Heretoir
Special Guests: Unreqvited + Nidare
Venue: Barrák Music Club, Ostrava, Czechia.
Date: 21st October 2026
Review By: Netheraugur
There is a subtle and somehow improvised art to an urban landscape. Walking home through Ostrava, under a humid night breeze with empty streets, blinking traffic lights and reflections dancing on the wet tarmac, the organic order of the city felt quite similar to the sounds that I had the pleasure of listening to for the previous two and a half hours. It was an evening essentially built on a masterful blend of emotion, atmosphere, crushing blast-beats, shrieking vocals and delicate melodies. Though the turnout was at roughly sixty people, the audience was very dedicated, bringing the energy to a level that could have matched a much more packed venue.
Nidare
Taking the stage around 7pm, Nidare set the tone for the night with an explosive, direct and unvarnished set. Their sound sits at the intersection of raw black metal and blackgaze, leaning heavily into aggressive dissonance while retaining post-metal textures. The highlight of their performance was the live rendition of their latest single “Schweigen”, which introduced bassist Yaryna Borynets to vocal duties for the first (and unfortunately only) time for the evening. That alone injected a sudden intensity into the room, creating a great dynamic that immediately captured the audience. Great performance, overall.
Unreqvited
Where Nidare went for visceral impact, Unreqvited (which I was curious as to how their sound would translate into a live scenario) oriented the focus toward atmosphere, shifting dynamics and expansive textures. Operating within a similar atmospheric black metal realm, the project, though, leaned heavily into post-hardcore structures, long instrumental stretches and lush, shoegaze-infused walls of sound and chord progressions. Ghost (the mastermind behind the one-man-band) and the band’s bassist delivered a compelling dual-vocal performance. Overall, the band seemed to be blending amazing harmonies, layers and evolving soundscapes that never felt repetitive or stagnant.
Heretoir
Closing the evening with a meticulously crafted 75-minute set, Heretoir delivered a headline performance defined by top-tier production, deliberate structure and pure emotion. Their set flawlessly bridged the gap between early material (tracing back to their self-titled debut) and their outstanding 2025 release, Solastalgia, including a well-received and wonderfully sounding acoustic set. Solastalgia, the existential distress caused by unwanted environmental degradation to one’s home while still living within it, served as the emotional core of the performance. Heretoir converted that anguish into a soaring presence, delivering a set that was as cathartic as it was heavy.
By morning, as the heavy rain poured over Ostrava and the quiet streets filled once again with cars, crowds and the familiar flicker of streetlights against shiny tarmac, the full weight of the music clutched my surroundings, and it felt like a living manifestation of Heretoir’s primary thesis, an unwanted, overwhelming change to our environment that we are forced to navigate daily.
“… And we’re drowning in the floods!”
Hell yeah, brother! That was a great show! Great write up!