This is how it was at STELLA NOMINE 2025

Stella Nomine 2025 – The Blackest One
August 14-16, 2025, Entenfang Torgau

In 2025, Stella Nomine once again presented itself as a special kind of festival: small, informal, distinctive. Those who travel to the Entenfang in Torgau are not looking for the biggest line-up or the loudest headliners, but the special mix of music, closeness and humor that makes this event a temporary home. Between old trees and dark romance, an atmosphere is created that can only be found here – borne by warmth, mutual support and a scene that feels like family.

New and nostalgic

On Thursday, the range already spanned from the first steps with Necro Fear to the melancholy of Jacob’s Fall and the Nordic-dark sounds of Scheitan. Mila Mar opened up a ritual, almost spiritual world of sound before Agonoize unleashed the crowd with brute aggrotech. Finally, the Four Imaginary Boys reminded us with The Cure classics that nostalgia is also an integral part of black culture.

Skillful mix of styles

Friday showed all the diversity: Lorning took us back to the eighties musically, while newcomers CNVX thrilled us with their modern electro sounds. Aux Animaux went all out with aggressive electro sounds, The Other delivered colorful and crazy horror punk, Alien Vampires brought raw heaviness, and Potochkine impressed with French avant-garde between chanson and dark wave. Later, the kings of minstrels, Corvus Corax, created a spectacle of drums and bagpipes, while Soror Dolorosa provided a delicate counterpoint. After midnight, Hocico transformed the grounds into a cauldron of industrial and aggrotech – a force that reverberated into the night.

Gesamtkunstwerk

On Saturday, the family side of the festival made itself felt. After Vampyros Lesbos kicked off the afternoon with music, a secret highlight took place: Coffee & cake is now a firm tradition – a collective pause, a moment of sharing and closeness that hardly any other festival knows. The journey then led from Ann My Guard‘s symphonic metal to Vlad in Tears‘ gothic rock and the elegant sounds of Black Nail Cabaret. Sylvaine whisked the audience away to spherical post-metallic dream worlds, Heppner’s TanzZwang had everyone dancing – nomen est omen – and Draconian touched the darkest hearts with epic doom. For the finale, Das Ich showed that they are still one of the greats of the scene – expressive, avant-garde, a total work of art.

But Stella Nomine is much more than just music. It is the small rituals and endearing traditions that characterize it: A spontaneous loo concert, where “The Stella has no toilet paper” was “mourned” and made for laughs; the fire department, which repeatedly provided cooling down and was itself celebrated in the process; the cake distribution, which brought guests and crew together. And last but not least, the opportunity to take the shuttle to Torgau’s old town – Renaissance facades, Hartenfels Castle and history as an impressive backdrop for a weekend that remains deep black and yet colorful at heart.

Conclusion: Stella Nomine remains a festival without mainstream, but with all the more soul. Anyone who has been there knows that what counts here is not commercial size, but intensity, not consumption, but community. A place where music, humor and solidarity merge – and which you don’t just visit, but take home with you in your heart.

Text: Dagmar Urlbauer
Photos: Patrick Lehnert