Thriving outside the conventional space of hyper-focused, meticulously-curated micro-festivals, Supersonic has proved resilient despite a climate that has yet to embrace it's specialty. Asserting a keen sense of resourcefulness and a unique malleability for such planning-intensive production, organizers have had to relocate venues all while juggling the logistics and creative aspects of live experience that continues to earn critical praise. 

If the 2025 line-up offered any indication, professional identity and artistic integrity remain unassailable with an ensemble that roped in an international field of disruptors - artists whose only common thread is that of confronting the status quo and refusing to adhere to genre lines or the conventional heavy music troupes. From Aussie instrumental doom duo Divide and Dissolve to American queer punk powerhouse HIRS Collective, to Canadian fringe hip-hop provocateur Backxwash, the diversity and dynamism of Supersonic suggests an organizational wherewithal that at the very least respectable... if not marvelous. 

In a weekend brimming with live highlights, one of Supersonic's most substantial sets came courtesy of Norwegian black metal progressives, Witch Club Satan. In a relatively short time, the band has emerged from the region's storied legacy of extreme art to become one of the genre's most forward-thinking, boundary-breaking prospects. Their 2024 self-titled full length debut earned far-reaching acclaim and thrust the band into the international spotlight - landing them on the greater radar of outsider art. 

Holding court at the 02 institute in Birmingham City Centre, the band would make their UK debut as one of the most anticipated sets of Supersonic. Transforming a festival set into live ritual, the coven revel in metallic mysticism with entries like "Black Metal Is Krig" and "Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy" proving some of the most raucous instances of the show. Combining the band fearless brand of black metal sorcery with performative theatrics that present the stage time in acts - blood, tasteful nudity and compelling, convincing  thematic fodder more than meet expectation - Witch Club Satan smash it. 

Exalting in their live incantation in a way that curried favor and earned new fans, bassist Victoria Røising would proudly profess to there being "5 witches onstage" while showcasing a baby bump and revealing she is expecting twins. It was a moment of empowerment atypical of an underground music festival, yet somehow very much on-brand with Supersonic. 

Punctuating their set with one of the very first songs to platform Witch Club Satan, a dramatic rendition of "Solace Sisters" would see guitarist Nikoline Spjelkavik launch into the crowd and incite mayhem of the best kind. It was a instance of pure deliverance and one that affirmed the Norwegian collective was more than hype and Supersonic was more than willing to cosign. 

See the gallery of images from the UK debut of Witch Club Satan at Supersonic Festival captured by photographer Sam John Jones

WITCH CLUB SATAN