2026 Band Lineup
Emma Ruth Rundle
Oregon
​Emma Ruth Rundle has always been a multifaceted musician, equally capable of dreamy abstraction (as heard on her debut album Electric Guitar: One), maximalist textural explorations (see her work in Marriages, Red Sparowes, or Nocturnes), and the classic acoustic guitar singer-songwriter tradition (exemplified by Some Heavy Ocean). But on Engine of Hell, Rundle focuses on an instrument that she left behind in her early twenties when she began playing in bands: the piano. In combination with her voice, the piano playing on Engine of Hell creates a kind of intimacy, as if we’re sitting beside Rundle on the bench, or perhaps even playing the songs ourselves. “I really wanted to capture imperfection and the vulnerability of my humanity,” Rundle says of the album’s sonic approach. “In some small way, there is this tiny punk rock feel of ‘well,fuck this perfect, polished, produced, and rehearsed thing that we are so pressured to do. Here are some very personal songs; here are my memories; here is me teetering on the very edge of sanity dipping my toe into the outer reaches of space and I’m taking you with me and it’s very fucked up and imperfect.’”
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In essence, Engine of Hell signifies a major turning point for Emma Ruth Rundle as both an artist and as a person. The catharsis of this type of songwriting has effectively served its purpose, and to continue ruminating on the past going forward is less of a healing process and more like picking at a scab and refusing to let it heal. This may help explain why Rundle is less than enthusiastic about divulging the details about her muses, but it doesn’t alter the fact that these songs served a purpose in their creation, and that they may continue to bring comfort to others.
Engine of Hell is a potent album, and it may prove too emotionally overwhelming for fans of a more anodyne brand of songwriting. But for anyone that’s endured trauma and grief, there’s a beautiful solace in hearing Emma Ruth Rundle articulate and humanize that particular type of pain not only with her words, but with that particular mysterious language of melody and timbre.
Stygian Bough
Washington & Oregon
In our human minds, according to the Law of Contagious Magic as described in The Golden Bough by anthropologist James Frazer, contact between two objects creates an inseparable thread between them. A gift from a dead friend forever holds this magic like a scar reflecting a wound. Similarly, a piece of food that touches the floor is suddenly abject and rotten. Pairing this notion with the Law of Similarity Magic, as described by Frazer, where an object resembling another can share its power, a musical notion can be understood to serve as an unbodied conduit of such magics; an emotional contact between the music and audience wherein such sorcery threads an inseparable seam that, for a time, resemble each other.
Aptly named in reference to the aforementioned book, Stygian Bough, the collaboration between Bell Witch (Dylan Desmond, Jesse Shreibman) and Aerial Ruin (Erik Moggridge) enlivens its unbodied presence resembling both projects as a conduit in its own separate entity.
The partnership at the center of Stygian Bough is over in a decade in the making, growing from Moggridge’s recurring contributions to the Bell Witch catalog. Their initial collusion occurring on the debut Bell Witch album Longing (2012) following which, Moggridge would return to guest on both Four Phantoms (2015) and Mirror Reaper (2017).
One of Nine
New York
From the Black Ledger, Suppressed by the Light-Weakened Loremasters of the White City:
“…it was then that I saw the sky darkened, in the waning days of Man, while Ithil took flight from the Eastern gate, there rang the song of iron bells. Nine times they tolled, for nine forgotten kings, whose labours, it is said, are now fulfilled. Long did these lords of broken light seal their halls with nameless shards, and necromancy. Whispers stirred in the hearts of their folk. Rumour spake of blackened rites and the furthering of an ancient sorcery, wrought in silence beneath castle and tomb.
Dark were their deeds, for not since the Elder Years had men dwelt in such darkened days, nor walked with the span of time granted to the Firstborn. Yet time, ever cruel, did not claim them. The Cloaked Kings endured, their forms withering, their souls bartered away for power beyond the veil.
Thus they are no longer known by name, but by doom! The One of Nine now speaketh for the rest. He, first among the cursed, taketh the mantle of dominion, his voice the summoning of the old Southron might, he leadeth them forth, black robed, hollow eyed, and deathless… into the waking world once more.”
Fauna
Washington
Fauna was formed in 2004 out of a desire to explore the innate archetypal essence of the human animal, and to illuminate the ontological paradoxes of present-day human existence. Using Black Metal and elemental rituals in the creation of their performances, they draw the audience into a collective trance state as spirits of old are invoked and rites of renewal and ferocity are unleashed. Fauna exists in a world inherently full of meaning, alive, and aroar with the voices of myriad Others, and exalts the beauty of the human spirit in all its manifestations.
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Novemthree
Wisconsin & Washington
Crafting gently dark and dreamlike tunes of psychedelic-fringed sylvan folk music with verses inspired by a longing for a connection with Nature, the sense of solitude and peace in the vastness of the cosmos, meandering reflections on life and loss..
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John Haughm
Oregon
John Haughm is a visual artist and experimental guitarist from the Pacific Northwest.
Inspired by Cormac McCarthy, Ennio Morricone, Steve Reich, Neil Young's "Dead Man" soundtrack, the Spaghetti Western goth of Fields of the Nephilim, the sonic punishment of early to mid-period SWANS, the experimental spirit of Coil and Ulver, and the renegade years of the American Old West;
John Haughm's solo work is a haunting, sonic journey through dystopian wastelands of the past. The latest full-length album, "46°
59'15.9"N I I 120° 32'15.4''W : The Devil's Coil" is the final installment of his "Nomad Trilogy". He has since released a live in Australia LP, The PCC Cascade Sessions EP and, most recently, an LP collection of relics and rarities.
Since 2011 John Haughm has collaborated with Portland noise legend Daniel Menche, German sound architect, Mathias Grassow, and has toured and collaborated with experimental cellist Helen Money. In addition, Haughm's Western soundscapes have been performed live throughout the world including several high-profile festivals like Roadburn (Netherlands), Northwest Terror Fest (USA), Covenant Fest (Canada), and Overload (Brazil).
Fogweaver
Oregon
Fogweaver is a fantasy synth project dreamed into the musical world by the Portland based Evie Fable. With Fogweaver, she brings to life the Earthsea Cycle, a series by Ursula K. Le Guin. Weaving hypnotic synths and enchanting melodies, her music will transport you to the vastness of the spellbinding archipelagos of Earthsea. It may even provide a portal through which we can manifest magic in the mundane world itself.
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SoRIAH
Oregon
Soriah is the stage persona for the internationally recognized artist Enrique Ugalde. Soriah’s craft is a blending of traditional Khöömei (Tuvan Throat Singing), tempered with Soriah’s own visceral force. Soriah’s use of Khöömei as a transportive medium is an offering to nature in her own tongue, that of organic sound whether it be wind, water, or the mimicry of animals.
Precious Bane
Washington
Precious Bane is the solo project of Noel DKG of Ragana. Using harmonium, kokle (traditional Latvian zither), guitar, field recordings, and ethereal voice, Precious Bane summons unseen worlds of melancholy and reverence for the cycles of the earth and the heart. Deeply rooted in the sacred land of the Pacific Northwest, Precious Bane is the rain dripping from evergreens onto the moss and fir needles of the darkest forest floor.
Press photo by Jolie M-A
Hail
Oregon
Hail is a project that started in the avant-garde cabaret scene of Portland in the mid to late 90’s as the performance vehicle of Carl Annala. Originally a pastiche of Black Metal, Annala grew Hail from a solo act to an 8-piece theater troupe. The larger version of Hail performed at one of the last NXNW festivals in 1997. Shortly after that Annala began to work with guitarist Brian Booty, and the two transformed the performance project into a full-fledged Black Metal band. This collaboration has endured since 1999. Now collaborators for over 25 years, the two have flexed the project from Cascadian Black Metal to Industrial Noise music, always with a theatrical performance and conceptual theme. Currently the group has transformed again, from a noise duo, back into a four-piece metal band. Following a residency that Gabriel Espinosa facilitated through Grant funding via PICA, the group recorded three releases of which two have since been released through Fiadh Productions. An Anti-Fascist, Female run label in New York. Hail continues to be a part of the Cascadian and PNW underground scene with further forthcoming work.
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Dynja
Denmark
Dynja rises from the deep roots of the North — born in the cold breath of the fjeld and shaped by rugged landscapes. A three-piece folk ensemble featuring members of Heilung, Virelai, Asynje, Nanna Barslev, and Norwegian vocalist, Lucy Mardou. Their music carries the weight of ancient traditions, echoing with the spirit, and elemental force that has defined the Nordic lands for centuries.
Using traditional instruments like moraharpa, jouhikko and davul, Dynja reimagines ancestral folk melodies for a modern time. With songs in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Icelandic, they weave the Nordic countries into one living tapestry, binding them together through sound and story.
Føsphene
Oregon
Føsphene is an atmospheric black metal band from Corvallis, Oregon. Formed in 2024, their initial debut outing was released on May 2nd, 2025. Føsphene’s thematic emphasis as a band signifies a look inwards towards the passions, credence, and lives of those who once stood on the soil we now plot, and as well, the brutality and weight which once were carried on the furrowed brow of generations born into the indomitable hardship of a life in agriculture in the 19th century of America. Their sound trends toward amorphous structurally, but tracks are composed of weighted riffs and counterpoint which aim to provide an emotional foundation upon which the lyrics might stand. The second Føsphene album is set to be released in mid-2026.
Sorcia
Washington
Sorcia hails from the Snoqualmie Valley in the backwoods of Seattle, WA. Combining blues-laden groovy riffs, heavy doom, and raw grunge with the added dynamic of dual vocals, they deliver their own brand of Pacific Northwest stoner sludge metal.
After releasing their debut full-length Sorcia in March 2020, the growing underground buzz led Sorcia to sign with Desert Records and they released the Death By Design EP in July 2021. Well-received in the heavy underground, the EP showcased the band's sonic versatility.
Sorcia released their sophomore full-length album Lost Season on Desert Records in July 2023. With their impressive dynamics in full display, the album made a significant impact in the stoner/doom community, reaching #4 on the July 2023 Doom Charts. Sorcia supported the release with a successful Western US Tour, a Northwestern US Tour, and has made appearances at Burque Rock City Fest, RippleFest Texas, Rocky Mountain Riff Fest, Grotesque Fest, Pyre Fest and Rain City Doom Fest.
Creaturess
Oregon
Creaturess is a conceptual “cave doom” band originating from Portland Oregon. It is a collaboration between guitarist/composer Jesse Hamlin and singer/guitarist/visionary Joanna Sendejo. Formed in 2023, the project seeks to examine transformation and beauty through the acceptance and internalization of loss, suffering, grief, and the brutality of the natural.
Drawing inspiration from doom metal, black metal, shoegaze, and slowcore, Creaturess fuses traditional heavy sounds with experiential field recording, songwriting, and production processes to capture vulnerability as sound.
Oromet
California
Founded in 2022 by Patrick Hills and Dan Aguilar, Oromet presents funeral doom with a melodic emphasis without surrendering the all-encompassing heaviness that is the genre's hallmark. Where some seek to immiserate and drown the listener, Oromet explores the complete nature of sorrow as the band weaves the choke of despair and the lightness of serenity. At times the music flows like a winding stream, and at others it towers overhead like a frigid peak, piercing the clouds.
Blessed Blood
Washington
A fixture of the 2010s Seattle noise scene, the end of the decade left Rachel LeBlanc wanting
for a more ethereal yet impactful project. Luring listeners into the spectral embrace, Blessed Blood reaches from another world to both scare and soothe. Utilizing hardware effects to expand upon the natural resonances of singing, her geometric incantations glide above pulsations and sharp angles. Lyrically, Blessed Blood draws from dark wells of emotion, weaving threnodies on her self-titled first release. Tiny Mix Tapes declared, “Blessed Blood is truly angelic work, which is why it is so frightening.” A sense of deep intention prevails, of movement toward an intersection of references even more prevalent in her upcoming 2026 full-length, This Shall, Too.
Glasghote
Oregon
Formed in 2017, Glasghote, is a genre-bending 3-piece Doom band from Portland, Oregon with an intense, no-holds-barred live shows and an unwavering commitment to their craft. The band has one full-length album, ‘Rite of the Siren,’ out via Doom Stew Records and a split release with Hound the Wolves, ‘Godhead’ via Monochord Records, Glasghote continues to push the boundaries of heavy music.
WILL
Oregon
Forging their own unique and eclectic blend of funeral doom since 2015, Portland Oregon quartet WILL sonically light the candles of a separate reality. Composed of Billy Kyle LoCascio as guitarist and vocalist, Merlin Carson as guitarist and vocalist, Joe DePaul as bassist, and Stephan Koweluk on drums. Wielding lightning sharp riffs that open the supernatural depths of terror & bliss, they’ve woven crystalline melodies with extreme dirge doom and blistering black metal, telling alchemical tales of psycho-spiritual landscapes which reflect, embrace, and transcend that of the darkness and of the light.
Solace
Oregon
Solace is the ambient harp project of Asia Kindred. Intertwining harp and vocals through effect pedals and live-looped layers, Solace moves through original compositions and old folk songs made new. Woven in throughout the music are themes of grief, faerie tales, memories, and deep emotions. Asia was born to Oregon and has participated in the musical community of the Pacific Northwest for over 15 years. The harp has her heart.
Opus Est Sanare
California
The solo work of cellist and composer C.E. Brown, Opus Est Sanare is healing of the self and others. This is to be achieved by means of restorative vibrations directed at open wounds wherever they may be found. Every faith or creed seeks to reconcile the individual with the whole, and the flesh with the divine. This is a humble attempt at that eternal struggle, one note at a time. If you’re lost or hurting, this music is for you. After separation, unification. After fire, growth. After the void, fulfillment.
Sastruga
California
SASTRUGA is the doom-industrial creation of Sammy Fielding (Noctooa, Medicine Moon, Madison Mandrake). Melancholic throat-sung croons over a bed of grinding percussive guitars and thunderous drums. A mantric purging ritual welling up from under-ground caverns. Now joined by Nick Katich (Palace Of Worms, Madison Mandrake) on percussion and bass, SASTRUGA has become a beastly cathartic force. Debut album is in the works, slated for spring 2026 release.
Gethen
Oregon
Icy blackened doom from Portland, Oregon. Comprised of members of Pacific Northwest projects such as USNEA, Alum Occulta, and Felsenmirror...GETHEN is a snowstorm of riffs and cavernous melodies that paints a desolate wintry landscape with every cold and penetrating song. Always Antifascist.
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Iron Rot
Washington
Forged by blazing southwestern deserts, tempered by crisp northwestern rains - Iron Rot is the melodic black metal blade which seeks to rend its way though rigid tradition and oppressive foes alike with an all out assault of searing riffs and percussive force.
Gathering
Oregon
Gathering is a black metal band from the Central Cascades of Oregon. Their sound can be described as technical, melodic, heavy and at times atmospheric. Their music is the embodiment of the environment which surrounds and inspires them. This inspiration is reflected in their lyrics, with themes centered around the mountains, forests, rivers and canyons of their home, as well as history, spirituality, and the human experience.
Fetters
Washington
“Where there is great hatred, are the fetters of hell. Where there is great avarice, are the fetters of the tortured spirits. Where there is great ignorance, are the fetters of the beasts. Where there is great lust, are the fetters of man. Where there is great envy, are the fetters
of the demigods. Where there is great pride, are the fetters of the gods. These are the six fetters of non-liberation.”
– The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa.
Fetters is a gothic death industrial duo composed of W. Ross Major & Maya Bayhan. Formed in Morro Bay, California in mid-2015, their first manifest, “Sicken,” was wrought upon the world on limited-edition cassette by Sol Y Nieve records, who described this work as follows: “Singular in its vision and sound, FETTERS presents us with an album that is unmatched and incomparable. All of the standard trappings of typical death industrial are there – barked and indecipherable vocals, cold synths, stabbing and throbbing percussion – but are arranged with an attention to song structure and an unnerving accessibility that are rare within the scene. Think TxRxP hosting a goth dance party and you start to get an idea of where this project is going.” Fetters immediately began performing across California from San Diego to San Francisco, sharing bills with noise, ambient, industrial, and black metal acts. In 2016, Fetters embarked on their first tour in the American Southwest with Los Angeles atmospheric black metal band Aylwin, culminating in an appearance at Red River Family Fest in Austin, Texas. An exclusive Fetters track was featured on the festival compilation released at that time. Later that year, they appeared at No Fest in Los Angeles alongside Ritual Chair, Trollkjerring, Hexvessel, and a wide variety of other power electronics and
noise musicians.
Fetters’ second release was a split cassette with Eugene, Oregon-based experimental musician Esperik Glare, best known for his collaboration with John Everall (Tactile). Realized by the unparalleled Black Horizons imprint, this release was described as such: “Fetters, Ross and Maya from Central California, deliver three tracks of infectious, dancy death industrial-flavored post punk. Fans of the former Belaten label’s output
should be very satisfied. On the other side is Eugene, OR’s Esperik Glare, or Charlie Martineau, with another three tracks of what could best be described as childish (in the best way) and quirky dark ambient music. Or for short experimental electronics for the
more open-minded end of the spectrum.”
To support this release, Fetters embarked on a California tour at the onset of 2018 with SOOT (Oakland, CA death industrial) and Lingua Ignota (acclaimed US power electronics). In September 2019, Fetters was invited to perform in Stockholm, Sweden at a pre-festival event with Human Rays (Stockholm, Sweden noise/experimental) for Waves Of Darkness On The Baltic Sea, a festival showcasing acts from the fabled Cold Meat Industry imprint. This marked their first international performance. In March 2020, Fetters appeared at a pre-festival show for Northeast Dungeon Siege MMXX, a dungeon synth festival turned from a live event to Twitch during the events of 2020.
Since that time, Fetters has continued work on their second full-length release.
Cicatrix
Washington
Cicatrix is the emerging project of best friends River Irene x Piper Josephine. They perform a mix of original music, tragic mythic covers, and traditional European folk songs woven into electronic soundscapes. Sororal harmonies bewitch. Each has their own solo project birthed by the mists of Olympia, Washington.
Ember Veil
Oregon
Ember Veil is a dark folk project from Portland, OR who weaves stories and spells from the past into gothic soundscapes. Using both ancient and contemporary instruments, Ember Veil is the musical expression of an Animist longing for a deeper connection with the Earth and the beings that inhabit it. Their live performance is an immersive experience, including words from medieval folklore and folk magic traditions, live drumming, and handcrafted masks inspired by ancient tales of shapeshifting.
Dj Space Coyote
Washington
DJ Space Coyote, aka @cedar.dreamer is a musical omnivore, with big ears attuned to the rhythms and frequencies of music from strange sub-genre rabbit holes and far-flung corners of the Earth. A trickster, laughing maniacally at genre purists and musical orthodoxy. The offering for this year’s Midsummer is an utterly unique synthesis of indigenous, heathen, and folk music from around the world with modern tech & bass atmospheres.
Pavor Nocturnus
Washington
Pavor Nocturnus has been DJing for over 20 years, crafting hypnotic sets that blend darkwave, witchhouse, synth, and psychedelic influences into spellbinding soundscapes that will get the dancefloor moving. Based in Seattle, they host monthly dance nights and perform at special events like Portland’s Witches’ Ball and Crypticon, where they shapeshift themselves in unique visual aesthetics that suits the occasion. Known for their haunting atmospherics and live remixing, they have shared the stage with artists such as Soriah, Other, Tassel, and Dancing Plague and many others.
MarkovSoroka
Oregon
More information coming soon...
Ash Pillar
Oregon
Ash Pillar was founded in Portland by Carl Annala in 2016 to give space and place to older butoh dancers. Our creative practice is improvisational and collaborative with a focus on the dark terroir of the PNW, urban malaise and ancestral actions. The group has performed at small festivals and events in the region as well as unannounced on bridges or in parks in Portland.
Ash Pillar is Carl Annala, Joe McLoughlin, Tess Vanterkin, Nicole Walters, Amy Ward and Paula Helen.
See you in the cedars.
Band applications for 2027 will be opened in September of 2026.