September is usually not considered a part of the whole “festival season”, since the end of that is usually marked with events that are situated somewhat in middle of august. However, as it often is in Metal – some of the best things are on the edges and not necessarily where the masses are. Some of these aren’t only very good, but they also keep attracting me year after year.
One of those events is the infamous “Kill-Town Death Fest” in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Excluding a hiccup or two (remember that thing called Corona virus?) – This underground extreme Metal event has been taking place every year since 2010, and since then added different sub-events under its wings, such as a smaller edition in May and even a London-based edition.
It’s one of the best spots to be for everything underground and extreme.
Over the years, KTDF has positioned itself as a highly organized event that not only celebrates underground but actively supports it. It’s pure DIY attitude attracts both new and experienced attendees, each and every year.
Thursday
It’s never easy to be the openers of a festival, especially when it’s not entirely sure how a band would be accepted into a crowd that mostly didn’t have a lot of knowledge of its existence beforehand. Armed with a new full-length album this year under the wings of Relapse Records, the London-based five piece by the name of Vacuous took to the stage with songs mainly from that release. On one hand the band seemed a bit on the less moving side of things, but on the musical side it blasted its way through angry tunes and moments that sounded even better than on the album.
Next up (or down, since they were performing on the black stage, which is underneath the main stage) were the Malformed, who continue the tradition of bone-breaking Finnish death metal. This band enjoyed a more packed view that in turn showed total support for the group’s new and old material on the stage.
This time around in KTDF, quite a few bands came all the way from Australia. First one is Impetuous Ritual, to deliver gut-cutting cacophonies that make quite a lot of other musical efforts in the extreme Metal world look like child’s play, in the best way possible.
It’s a little tough to explain the band’s live show to those who didn’t experience it, so I’ll just say that one of its main characteristics of it is, is as if you’re being cut with a blade that just doesn’t stop. There is no room for melodies that aren’t a part of the general brutality that sometimes skyrockets, there is no riff that feels out of place. When it feels there’s no way these guys can go even heavier – they prove everyone wrong. And that’s just how I like it.
A number of underground Mexican bands also made first appearance in KTDF, and first of those was Castleumbra that reigned over the Black Stage and made it very clear that they are a force to be reckoned with and although the band’s release catalogue isn’t so big yet nor well-known to some of the attendees, massive songs like “Naamtaar Kingu” or the lengthy “Awaken” opened a couple of eyes to the band’s style.
Out of the ashes that remained when Cerebral Rot disbanded, two members puked Corpus Offal out into the world and what we have here shares some similarities with the past, yet at the same time offers a new tone.
In front of an already full house in front of the main stage, the newly formed group delivered their massive tones, tremolo to the masses through songs mostly from their 2025 debut, self-titled album.
I must confess, I didn’t know about the existence of Left Cross, but I’ve heard someone say it shares the drummer from Antichrist Siege Machine, so, y’know, how bad can it be? Well damn, these Americans slapped me with some of the best tunes this evening, consisting mainly of songs from their last full length and if the crowd response is any indication of anything, it seemed to me that most people out there knew them before and only I didn’t. It didn’t disturb me even once to raise my fist in support and ram my head into the shoulder of the guy standing in front of me, while headbanging. Hell yeah!
As a part of a tour with the aforementioned Impetuous Ritual, another name from down-under that probably doesn’t need too much introduction (and if you’re not sure, go pay a listen and then come back) is Portal and even though they were around since 1994, I never managed to catch them live. I was in for an adventure, but I didn’t know the show would define how musical horror looks like (and sounds like). The Curator’s head was made up of horns, and the other band members were covered from head to toe with dark clothes. Memorable horror-filled tracks as “Atmosblisters”, “Swarth” and “Phreqs” proved the band carefully chose material over the span of years and not just from their last couple of releases.
Friday
As it is tradition in KTDF’s current location, the outside stage (Byhavn) at the beginning of each festival day is reserved for exposing smaller acts to new crowds, thus also providing musical experiences a couple of hours before the other two stages open up.
The five-man Prague-based Cancer Void may not have existed long, but the live performance of songs from their EP (that answers to the name First Metastasis, of course) that came out only a short while before the festival, already seemed to gather enough people holding cold beers in the Copenhagen heat.
Speaking of beers, this might be the place to mention that as it was in the last few years, KTDF also came out this time with a number of IPA and Lager drinks under their name of Slowburn and if that was not your thing, the bar had a couple of beers, a different IPA and even a pre-mixed cocktail to choose from. The prices are fair, but this is Scandinavia after all, so don’t expect German alcohol prices. Ha!
Galvanizer is a good example for a band that some years ago rocked that very same outside stage at Byhavn, and fast forward to today –they’re opening the main stage.
These days they don’t need too much introduction, I think. Finnish death Metal the way it should sound like – Unforgiving and heavy as that thing you just let out of your butt, after getting breakfast while probably still having too much alcohol in my blood from the night before.
On the black stage, one of the heaviest bands in the festival was already setting themselves up. Hailing from the USA, Noroth take everything that is 90s Death Metal and simply throw some of the fattest riffs into the cauldron. Aggressive songs such “Black Serpent” or “Bloodborne” showcase the band’s ability to mix and match slower and faster rhythms, all the while keeping the string-led party hammering through the crowd.
Newcomers Fleshrot may be fresh out of the coffin as they were formed only in 2019, but are playing tunes that originate in an old, piss covered grave. The concert was exactly what I expected it to be; raw, aggressive and pretty damn hot. Maggor-ridden tunes from their 2022 debut such as “Draining the Liquified Remains”, “Unburied Corpse” and more proved once more that the groove has never died in extreme Metal, and the amounts of banging heads in the Main Stage area also proved that it is massively supported.
KTDF was always known to also host underground acts that may not have a big repertoire yet – but have been around for quite some time. That is the case with Purulency, that make some deep bass-controlled tunes that sound haunted to their core. A bonus was the excellent cover “Pilgrimage from Darkness” by Amorphis, that was executed in the same grotesque manner.
Canadian force of Mitochondrion were also not strangers to the fumes of Kill-Town Death Fest, having rocked the stage there back at 2019 and even at 2014, back at the festival’s older location, Ungdomshuset. This is one of the things with the infamous Canadian band; this might be a one-off European show for next few years, there’s just no way of knowing. The band’s specific genre of music leans more towards an ever-changing structure, thus and preferring songs to be on the longer, even a bit ritualistic side of things. I always wonder if transmitting songs from albums like their latest, Vitriseptome, their first, Archaeaeon, and some in between would actually work on stage, and each time I’m watching them live I get my big positive answer.
Another Mexican outfit is the esoteric Reverence to Paroxysm, that deliver a Death/Doom package that warps around the crowd like a ghost that lingers on in the place of its death. The fog and light work on stage only contributed to the general feeling of being in a cave, and the thick sound of the tuned-down guitar and bass, topped with low vocal works, made it a unique concert in this years’ KTDF.
Maosuleum, on the main stage, continue the tradition of zombie and horror-filled 90s death metal, manage to combine a similar feeling you get when listening to Impetigo or even Mortician.
Another concert I was excited about was Ceremonial Bloodbath, hailing from Canada. Now, I don’t know what it is in the Canadian air or food (Poutine?) that makes them create such mean fucking riffs, but I should’ve just expected it when a band had a couple of members from Grave Infestation. This was, alongside a couple of other acts during the festival that I’ll come to later on, one of the most aggressive gigs the festival has seen. If Diocletian and Funebrarum had an offspring, this is probably what it would sound like, so I guess there’s no need to describe how mental the crowd went, especially with skin-cutting tracks both from the band’s latest album and older stuff.
Antediluvian made a name for themselves over the years, and here they already performed once, in 2019. Armed with newer material and the same ghillie/camouflage pieces to their bodies, the band played a set of their mesmerizing occult tunes in front of a full house that didn’t dare miss out on today’s headliner playing tracks such as “Demon Spore”, “The Pit of Bones” or the ritualistic-sounding “All Along the Sigils Deep”.
Saturday
At 14:00, Danish duo Sewer Haul went into the Byhavn stage outside stage and without too much hesitation, just started blasting, playing songs from their EP and even sneaking in a nice tribute to Mortician, which felt pretty fitting. This is basically death Metal that fits cavemen who want to bang their heads constantly with every riff and every hit of the drums. Hell yeah!
Ruinous Power got on the same stage a couple of hours later, and absolutely bombarded the outside area of the festival with their venomous Death/Black mixture, almost venturing into a more bestial realm of music, all the while showcasing the drummer’s ability to properly sing while he relentlessly beats the leathers in front of him.
Old school Danish metallers Maceration have ripped the Main stage and I have to be honest, I haven’t heard them in years. As a matter of fact, the last time I actually paid them a listen was when they were way more technical and with way less “feel” than what I witnessed here. Bang after bang, no-schmuck ripping solos and just good Death Metal.
Har headed for their last concert in their European tour alongside Abhorration (who would take the on the stage a bit later), and how fitting it would be in KTDF, the place that had them a few years ago at the Byhavn stage outside. Since then, the band had some lineup changes and some musical changes. The band absolutely killed it in front of the crowd that some of them still had that gig some years ago in their minds, whether with material from their 2024 album Cursed Creation, such as “Submerged in Cacophony” and “Invoking Evil Spirit” or with new songs such as “Cascading Lunacy”. The band’s menu was all about sharp guitar pulls and rhythm that doesn’t let go of its prey.
A major reason to attend the festival this year was Caustic Wound. It feels like the American band just smashed their way into the forefront of the extreme Metal world with their Death Posture debut from 2020, and then made it even better with Grinding Mechanism of Torment.
A five people band, they began without saying too much and they’ve just let the music do the talking. And it damn fucking talked. It talked so much with tracks like “Blood Battery”, “Atom Blast”, “Endless Grave” and other Death/Grindcore pearls that sent the crowd flying around. I guess that if the stage would’ve been a tad weaker, it would crumble under the heaviness that these guys brought with them. Pretty much everyone needed a small break after this show, myself included.
Wait, break? Huh! That’s for the weak! The Norwegian Death dealers Abhorration is on, and there’s no room for anything other than total madness. The stage was lit in only red and smoke, to the point that sometimes there was not a lot to see other than the studded armbands. Doesn’t fucking matter though, since total bangers like “Ai Apaec”, “Chamber of Agilarept” and “Invoke Them”, all from the bands’ 2024 debut album, made every guy and gal in the crowd basically fly to different directions. Either they flew on purpose, or someone made them fly in the moshpit. Aggressive tunes, melodies that floor the pedal like no other today. A highlight for sure!
The same mad atmosphere continued with none other than the Swedish old school bunch that go by the name of Interment. These guys keep coming back to KTDF, with them being there at 2012 if I’m not mistaken, 2022 and this year. Maybe I even forgot one. Anyway! It is always a pleasure to catch these guys live. In times where bands try to change themselves and their style to fit bigger crowds, these guys stand as a hard Chines-… Uh, I mean Swedish wall and change for no one. Songs like “Eternal Darkness”, “Morbid Death”, of course “Torn From the Grave” and “Infestering Flesh” would all still reign supreme even after hearing them live for a hundred times.
Rippikoulu is a name I never actually knew how to pronounce nor do I have any idea what the songs are even about. It never bothered me to absolutely love their music and think that “Musta Seremonia” is one of the best Death/Doom releases the world has seen over the years. Like a few others on the billing this year, these Finnish guys are also showing their mugs for the second time after a couple of years and as a band that proudly carries the moto of quality and not quantity, the songs were mainly from that release, such as “Kadonneet jumalat”, “Ikuinen piina” and of course the title track, while knowing the KTDF crowd already from last time, seems like the concert was akin to coming back to a familiar environment.
Another interesting band was Execration (that also paid a visit to the festival in its 2012 edition), that fail to deliver a bad set. They’re one of Norway’s finest outfits that for years have been under the official radar but those who know them, know it’s one of the more interesting acts in the Scandinavian Death Metal scene. The music is engaging and sometimes stretches the borders of the genre.
No better way to finish this Saturday but with Morpheus Descends. Back to the 90s in full throttle, the band that reunited in 2013 and since then rips stages from time to time, luckily didn’t pass on one of the places where they would definitely feel at home with classics like “Corpse Under Glass”, “Immortal Coil” and “Submerged in Adipocere” among others in their repertoire.
Sunday
What is it that I hear? a few coins clashing into each other in your pocket, like two ghouls in the same graveyard? No problem! KTDF has you covered!
As tradition commands, one could easily invest their hard-earned money in music! What better place to do it, than at 12:00 on the Sunday at the Heavy Thunder Metal Market, that takes place every year at the fest? A bit of vinyl crate searchin’ to calm one’s soul before the madness begins anew!
It is no secret that KTDF has been back then founded as a way to help Danish and/or Scandinavian bands to gain recognition and traction, and in more ways than one it still fulfills that part proudly and so, another proof of that is the Death/Doom bunch Foetorem, from Denmark themselves, who opened the day at Byhavn outside. I didn’t know the band, and the deep growls mixed with heavy as fuck midtempo riffs caught me unprepared, in the best way possible. The stage trembled and the people too.
The Italian group Assumption has managed to gather a loyal crowd in the underground over their 14 years of existence and they surely made their presence known on the main stage with their heavy funeral Doom beats, with almost-psychedelic moments and even light synths in the background.
A band I really wanted to see was the Necrotic Ooze from Finland. The backbone of the band has been the backbone of the now-deceased Stench of Decay, so you just know it’s going to be good. And oh boy, it was! These guys only have one demo out, yet they play as if they’ve rehearsed the material around a thousand times. Heavy, green light work on the stage contributed to the whole icky feeling one gets from the music. Which is a good thing. The music moves between hammering fast riffs and more mellow, 500-ton guitar parts that somehow manage to combine themselves with short guitar solos, that give the listener half a second to breath. Basically, one of the best concerts of this years’ KTDF. Heavy riffs and oozing madness!
The levels of sadness rise slowly during this Sunday, as Doom/Death Metal veterans Dusk take the main stage. What I always liked about the American band, was that their music may be slow at times, but it never comes to crawling pace. There’s always at least something going on in the background and that’s how it was on stage, as well. Songs that are longer than six minutes are something normal for the group and so, “Paled”, “The Transfiguation” and more from their classic 1995 “Majestic Thou in Ruin” album was mostly on the menu tonight.
Gravavgrav is a bit of a weird act. They sometimes define themselves as “bored Death Metal” but it’s honestly the furthest thing away from that definition. They combine some very aggressive guitar and drum work, drone moments and… well, spoken word. Which isn’t totally unheard of but very damn rare to make anything interesting out of, and these Japanese guys manage to actually do it well.
Last time I caught Moondark live was actually here in KTDF, 11 years ago. Featuring a couple of members from Interment, this Swedish bunch has been existing since the 90s, yet only last year had their first full length album come out and as that album showed what the band is capable of, their concert what they could do these days in front of a crowd. The crushing riffs were floating in the air and the changes in speeds dictated the banging of heads.
Atmosphere of rotting corpses in caves aren’t new to us, and so the music of the Spanish band Trollcave manages to play the strings that are just right for this gloomy Sunday. Slow, heavy, bass-led Funeral Doom that time and again keeps things interesting by having its rhythms roll in a manner they didn’t, a second ago.
Highlight of the day for me was no other than the English veterans Cancer. They’ve always been easily one of my personal top ten bands in Death Metal and they’re responsible for some of the best tunes I’ve ever heard during my Metal years. Although other than founding member John Walker, all of the other members are pretty new, the music and the energy are still Cancer. Tracks like “Until They Died”, “Into the Acid”, “Ballcutter”, “Hung, Drawn and Quatered” and of course “C.F.C” sent waves of not only large moshpits but also person after person crowd surfing from the stage, which is something that didn’t happen a lot during this years’ edition.
Given the fact that Sundays at KTDF are always a bit more mellow, sometimes the crowd reactions are also mellow, like a feedback circle that feeds off itself. Well, here just the opposite happened during the whole show. That’s old school British death Metal for you!
Closing out this doomy Sunday—and with it, the festival itself—were Funeral Moth, the Japanese four-piece Funeral Doom band. Few acts embody atmosphere and melancholy so completely, or move at such glacial pace. Their set shifted between fragile, clean guitar passages paired with guttural vocals, and heavier, more wrathful tones, all while maintaining a thread of tension and despair.
And so, another edition of Kill-Town Death Fest comes to an end. The corpses go back to their caskets and the planning for next time begins. As every year, it’s proving itself as one of the best events of the year.
See you next year!
