DIREWIND I GOATHAMMER (Winterruption YXE 2026)

Friday, January 23, 2026
10:00 PM / Green Room

Offsite Event

Doors:  9PM. Showtime:  10PM
Venue: Green Room

With the western Canadian badlands as a backdrop, Direwind's chief inspiration lies in the past; The fundamental spark of being which connects historical humanity to all current lives, through the earth and sun and everything experienced in between.

Combining dissonant metal influence with stripped-down coldwave and industrial, all entwined with the tremulous voice of Saskatoon's own Taylor Jade, a deep well of influence produces music curious enough that it takes a moment to dissect just which comes from where. New Altrive Tales, the groups initial full-length, and its themes of consciousness, morality and antagonism, remain at home with aggressive tracks like bludgeoning opener "Auld"; but Direwind has no fear of ambience. The cold, elemental "Spire's Curse" closes the record with similar ease, reminding listeners not only of the past as a musical catalog of the 1980s, but the past as the lives of those who've come before and the spark that connects us all

Formed in 2013 and promptly getting to work on a split tape and two successive demos, Goathammer have been a study of staunch underground ethics from the very beginning. Theirs is a sound that's steeped in decades of arcane black/death wisdom, canvassing an array of eras and international flavors whilst being finessed into foul, filthy form by true fanatics. Their debut release for Hell’s Handbanger’s records, Ceremony of Morbid Destruction is the grand, garish culmination of Goathammer's noble work thus far. There’s a sulfurous aura and true dungeon-bound darkness that bespeak the ancient ways of the 1990s, but completely unselfconsciously so. Goathammer possess the unique elan to conjure a sensation that evokes both nostalgia and newness, and above all, put forth an identity that's theirs alone and offering boundless exploration of those depths for the future.