Into the Abyss: Cosmic Void Festival 2025
London in September is already grim enough, but this year the ol Big Smoke gets an extra dose of frostbitten nihilism courtesy of the annual Cosmic Void Festival. The three-day black metal hoedown returns to the O2 Academy Islington from 19 to 21 September. Anyone who attends is going to leave a little more damaged than they came in, I know I’ll definitely have my herniated disc flair up. But hey, that’s the whole point!
Now, full disclosure: The Heavy Metal Citadel crew is only dragging our sorry, corpse-painted faces there on Saturday. We’re not dodging Friday or Sunday it’s just that we’re too poor and. The full lineup is insane, but because Saturday is simply too stacked to ignore. If we only had one day to live inside this ritual of volume and void, it had to be Saturday. That said, let’s at least give the other days a nod before we start foaming at the mouth about what we’ll actually be witnessing.
The Whole Festival in One Blackened Breath
Friday kicks off with names like Alkhemia, Dark Sonority, Emyn Muil, Ritual Death, and Necrophobic. Yes, you read that right, Necrophobic headlining Friday! That alone is worth the ticket if you’re the kind of person who thinks melody should still come strapped to a chainsaw.
Emyn Muil will bring that Tolkien-smeared symphonic black metal grandeur, while Ritual Death and Dark Sonority will attempt to cave your skull in with pure old-school nastiness, it’s gonna be reeeaaal stanky!
Sunday is gonna feature Varathron, Sacramentum (despite the recent passing of the legendary Nisse), Negative Plane, Bewitched, Absu. For all you nostalgic Citadelians who loved the 90’s this will be a great day. Throw in some UK nasties like Hexenbrenner and Necro Ritual, plus Ireland’s Horrenda, and you’ve got a hell of a finale.
Saturday Is the Void We Crave
Saturday, 20 September, is the day we’ll be there, and if you’re only coming for one date, we recommend this one. I mean we got names like Argesk, Blood Countess, Darvaza, Ellende, Imperial Demonic, Kall playing Lifelover, Lunar Mantra, Lychgate, Shardana, and The Kovenant. This is gonna be a tasty neck-breaking day. I’m expecting to lose at least 3 pins, spill beer all over myself and sprain my ankle at least twice.
Let’s talk about the big hitters first. Argesk are bringing their melodic blackened storm straight out of the UK, and if you’ve caught any of their recent shows you’ll know what to expect. Tracks like Lord of the Boundless Void, Moonlight Pyromancy, and Tempest are practically guaranteed to hit the walls. They’ve been known to close with Drowned in Freezing Waters, which is exactly as uplifting as it sounds!
Then there’s Kall, who’ll be performing the catalogue of Lifelover. Yes, the Lifelover, the depressive black/rock hybrid whose music made you feel like chain-smoking in a bathtub at three in the morning while writing hate-poetry about your ex, not that we’ve ever done that. We’re hoping for cult classics like M/S Salmonella, Mitt Öppna Öga, maybe even Välkommen Till Pulvercity. We’ll probably shed a few tears, but it’ll will be nice to hear some Lifelover since it’s been a while.
On the atmospheric side we’ve got Lunar Mantra and Ellende. Both acts thrive on slow, brooding buildups that collapse into waves of distortion and despair. We saw Ellende in Austria a few years back and it was a show that definitely left us wanting more and we instantly became fans.
Darvaza and Lychgate crank things up into more experimental, ritualistic territory. Darvaza is pure stank, a collaboration between Italy and Norway designed to drag you through the mud face-first, while Lychgate’s avant-black tendencies might actually make your brain sprout new folds while you headbang. I’m hoping for some weirdness honestly, but let’s see where it goes.
And then, looming like a blast-beat Toxic Avenger, is The Kovenant. Depending on how deep into their history they dive, you could be hearing industrialised black metal chaos à la Animatronic or earlier, frostier darkness from the Nexus Polaris era. Either way, you’ll be too busy being pummeled by groove and synth to care.
What Saturday Will Feel Like
The beautiful thing about Saturday’s lineup is the flow. You’ll likely start with some of the younger acts, Shardana or Blood Countess, bringing raw, hungry energy, the kind of sets that can surprise you and make you feel like you just discovered a band that should be ten times bigger. As the day builds, Lunar Mantra and Ellende will pull the atmosphere into something dense and crushing, before Kall dredges up your broken teenage feelings and smashes them against the bar.
The evening should belong to the heavyweights: Argesk taking no prisoners, Imperial Demonic ripping through warlike blackened death, and The Kovenant dropping the curtain with industrialised fire.
The Practical Stuff You Can’t Ignore
Since this is London, don’t expect to waltz into the O2 with your army surplus backpack filled with mead. The venue is strict: no bags bigger than A4, no under-14s, no cameras unless you’re officially cleared. Cloakroom space is limited and the queues will be hell, so travel light unless you enjoy missing half a set because you were negotiating with a teenager on minimum wage about your studded jacket.
Bring ear protection, not because you’re soft, but because you want to still hear the tinnitus ringing clearly for days to come. Wear layers. London weather in September is the kind of inconsistent bastard that will have you sweating in the sun at 3 PM and freezing by 7. And bring cash!
Why We’re Going, and Why You Should Too
Cosmic Void Festival is about immersion, drowning yourself in sound maaaaaan! Whether you go for the whole weekend or just join us on Saturday, you’re not going to leave the same. You’ll leave scarred, buzzing, and probably broke.
We’ll be there, nursing overpriced pints, probably ranting about blast beats too loud, and headbanging in the wrong time signatures because we’re old and broken. If you see us, come say hi. Make fun of our patches or whatever and we can share a pint. Hails!
