ReykjaDoom Festival 2024: First Bands Announced
The Icelandic underground has a well-earned reputation for tight-knit variety. You might see different kinds of metal bands hanging out, sharing members and doing gigs in an inherently compact scene. ReykjaDoom Festival, the March 2024 inheritor of the annual Doomcember, looks this far like it will shape up to represent this stylistic diversity well and offer a heavy barrage in the process, with Denmark’s Konvent headlining and a slew of sludge, artsy black metal and so on accompanying in the thus-far-revealed lineup.
It’s worth noting (at least to me) that this is the first festival announcement I’m posting for 2024. Usually one thinks of September as the time the Spring season begins to reveal itself, but being slightly ahead of the April/May curve makes sense in light of the March 8 and 9 event dates. I’m going to do my best to keep up with the lineup for this one, as I’m interested to see how it turns out and the scope they end up with. Won’t be the last time you see me post about it, in other words. Maybe not even this week, as they note below more names are coming soon.
So then, to get caught up:
REYKJADOOM FESTIVAL 2024 – March 8 & 9
After four events under the name Doomcember, the organizers took the next step and announced ReykjaDoom, which specialises in bringing Doom metal acts to Iceland. The group consists of members of the Icelandic metal scene, with every member being involved with multiple acts over the years.
As Icelandic metal festivals started to appear, there was a need for a doom oriented one with appropriate outsiders given a chance to enhance the attendees. The emphasis was on bringing great doom metal bands to Iceland alongside the best of the local bands.
After four successful events which brought bands such as Conan, Slomatics, Saturnalia Temple and Mars Red Sky, it was time to make the events with even more ambitious expectations and overall aesthetics. Their first event under the new name is the instrumental doom metal band Bongripper, which will make their way to Iceland on the 26th of October.
Their next festival will be held on the 8th and 9th of march in Gaukurinn, downtown Reykjavík under the new name: ReykjaDoom Festival.
The bands so far announced represent Iceland achievements of mastering different genres. The post doom metal act of CXVIII, the synth infused progressive metal of Múr (which were recently signed with Doomstar Bookings), the psychedelic black metal band Altari, debut LP out earlier this year through Svart Records and the filthy sludgers of Kvelja. The first headliner is the Danish death doom metal band Konvent. Their reputation has been building greatly ever since their first album came out in 2020.
Tickets to each event:
www.tix.is/is/event/15762/bongripper-live-at-gaukurinn
https://www.midix.is/web/event/event_id/89
More will be announced in early August.
https://www.facebook.com/doomcember/
https://www.instagram.com/reykjadoom/
https://www.reykjadoom.com/
