De Mortem et Diabolum 2025: Personal Highlights
Another December in Berlin, another weekend spent hiding from the sleet inside the massive concrete shell of the ORWOhaus for De Mortem et Diabolum. This year felt a bit more laid back and personal. My Friday really kicked into gear with Sunken; they weren’t the openers, but they were the first band that really made the atmosphere in the room click for me. There’s a specific kind of power in how they handle atmospheric black metal – it’s not just airy noise, it’s got a physical, heavy presence that felt like a cold front hitting the venue.
Right as that set finished, Ellende took over and kept the momentum at a peak, though in a much different way. LG and his crew aren’t exactly too aggressive on stage; they are incredibly dreamy and immersive. They have this polished, ethereal vibe that balances massive melodic hooks with an atmosphere that just lets you drift. It’s the kind of set where you look around and realize the entire room is locked into that specific mood.
But for me, the real heavyweight moment of the night was Austere. I’d already caught them earlier this year at the Dark Easter Metal Meeting in Munich where they were absolutely amazing, so my expectations were high in advance. Even with that Munich set fresh in my mind, hearing those iconic, piercing shrieks in person again while standing in a cold industrial hall in Berlin was an experience I won’t forget. It was a massive, cathartic wall of sound that felt like the perfect punctuation mark for the first night.
Saturday had its own share of chaos, but personally, everything was leading up to its very end – and to Thy Light closing out the festival. There’s a certain weight to these guys’ music that you don’t get with many other projects, and because they play so rarely, the atmosphere in the room shifted to something much more focused and intense. It was melodic, and genuinely heavy in a way that felt like the only right way to end the weekend. No gimmicks, no unnecessary filler – just four bands that made the trip to Berlin feel like one of the best decisions I’ve made all year. Cheers!
