I don’t know. I felt like I had to post something here. Fests being canceled isn’t even really news at this point, but I’ll admit I was holding out some tiny measure of hope for Høstsabbat. Even if I couldn’t go, I was hoping it would happen, just so I could know it was happening. Something was happening. Well, there you go.

I’ve been in touch with the folks behind the scenes, and you should believe them when they say they really tried to make this work. They did. I don’t know what next year will bring, but hopefully it brings this back, and Greenleaf with it. Ha.

But hey, you want to know how I really feel about it? I’m bummed. But you know what else? Høstsabbat gave me hope for months. Months of hope, in 2020. As shows and fests and plans were getting canceled left and right, as the world seemed to be falling apart — turns out, nope, just the US — and everything was going to shit, Høstsabbat gave me hope. I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve said “Well I’m holding out hope for Oslo in October” since March. Couldn’t even guess at the number, but it’s a lot. So thank you, Høstsabbat. Thank you for giving me that hope for as long as you could give it. I find it not only reassuring that I could still feel hope given the surrounding plague and dismay, but that much easier to continue to feel hope for better things to come in 2021. Thank you for reminding me to hope and look forward to the next thing.

I hope to continue to do so:

Dear followers of Høstsabbat,

These last months have been a nightmare considering the planning of this years’ Høstsabbat festival. Countries and cities have been turning green and red over night, the capacity limit has been up for discussion and a lot of the other ever-changing restrictions has been difficult to work with along the way. The uncertainties have been never ending.

Despite all of this, we tried to put our heads together and come up with a Covid friendly version of this year’s edition, still paying justice to our visions. The crew at Kulturkirken JAKOB has been nothing short of amazing, helping out in all ways possible, trying to make Høstsabbat 2020 happen. As all of you can imagine, having any bands from abroad would mean too many x-factors to move forward with. Our last chance was to have an all-Norwegian festival, but all in all it was too many changes and too many restrictions to make Høstsabbat what it is.

Our final conclusion is therefore to postpone the festival as a whole, hoping as many of this year’s bands can make their way to Oslo next year in October 2021.

This decision is heartbreaking, and not an easy one to make. But in the end, we think this is the best and right thing to do. We hope you understand why we waited this long to bring forward the news. We really tried to make it work. This fall will leave a black hole, compared to what was expected, and how things should have been. On the upside we are planning some really cool, covid-safe happenings in Oslo throughout this Autumn and Spring. Keep your eyes peeled!

TICKETS
We hope as many as possible want to extend this year’s ticket to Høstsabbat 2021 for the same price. In that case, you just keep your ticket and Ticketmaster will change it automatically. You can also get a refund for your ticket by following the link in the end of this text. The refund sheet must be filled in within 2 months to get a refund.

We promise to do whatever it takes to make Høstsabbat 2021 the best one so far, and a special one for all of us. Save the dates next year, Friday and Saturday 1st to 2nd of October.

Until next time, we love you all!

Doom out,
Høstsabbat

REFUND link: https://bit.ly/refund-HS

Photo: Per Georg Krokstad

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I hate to say it, but it’s getting to the point where I’m hanging a lot of hopes on making the trip to Norway this October for Høstsabbat 2020. Will it happen? I don’t know. Will anything? Maybe by then the world will be up and running — or maybe at least the rest of the world will, if not my home country — and the fest will take place in glorious fashion as a collective sigh of relief among those fortunate enough to be there. But with so much uncertainty around and the Spring festival season at least shuddered in its entirety, I have to wonder what’s in store thereafter. I by no means think that puts me in an exclusive category, by the way. We’re all waiting to see what happens, as the shadow of COVID-19 has become the context in which our lives seem to be taking place. Isn’t being a part of history fun???

Not usually, no. For one night in 2008, maybe.

Anyhoo, I give points to the Høstsabbat crew for pressing ahead and giving folks like me something to look forward to. It helps, genuinely.

Can’t help but notice REZN — added below — and Bongripper, who were added last time, are both Chicago bands. Wonder if — if, if, if, if — they might tour Europe together in some capacity this Fall. Or if at least that might be the plan under which they’re proceeding for now.

I pronounce the species day-to-day:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – REZN (US)

Finally Friday has kind of lost its meaning nowadays, but to finally be able to announce awesome bands, making their way across the pond to us Europeans for the first time, seems more than legit. The incredibly talented REZN has been a bubbling name in the US scene for years, and their coming to EU seems way overdue.

It’s with massive pride we are able to welcome REZN to Høstsabbat 2020

It’s lovely to see a band fulfilling the intention of our festival as a whole. The sound of REZN sums up the reasons we’re doing this, and reminds us of where it all started. Slow, dynamic riffs, ethereal vocals, grooving, rolling drums, all wrapped up in a sound that makes you forget time and space.

A solid treat for the mind and soul.

Their brilliant take on psychedelic doom adds more to the pot than just killer riffs.

REZN’s clever use of synths and eastern soundscapes make them sound forever fresh and relevant, putting them in a stand-out position in the jungle of bands trying to follow the same recipe.

Following last week’s announcement, they’ll join fellow Chicago band BONGRIPPER, for the most stacked bill of Høstsabbat ever.

October can’t come soon enough.

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
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NEWSLETTER
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Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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Let’s put an asterisk there, maybe. Or at least an ellipsis followed by some kind of if-there-is-such-a-thing statement. Even the kind folks behind the Oslo-based Høstsabbat Festival, which I’ve been sort of hanging my hat on as other shows, tours and fests have been canceling as a result of COVID-19’s barely-contained spread — saying to myself, “Well at least Høstsabbat is far enough away that it might still happen — are acknowledging that they’re announcing the intention to bring Bongripper over as a headliner with a spirit of optimism. And hey, why not, right? What the fuck else is going on? Everyone knows the situation. If it happens, it’ll be great — the fucking Høstsabbat is so god damned good that, frankly, it’s worth having as something to look forward in all this — and if it doesn’t happen, well, we’ll know well in advance.

What’s the worst scenario? You buy a ticket and support people who make amazing crap happen when circumstances like global pandemics allow? You could do far worse while social distancing.

I don’t know if I even need to convince you of that, but that’s my case, anyhow. I think I made it well enough. Fucking Bongripper, dude.

I edited their post but didn’t write it:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – BONGRIPPER (US)

As we said in our last post, our everyday lives have been turned completely upside down recently.

After some discussion, we’ve decided to move ahead as planned. If nothing else, we want to try to add some sparkle to the end of the tunnel everyone seems to be in. We reckon you, as much as us, need something to look forward to, something that can make this surreal struggle a tiny, tiny bit easier to cope with. So yes, here it is:

BONGRIPPER will headline Høstsabbat 2020.

As you know, we always try to choose headliners suitable for the church acoustics. Since we started our collaboration with Kulturkirken JAKOB, this very band has been on the top of our wishlist of invitees. It is a massive joy to finally be able to announce Bongripper for our sabbathian crowd. For the first time in Norway, no less.

Bongripper is a band staking out new paths. They’re leaders of the pack, inspiring younger bands with their unearthly rumble and distinct riffs. Their instrumental, miserable Chicago doom has taken them all over the world, and they’ve been featured on every significant festival there is, building a solid and loyal fanbase throughout their seven full-length career. Finally the time has come for Høstsabbat.

The chapel stage will hold the presence of a band with sudden changes, blasting drums and a heaviness so impeccable, you’ll have a hard time standing up straight in front of it. This gig will mark a highlight in the history of Høstsabbat. Please welcome Bongripper, the headliners of this year’s heaviest event!

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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Of course it’s all tentative. Everything’s tentative at this point, but one can hardly fault Oslo’s Høstsabbat for trying to inject a bit of optimism into the day by adding Sweden’s Greenleaf to the lineup for the festival that, as of now, is still scheduled to take place this October. Does Høstsabbat know what October will bring in terms of COVID-19? Nope. Does anyone? If they do, they’re not saying, so yeah. Might as well keep announcing bands and at least give people something to look forward to — shit, give me something to look forward to, never mind anyone else — even if that has to come with the inevitable asterisk of well-this-might-not-happen-because-of-a-global-pandemic. Fine. I’ll take it anyway. Just the thought of seeing Greenleaf on stage again is enough to make me smile, let alone seeing them in that church for Høstsabbat.

If there is a Høstsabbat 2020 — and I very, very much hope there is — it’s going to be something incredibly special.

Here’s their statement:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – GREENLEAF (SE)

In these troubled times where life has turned into a battle of life or death for most things concerning music and cultural activities, we’d like to encourage our fellow riff worshippers to look ahead, towards a better existence. Our whole scene is under great pressure, and it’s more important than ever to support each other and to acknowledge the importance of the everyday shows, independent clubs, festivals, promoters, technicians and everything else surrounding what we love the most. Hopefully when October comes, the covid-19 pandemic has lost, and gatherings as our own Høstsabbat has been given the green light.

Speaking of green. GREEN LUNG has already been announced, so why not add Greenleaf to the party?

Yes, Greenleaf is coming!

These Swedish legends have become one of the biggest bands in the European stoner circuit, and it’s easy to grasp why. Even though it started out as “just” a side project by Tommi Holappa, at the time the key member of Dozer, their 20-year long history have seen the band climbing to the top, slowly but steadily. Their last two albums, both released by Napalm Records, marked their return with bells on, and proved their position as leaders of melodic fuzzed out stoner rock.

Their recent album “Hear the Rivers” interact with hard-hitting drums, groovy-as-hell riffs, topped with the epic melodies from the lungs of their new singer Arvid Hällagård. For a Swedish band of this size, we’re surprised they haven’t frequented Oslo more often.

For this year’s Høstsabbat it only adds to the quality though, and we are stoked to bring them to church.

Hail the leaf, hail Greenleaf!

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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I’m going to level with you. I’ve been invited back to Oslo to cover Høstsabbat 2020 and through hell, high water, plague or societal collapse, as long as the fest is happening, I’m planning on going. I don’t know how many tickets are left for Høstsabbat 2020 because, frankly, I don’t need to know. I do know, however, some of the band names that the festival has yet to announce, and from that knowledge, I can tell you safely that the two-dayer at the Kulturkirken Jakob — as incredible a setting for shows as I’ve ever seen, both in terms of bands playing on the church altar and downstairs in the basement — and the bar across the street that was added as a third stage last year will indeed sell out. The tickets will be gone. I’m not going to presume you can afford travel from wherever you live as well as tickets — I certainly can’t — but if you’re able to do so and thinking of making the trip, I can only recommend to you to get off the fence and make the ticket purchase happen sooner than later.

Because the tickets will be gone. And you’ll have missed it.

Now. Again, pending disaster, this will be my fourth trip to Oslo for Høstsabbat — 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. I have been fortunate enough in that time to see that this festival is becoming something really special as it continues to grow and become a presence in Norway and with a reputation that extends beyond its home city. If you’re someone who looks at fests as experiences to be had, it is an experience to be had. More, it’s one you want to have.

I’m not working for the fest. I’m not trying to sell you anything. I’m one fan of cool shit speaking to someone who may or may not be interested in some shit I think is pretty cool. That’s all.

Also, good to know Hymn, in returning to Høstsabbat this Fall, will have a new record in tow. All the more reason to look forward.

Here’s their addition announcement:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – HYMN (NO)

HYMN is the closest we come to an in-house band. No other band has played Høstsabbat three times. Why? No other band pulls off exactly what Hymn does. Actually, there might not be another band able to impress the way these guys do.

Their debut album “Perish” from 2017 is a monster of an effort, but what’s yet to come will leave marks way beyond our Norwegian borders. We have heard it, the upcoming album set for release autumn 2020. The label behind it, Fysisk Format, drew the winning ticket with this one.

This new album hits hard, with its raw, yet crisp sound. They separate themselves, managing to add detail and finesse hardly seen in aggressive sludge outfits. They lead the way so to speak. It IS that good.

Luckily for our crowd, they’re even better live, and they’ll play this very album in it’s entirety, while starting off Høstsabbat in the Chapel stage, Friday October 2nd.

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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Harmony-laced Swedish retro heavy with a folkish flair? Well yes, that’s excellent and all well and good in joining the lineup for Høstsabbat 2020, which only continues — and from what I hear, will continue — to grow more awesome with each new band announced. As I’ll be there barring piano-dropped-on-my-head-type disaster, they’re one to look forward to seeing, particularly as their 2017 debut was such a gem and they’ve apparently got a follow-up just completed, but I think it’s worth taking a second here to appreciate the artwork that accompanies this announcement. Yeah, it’s a couple of robed figures and a smoking snail and a little Sabbath demon, but if the subject matter is familiar, look at the friggin’ detail and the technique.

Really. If you click the image and open the link in a new tab you can see it as 2048×2048 pixels, and it’s worth doing that just to appreciate the line work on the snail alone, never mind the demon or the celebrants. Trine Grimm and Linda K Røed hosted a gallery show in the basement of the Kulturkirken Jakob at Høstsabbat last year, and also did a live painting at the fest, so it’s not like their work as been unacknowledged or anything, but it’s becoming increasingly clear how essential they are to Høstsabbat‘s aesthetic at this stage. It’s so cool to see what this festival is becoming as it moves forward each year.

Plus the bands rule. To wit:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – ORKAN (SE)

Some bands combine the quality of pleasing the retro-oriented crowd just as much as youngsters in search of something new and edgy. It’s hard to say how it’s done, but if you’re curious, our next band should fit that description perfectly.

Orkan is a highly enjoyable spectacle on stage, just as their sound is cuddly to your eardrums on their recordings. With their current view on society, while at the same time leaning on the classic prog sounds of a forgotten era, they’re truly a breath of fresh air. Surprised they’re from Sweden? We’re not.

Orkan will grace Høstsabbat with that very breath of fresh air.

They’re light, but at the same time heavy, especially with their lyrics casting light on how this world is evolving.

As they’ve just finished recording their new album, we look forward to welcome this vivid 5-piece to Høstsabbat 2020.

We bet they’ll hit you like a storm, or a hurricane even.

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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You ever feel like the universe is just doing you favors? That’s me reading that Øresund Space Collective being added to Høstsabbat 2020 this October in Oslo. One could kind of say the same of the whole lineup to this point, from Mars Red Sky right on down to Green Lung, but honestly, the always-improvised jams of Øresund Space Collective are something I write about when I feel like I need to reset my brain or get myself right on some creative level — a kind of refresher and reminder of the vitality of the passion that can fuel a band’s work. And I’ve never seen them live, either. And if all goes according to plan, I will at Høstsabbat. It’s one more thing to make me look forward to this trip in the Fall. I’ve seen Dr. Space jam with other bands, and that’s been cool, but yeah. This is going to be something special and I can’t wait.

Here’s the announcement. I didn’t write it but I tweaked it a bit at the request of the festival:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE (DK)

Space alert!

When space is the place there’s only one place to go. If your only desire is to be captivated in a lush improvised cosmos, your mind altered by the liquid shifts of galaxies, you need to call in the doctor.

Hailing Dr. Space! Come in, Dr. Space!

Known by the terrestrial name of Scott Heller by some earthlings, Dr. Space gathered the Øresund Space Collective together back in 2004. With a somewhat rotating cast of musicians from around Denmark and beyond, the idea has maintained the same; to gather a group of players challenging themselves in long and improvised jams, taking advantage of the energy between them and the playful interaction. It’s a masterclass in borderless music. A sonic conversation set for the heart of the sun, presented to the listener in its most natural state.

The Collective soon found themselves leaders of the European psych scene, and it’s fair to say they’ve remained in that position ever since, consistent in releases but gigging only occasionally mostly due to other projects spanning out from their core.

After years of trying without success, we are proud to have at last established interplanetary relations between ourselves and Dr. Space, and proud to bring these forefathers of Scandinavian spaced-out psych to our church.

Please welcome Øresund Space Collective to Høstsabbat 2020.

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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I feel like I don’t even need to ask if you caught wind of Green Lung‘s 2019 debut album, Woodland Rites (review here), because the heavy odds are that, yeah, you definitely did. The London outfit were already considered up-and-coming by the time the LP arrived through Kozmik Artifactz, and the response to the record — well earned, I’ll note — was nigh on religious in its fervor. Clearly a band onto something special, and it caught on in a huge, resonant way. The songs were there and the groove was locked in and they presented their material with a command that undercut the idea of it being their first shot at a 12″.

Høstsabbat 2020 will bring Green Lung to Norway for the first time. This is the second lineup addition in a row that’s a first Oslo appearance for the band in question — Sweden’s Besvärjelsen have never been either — and while both acts are relatively new compared to others on the bill, it’s still an occasion worth noting. If all goes well and the fest doesn’t realize how generally awful I am between now and then, I’ll be back at Høstsabbat this October, and the prospect of catching Green Lung makes me look forward to that all the more.

Here’s what the festival has to say:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – GREEN LUNG (UK)

It’s becoming Høstsabbat tradition that, while we don’t bring hordes of UK bands across the pond every year — and there are enough of them that we could — we’ve established a lust and will to AT LEAST feature one of the many acts in the bursting UK underground. Our Sabbathians deserve no less, and London’s Green Lung is definitely a band fitting that description.

Their debut album ‘Woodland Rites’ (Kozmik Artifactz) smashed almost every best-of-2019 list we saw last year, bringing together memorable songwriting and a sound that calls to the golden days of psych rock and the birth of heavy sounds. Add warm harmonies, clever hooks, dueling guitar and the obligatory bit of Black Sabbath to the cake, and you’ve got yourself a winner.

As a relatively new band, Høstsabbat 2020 will mark their first appearance in Oslo. Could there be a better occasion? Never.

Come see their show. If your mind’s not blown, at least your lungs will be greener. But we’re expecting blown minds too.

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

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