In 2016, an idea for a new black metal festival materialised into the first edition of the Little Devil Black Ritual Fest, organised in collaboration with Tilburg’s Little Devil, a bar close to the main train station and where concerts are a common occurrence. Since then, a second edition took place in 2017 and, more relevant for this text, it spawned Black Ritual presents, an ongoing series of loose concerts promoted by the festival’s organisers. These all take place at the Little Devil.

The next one takes place on Friday, September 8, and is set to be headlined by one of the most intriguing black metal acts currently active in Belgium (if you’re thinking Wiegedood, you might be on the wrong website), the insane and unique sounding Alkerdeel. Their sound is aptly described (by Consouling, one presumes) in their bandcamp page as “droney black doom metal with blown out practice space production, grinding guitars, blasting distorted drums, filthy vocals, with bursts of sludge and stretches of loping minimal crunch, all very heavy, doomy and even psychedelic.” This is all perfectly encapsulated in the frantic «Lede», released last year and which you can stream below.

Opening the evening will be Black Decades, who will finally play live with their new vocalist – none other than Johan from the great Terzij de Horde. Released by toztizok zoundz last year, their debut «Hideous Life» is an intense blend of hardcore fury with blackened textures. A seriously written, perfectly fitting onslaught to prepare oneself for what Alkerdeel brings to the stage, as you can confirm by yourself below.

According to the event page, it is set to start at 21:00 and entrance costs 6.5€.

Update: the official scheduled has been posted. Doors open at 20:30, Black Decades plays from 21:00 to 21:35, Alkerdeel from 22:15 to 23:15. As usual, things warp up with enough time to catch the last trains for those living elsewhere in the country.