTS EXHIBITION
(TO BE UPDATED)
10 distinguished visual artists & artisans display all kinds of gloomy, dark, and morbid art & craft at their stands, and on the walls of Triptychon. Expect original drawings and paintings; screen prints on paper, card, and textiles; linoleum prints; tattoo art (wanna dos); bone craft/vulture culture; handmade jewelry; curiosities, and more.
The exhibition aims not only at art lovers, collectors, and tattoo fans. Musicians/bands get the opportunity to find artistic support regarding artworks & illustrations for releases or merch, and to start collaborations.
Artists & artisans participated in Dark Arts & Crafts Exhibition at Culthe Fest 2024:
Acid Witch ‡ Aphelior ‡ Belva Bones ‡ B.ignorant ‡ Elder Artifacts ‡ Ikosidio ‡ Joost Vervoort ‡ Subterranean Prints ‡ Ugly Black Work ‡ + Surprise Guest: Pitchblack Illustration
TICKETS
