Posted in Whathaveyou on March 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
A quick and heartfelt congratulations to Amy Tung Barrysmith. Last week, her band Year of the Cobra released one of 2025’s best records and yesterday it was announced she’ll take on bassist duties in a full-time capacity for Amenra in Belgium. You might recall at Desertfest New York last year, Barrysmith was in the lineup for Amenra‘s set (review here), and while I’m not sure how it’ll all work with Amy in Seattle and Amenra in Belgium as regards “rehearsal space adventures,” I’m happy to see Amy-ra become a thing.
The band made it official on social media. Amenra have two EPs out later this month on Relapse, a five-night residency March 26-30 at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, and are confirmed for Desertfest London, SonicBlast Fest in Portugal, a bunch of Euro shows in April where Amy will pull double-duty as Year of the Cobra support, and almost certainly a slew of others. That and darkness is how they do.
Their post:
We are overjoyed to finally announce that our friend Amy Tung Barrysmith will be joining AMENRA on bass.
We have known each other for almost a decade now and really had a great time on our East coast tour together. We are looking forward to more adventures on the road, studios worldwide and our rehearsal space right here. We are blessed to have you aboard 🖤
She just released a new record with her band @yearofthecobra – go give it a spin!
Here are some words from Amy herself :
“I am so incredibly honored and excited to announce that I will be joining Amenra. Having this opportunity to play and create art so powerful and moving is very humbling and I look forward to the beautiful music and memories we will make for the many years to come. Thank you, Colin, Mathieu, Lennart, and Bjorn and to all of the Amenra fans for your immense trust and love.”
photographs by the magnificent @afcortes taken in his studio in Brooklyn NYC
To be sure, it was my loss not being able to make the trip to SonicBlast Fest in gorgeous Âncora, Portugal, this past summer, not getting to walk on the beach on my way to and from being pummeled by various incarnations of heavy and hard sounds for hours on end. I had a great time in 2023, though, and seeing Circle Jerks among the first round of lineup confirmations for SonicBlast Fest 2025, can’t help but remember it was OFF! who took part in that edition, as well as Earthless, who’ll return to the festival next August to play Sonic Prayer in its statistically significant entirety.
Those two, along with Fu Manchu, My Sleeping Karma, Slomosa, Gnome, Dopethrone, Emma Ruth Rundle, Daevar, Amenra, Patriarchy, Jjuujjuu and Spoon Benders comprise the full announcement, and to be perfectly honest with you, I’m not sure what more you’d need. More is definitely coming — this is a three-day fest Aug. 7-9 with an annual pre-show on the 6th, and SonicBlast doesn’t screw around; the nights go late and the bill is packed — and you can already see some of the blend of styles that’s characteristic of what they do, reaching into more aggressive punk and hardcore along with various takes centralizing riffs, psych expanse, doom, sludge, and so on, so keep an eye out. I’m just saying though. if it was like two days and this was it, it’d still be worth trying to find a spot at one of the hotels by the beach. I look forward to seeing who gets added over the next few months.
Tickets are available at the links below. The post came through socials thusly:
Welcome to SonicBlast Fest’s 13th edition 🔥🖤
We’re so psyched to share with you the first names to join us in our wild beach party 🌊🔥
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 25th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
A strong first impression from Desertfest London 2025 is no big surprise. The UK’s premier heavy festival will feature Elder, as previously noted, as well as Zeal & Ardor, Amenra, Stoned Jesus, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Planet of Zeus, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Josiah, and others. Note 10,000 Years supporting their new record and first for Ripple. Note Volcanova because they’re a new-ish band on the way up. Note Bobbie Dazzle as Sian Greenaway moves forward from her time with Alunah. Note Sons of Alpha Centauri because they don’t tour a ton. Note Black Willows because they rule, on and on. There’s a lot to be unpacked here even before you get to Barbarian Hermit, Erronaut or Scott Hepple and the Sun Band, but the bottom line is the news is good.
Some of these acts will be shared with Desertfest Berlin and Desertfest Oslo, and I haven’t seen a lineup announcement for either of those yet, but it seems fair to think of it as imminent. In the meantime, Desertfest London 2025 has tickets on sale, should you either want to purchase one or spend the rest of your week until payday fantasizing about doing so and then make the buy. I haven’t been there since 2013 — would go, happily — and still feel comfortable heartily recommending the experience as life-changing for the better.
From the PR wire:
DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF BANDS FOR 2025 INCLUDING ZEAL & ARDOR, ELDER, AMENRA AND MORE
Desertfest London have announced the first wave of bands for their 13th edition, which will take place across multiple venues in Camden on Friday 16th – Sunday 28th May 2025. Weekend tickets are available HERE: www.desertfest.co.uk
Swiss avant-garde metallers Zeal & Ardor are confirmed to headline the Roundhouse on Saturday night. Led by Manuel Gagneux, the group will undoubtedly deliver a masterclass in genre-pushing riffery following the release of their highly acclaimed fourth album Grief in August.
Desertfest favourites and psych-rock masters Elder will be headlining Friday night with a special performance celebrating 10 years of their album Lore, which was the band’s third full-length release and a watershed moment in their history cementing the hallmark Elder sound.
Frontman and lead guitarist Nick DiSalvo adds, “Lore is turning 10 years old. This album marked a point of departure for Elder upon a path which the band is still walking now. For us, this is the record where the band came into its own as a unique voice in the heavy rock underground. As we approach our second decade as a band, we feel it’s appropriate to look back on this landmark for us and acknowledge it properly, which is why we’re doing a tour performing the entire album along with some other tracks from our earlier catalogue; we’ll give this era of the band a proper celebration before turning our attention once again toward the future and the next album, currently being written.”
After their crushing performance at Desertfest London in 2019, the boundary defying postmetal titans Amenra will be returning to deliver shared catharsis and indoctrinate more to the Church of Ra with their undeniably powerful and haunting atmospherics.
Currently celebrating their 15th anniversary, the Ukranian trio Stoned Jesus will be bringing their mix of doom, prog and grunge whilst The Devil & The Almighty Blues will be hardhitting heavy- slung blues rock.
With new music on the horizon and known for their thunderous live reputation, Planet Of Zeus will be stirring things up, as will Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol with their selfprofessed brand of Doom-Wop.
Also announced are Josiah, Sons Of Alpha Centauri, Volcanova, Black Willows, 10,000 Years, Scott Hepple & The Sun Band, Barbarian Hermit, Erronaut and Bobbie Dazzle.
Weekend Tickets for the event are on sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk with more bands to still be announced!
FULL LINE-UP SO FAR ZEAL & ARDOR | AMENRA | ELDER |STONED JESUS | THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES | PLANET OF ZEUS | RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL | JOSIAH | SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI | VOLCANOVA | SCOTT HEPPLE & THE SUN BAND | BLACK WILLOWS | 10,000 YEARS | BARBARIAN HERMIT | ERRONAUT | BOBBIE DAZZLE
Posted in Reviews on September 14th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Before Show
Doors aren’t for a while yet, and I’m sitting out the back of the Knockdown Center as far out of the way as I can put myself and still be here. It’s good to be here. I crashed hard after the pre-show last night, and it wasn’t painful when the alarm went off at 8AM, unless of course you count the various old-rocker ailments that hit me alongside consciousness. There’s a reason I bring ibuprofen to these things.
I’m staying with Tim Bugbee — a photographer and one of those people who proves you can be both insanely talented and kind — in an AirBNB down the way, and it was about five minutes by car from a to b. Coming into town, I did not travel light. Big suitcase, laptop bag, camera bag; I felt as though all my belongings were compressed to a maximum extent coming back from Budapest last month. This is hardly the same kind of trip, but I wanted to spread out a little. I brought a pack of seltzer, some leftover chicken. I can be comfortable while doing a thing. It’s allowed. I stopped short of bringing a coffee pot, but should have. I’m not usually much for Keurigs, but it was functional. My grinds can come home with me.
This was basically the mellow morning before two days of go. Fine. I sat in my car for an hour and a half from 11:30AM-1:00PM so it didn’t get ticketed or towed because alternate side parking — it didn’t — and hung around in air conditioning because it’s hot in the sun. The whole weekend is supposed to be gorgeous weather, warm and sunny, but the light is Fall. Can’t climate change the Earth’s orbit, I guess. Angles of the light and all that.
Seemingly random, but sitting off to the side in the main venue space, I just saw Amy Tung Barrysmith from Year of the Cobra checking bass and vocals with Amenra. It was a surprise; wouldn’t have been if I kept up with the band’s social media. No drama. Their bassist couldn’t make the trip, so she’s filling in. They announced it a few days ago. I wonder what the connection is there, but I’ll take it either way. I’ve never been huge on Amenra on a personal-listening level, but I’ve yet to hear Amy Tung Barrysmith play on a thing and not like it more for her involvement. Should be an interesting set. Cool. It will be the eighth one of the total 10 sets played today. I hope to see at least part of everybody. Will keep you posted how it goes.
To that end:
Guhts
My first time seeing Guhts, which is a thing worth remembering. Their first album, Regeneration (review here), is my one to beat for best debut of 2024, if that matters. More to the point, they were fucking great. Obviously I dig the record too, but at full volume and assault, it was just the right combination of expansive and oppressive. They had the laptop going the whole time with keyboard parts and various electronic atmospherics, and with the four of them up there, it was pretty clear ever were giving 100 percent of everything to the performance. The passion came through raw, and actually, having the backdrop and transitional drones happening apart from the band, emphasizing the ferocity of the delivery when they let loose. As they did. Righteously. If that had been the end of the night, the day would be a win.
Blackwater Holylight
It had been a couple years and, admittedly, there was the contextual weirdness of it being Psycho Las Vegas — that’s not a dig; their whole thing was absurdity — last time I saw Blackwater Holylight, but the sinister sound of 2021’s Silence/Motion (review here) came to life as part of an ambient pastiche. It was more immersive than a lot of heavy bands are willing to be, and I guess you could call that ‘gaze of some variety or other, but that almost implied a kind of laziness and Blackwater Holylight were as much fuzzy progressive grunge metal as they were languid nod, with keyboards adding to the texture of the melodies, some toward psychedelic but clearly mindful of place and time. And maybe they riff out for a while too. How is that anything but awesome?
Abrams
Among the bands I haven’t seen before, I was most curious and what Abrams would bring. The Denver heavy rockers are ultra-reliable somgwriters, and they’ve always had a clarity of purpose in their arrangements and structures that is underrated by exponents, but in the Texas room it was more about hitting hard and representing the scope of their craft. Some emo in there, or at least the punk of the aughts. In any case, they were dynamic and leaned into the impact of their heavier stretches. At the same time, they weren’t void of mood at all, and guitarist/vocalist Zach Amster is the charismatic frontman he has always seemed to be. Dude can sing. I stood in the back for most of the set, and I could feel my earplugs shaking in my ears. People had their fists up. I’m not shitting you. And seeing them live, maybe part of why they’re undervalued is they’re a bit between styles. They’re a heavy rock band, but that’s not it. They’re metal, prog, punk and a few besides. Practiced but not at all dry in their delivery, I have to wonder if Abrams ever plays a show without making a new fan.
Primitive Man
Brutal turn of vibe. You know on paper what you’re getting with also-Danver’s Primitive Man — punishment; sounds no less likely to consume you having just bludgeoned you into oblivion — but the reality of the thing is even more destructive. Caustic doom as a genre? Crushing doom? Those sound like words that could be things. Doesn’t matter. Also from Denver, the trio were a vision of aural misanthropy, extremist in purpose and volume. There have only been like three bands today, so it doesn’t mean a ton to call them the heaviest as even their quiet parts had a rumble beneath that you could feel in your chest, but they were the heaviest of the fest so far and it would take a lot of noise to beat. Frequencies as weapons. Malevolence and probably a truckload of dry ice. I wouldn’t call myself well adjusted by any measure — if I was, I’d have stopped doing this years ago — but even on a level of catharsis, Primitive Man are a lot to take. Which, wait for it, is the point of the thing. If dystopia’s coming, they’re ready. And brutally sad. I didn’t know any of the songs. Mostly they were terrifying. And it was astonishing that it could still be daylight while they played. If Khanate are hacking you to pieces, Primitive Man are pulling concrete blocks on your chest until you can’t breathe anymore.
Spirit Mother
About as fresh in my mind as they possibly could be since the album they put out today was streamed here yesterday. They played a good deal of Trails, and brought a heap of noise to the prior single “Locust,” and were thick in vibe while still keeping the songs moving. A fill-in violinist/vocalist held down that role without question, and Armand Lance pushed his vocals into screams and was still able to carry the melody alongside said violinist when the guitar and bass dropped out and it was vocals and ride cymbal only for a few measures in “Wolves.” Some aspects of Young Hunter, All Them Witches, but Spirit Mother are very much their own thing on the balance, and their songs are getting darker, more expansive, and better. My second time seeing them, and I’m extra glad to have seen them play the Trails material. I’ll look forward to the next one.
Belzebong
Riff-forward instrumental stoner sludge metallers Belzebong came all the way from Poland to elicit crusty vibes in fog that I couldn’t tell if it was theirs or leftover from Primitive Man. Surely they’re used to haze, one way or the other. Big nod, ‘Bong Fire Death’ — because Bathory, god damnit! — in the backs of the bass and guitars, amd an absolute lock on tone, there was precious little to not like. You would not call them subtle and neither are they trying to be. Doom. Fucking. Riffs. Black. Fucking. Sabbath. You get the idea. Like their countrymen worshipers in Dopelord, they wear their love of weed on their collective sleeve, and I get it. And “it” in this circumstance means stoned. But the reason it works is because the music and their performance of it is as much a celebration as anything else, and they’re not trying to convince anyone they invented Sleep riffs. They’re the kind of band that, if you’re in this thing, make complete sense, and would confuse the shit out of normal people. It’s a very specific idea of fun. Always a pleasure to see them.
Deathchant
I crossed paths with Deathchant in June at Freak Valley (review here), so not quite topping Spirit Mother for being in my head, but not terribly far off either. They were going to be a ripper on stage and they were. Thin Lizzy and Motörhead and Sabbath and DRI or whoever; they own records. But volume and energy and shove were the order of things, however much the two guitars might veer into NWOBHM-type harmony on the way. I was late getting in to take pictures, but that’s okay. I don’t really like taking pictures most of the time, and I do like talking to friends, so if I’m not in front of the stage for everything, fine. I was on the side. Still enough perspective to know Deathchant were the start of the party for a lot of the heads in the room, which was later-in-evening crowded, and fair enough. The West Coast skate thing doesn’t always translate in New York, but some things hit just right. I’d never seen them before last August at SonicBlast (review here) — to which they returned this year — now it’s three times in 13 months. Maybe I’m a fan.
Amenra
Sure enough, Amy Tung Barrysmith on bass. They’re not a casual band, Amenra. They’re not the kind of thing one might put on in the background of an otherwise quiet afternoon. And it’s all so very important-feeling, very solemn, whether a given part is loud and screamy or subdued and melodic. It’s a genre trope — partly in Amenra’s wake, I think — for pprt-metal to take itself seriously. So they do the thing where Colin H. Van Eeckhout bangs the sticks together while kneeling at the start, and there’s the strobe matching the heft of tone and emotional immediacy with its own kind of sensory overload. They have a lurch and an undulating waves of distortion that’s their own, and it’s not a hot take they’re incredible at what they do, but I’ve never managed to get fully on board. My loss. It was a blast to watch Amy from Year of the Cobra playing with them, though, and just because they may not be a band I put on all the time doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what they do and the influence they’ve had. It just means I’m probably going to be early for Domkraft.
Domkraft
And so I was. A band worth being early for. I spent most of the set right in the front, obnoxiously so, I’m sure, and kind of let go and nodded out for a bit. I didn’t fall asleep while Domkraft were playing or anything close to it. But it’s not a conscious thing when that riff hits you just right anyhow. I have to think the moshers know what I’m talking about. Starting out on a nine-day US run, the Swedish three-piece indeed were a culminating force from the Texas Stage, riffs bouncing off concrete walls and back again, creating that much more presence in the sound. There was a technical issue with the guitar, but it wasn’t actually that long in fixing, and they were right to restart “Whispers.” They’re are a lesson in the difference a great drummer can make, but they’re also a lesson in the difference a great everything can make. The lesson I learned was that I don’t appreciate their guitar solos enough, and the way I learned it was by being fortunate enough to be on the planet at the same time as the band.
High on Fire
The band who taught the world to shred riffs. Last met at the beginning of July in Croatia for Bear Stone (review here), though certainly they’ve been elsewhere since then, and they continue to hold their own standard. There was some not-fun-kind feedback intermittent early on, but it was a High on Fire set, like they wouldn’t deliver? They’re returning headliners at Desertfest New York, having played in 2022 (review here), and I don’t have a ton to say about them that didn’t apply two months ago, but to sum up they’re one of the best heavy-anything bands of their generation. I continue to dig the way they’re able to vary tempo in the live show while keeping the balance toward intensity on an LP. Of course they’re headlining. Hopefully it won’t be the last time they do. This forever will be the time that somebody was blowing bubbles during “Rumors of War,” however.
Unless they want to make it tradition or something. Which would be okay too, for sure. Hashtag Bubbles of War.
—
On that happy note, good night. I’ve been writing all day at the fest, and I’m ready to call it an evening. Tomorrow brings Dozer, Spaceslug and sundry other delights. There are more pics after the jump, and as always, thank you for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 7th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
A righteous dose of lineup additions to Desertfest NYC 2024 today puts High on Fire and Amenra at the top of the bill thus far along with the previously announced Russian Circles, and unveils the bands who’ll play the pre-party as The Skull-offshoot Legions of Doom, Tee Pee Records‘ house classic heavy proggers Mirror Queen, the revamped Satan’s Satyrs, and Mustafina.
All well and good, don’t get me wrong. Killer, all the way through. For me though, the personal highlight here is Spaceslug coming from Poland to play, hopefully on the main stage at the Knockdown Center. Not only is their new album the latest in a string of immersive heavy psych semi-metal explorations, but right around the end of last year, I was angling trying to get myself out to Vegas to see them at Planet Desert Rock Weekend, where they featured this past January. The thought of seeing them in Brooklyn takes some of the sting out of missing their first US appearance, and as that will occur among the likes of Primitive Man, Blackwater Holylight and Spirit Mother, so much the better.
If you’re not from New York and have ever thought about traveling there, take a gander at the following:
DESERTFEST NEW YORK ANNOUNCES HIGH ON FIRE, AMENRA, PRIMITIVE MAN, BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT, SPACESLUG + MORE FOR 2024 EDITION
Performing at the Knockdown Center please welcome… ↠ High On Fire ↠ Amenra ↠ PRIMITIVE MAN ↠ Blackwater Holylight ↠ Spaceslug ↠ Spirit Mother
Who will all be joining the likes of Russian Circles, Acid King, GREEN LUNG, Truckfighters, Dozer, BelzebonG for the 4th edition of our independent East Coast venture, celebrating the best in underground heavy music! With more still to announce, including day splits – which will be released in July.
We are extremely proud of this line-up and the amount of EU bands we are able to bring over to you! Plus we are thrilled to welcome doom metal super-group Legions of Doom (ft. members of Trouble, Saint Vitus, The Skull & COC) to headline our SOLD OUT pre-party, hosted by TeePee Records alongside the return of Satan’s Satyrs, plus local heroes Mirror Queen & Mustafina!
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 14th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Some crossover here, admittedly, in acts like Messa, Amenra, Blackwater Holylight, the Giant Squid reunion (nice), Mother of Graves, Body Void, and so on. Immortal Bird, whom I’ve spent the last 15 years feeling like I should be writing about, etc., alongside the extremity of grindcore pioneers Repulsion and plenty of other noise of varying harshnesses. I’ve covered the fest before, but if you’ll note the first word of the post, it’s “some” crossover, and that’s true here too. Even some bands, like Sumerlands or Mother of Graves, I can’t decide if they fit here or not. I like that about them, and I like that about Northwest Terror Fest 2024, which has early bird tickets on sale as of 1PM Eastern yesterda.
But while there’s badassery in the bill and that’s not at all a surprise, the dual-prong motive for posting is sharing the GoFundMe link for Northwest Terror Fest (and Southwest Terror Fest) founder David Rodgers, who has a rare form of cancer detailed below. I remember working with David about a decade ago when he had his band Godhunter (still ahead of their time) going and his label Battleground Records, both of which seem to take a back seat ultimately to the success of the festivals, and fair enough. He’s someone who’s done excellent work to move aesthetic forward, in his own artistic output and in terms of supporting the work of others, and if you can help, you should. This country has shit for medicine and doesn’t care if you live or die. Would in many ways prefer you dead. All we as humans have is each other. No one’s coming to save us.
From the PR wire:
Northwest Terror Fest Announces 2024 Line-up; Early Bird Tickets On Sale Monday November 13, 10am PST
NORTHWEST TERROR FEST, the Pacific Northwest’s only destination extreme music festival, will make its triumphant return for its 6th year, in Seattle, WA.
A limited number of early-bird tickets go on sale Monday, November 13, 2023 at 10am PST.
The inclusive extreme music festival will take place over three days – May 9th to May 11th – at two of Seattle’s premier music venues, Neumos and Barboza, located in Seattle’s historical Capital Hill neighborhood.
Over three days of NORTHWEST TERROR FEST – which is sponsored by the highly revered heavy metal site NO CLEAN SINGING, – the festival will showcase extreme metal, hardcore punk, and experimental music from 36 acts from the heavy metal underground and beyond. The festival packs a powerful lineup with Washington/Oregon exclusive performances by Daeva, Eternal Champion, Forbidden, Giant Squid (reunion performing Metridium Fields), Repulsion, Spiritual Poison, Sumerlands, and Weekend Nachos!
About the festival, The Northwest Terror Fest Planning Committee shares:
“We’re excited to once again bring three days of diverse and devastating music to Seattle in May, 2024. This year’s lineup features many of the most exciting new bands in metal, a handful of long-awaited reunions, excursions into industrial and darkwave, and a showcase of young and ambitious bands keeping underground music alive in the Pacific Northwest. Team NWTF is eternally grateful for the support of Washington and Oregon’s extreme music community – Northwest Terror Fest will always be for you. We’re looking forward to seeing you all in the pit. Until then, leave no cross unturned!”
Northwest Terror Fest VI 2024 Full Line-up May 9-11 2024 | Seattle, WA Neumos & Barboza
David, a founder of Southwest Terror Fest and Northwest Terror Fest, has unfortunately been diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer called Multiple Myeloma cancer. The cancer can only be treated, with the goal of entering a remission state that will allow David to live longer. Without treatment, his life expectancy would be two years, at most. The end of his life would be on a dialysis machine. David’s family has decided to throw everything they have at this and fight it with chemotherapy and stem cell replacement therapy. His doctors are hopeful that these treatments will push the cancer into a dormant state. They believe that this will give David nine years, or more.
Anything that you can give will help David and his family greatly. If you are unable to financially support the fundraiser, simply sharing the Gofundme page on the internet would be immensely appreciated:https://www.gofundme.com/f/xuvgvh-davids-cancer-fund.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Behold as DesertfestBerlin launches its 2024 season with 15 bands like hey getting 15 bands in a place is no big deal. Of course, maybe it isn’t for the now-long-running German event with close ties to the Sound of Liberation booking concern, but for the rest of the planet. You’ll note Belgian post-metallers Amenra and always-hip weirdos Osees at the top of the thus-far bill followed immediately by Acid King and The Brant Bjork Trio, both of whom will also take part in Desertfest Oslo 2024 as announced yesterday. Norway’s Full Earth, an offshoot of Kanaan with a debut album coming next year on Stickman, will also be at both events, and they’re likely not the last.
So, context tells us to expect at least two weeks of touring in Europe from those three outfits. Monkey3 are on the road now, Siena Root, Dÿse and Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs — new live LP out — were recently confirmed for Bear Stone Festival 2024 in July, and it’s not unthinkable they’d be doing shows from one to the other. They’re confirmed here alongside Tuareg rockers Tamikrest, Earth Tongue from New Zealand, Thronehammer, Dirty Sound Magnet, Praise the Plague and Neànder. Sounds like a festival to me. I’m ashamed at this point to say I’ve never been.
Info came down the PR wire, courtesy of Sound of Liberation:
DESERTFEST BERLIN Announces First Bands For 2024! Tickets On Sale Now!
Desertfest Berlin friends (#129304#)
We’re delighted to finally share with you the first names of the bands that are going to play on our stage in 2024❤️(#128293#) AMENRA from Belgium are going to be one of our headliners along with the LA’s psych-punk warrior OSEES ⚡️ We’re happy to see again the great ACID KING and BRANT BJORK TRIO and welcome TAMIKREST for the first time with their mix of traditional African music and Western rock (#128165#) The Newcastle’s doom rockers PIGS x7 will play for us their new album ‘Land of Sleeper’ while MONKEY3 and SIENA ROOT will bring their instrumental psychedelic rock and bluesy hard rock to our stage. Get ready for the emotional as well as decal-laden music of DŸSE and the psychedelic rock by the trio Dirty Sound Magnet (#127786#)️ You’re going to experience the heavy psychedelic / fuzz music of EARTH TONGUE directly from New Zealand, and the epic doom of THRONEHAMMER (#128588#) The experimental Oslo based rock-quintet Full Earth will play along the black metallers PRAISE THE PLAGUE and NEÀNDER both from Berlin ⚡️
Get ready for more names very soon. We’re stoked!!
AMENRA | OSEES ACID KING | BRANT BJORK TRIO | TAMIKREST PIGSPIGSPIGSPIGSPIGSPIGSPIGS | MONKEY3 | SIENA ROOT DŸSE | DIRTY SOUND MAGNET | EARTH TONGUE | THRONEHAMMER FULL EARTH | PRAISE THE PLAGUE | NEÀNDER & MANY MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
Desertfest Berlin May 24th – 26th 2024 Columbia Venues
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 3rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
If you were curious as to how Scott Kelly of Neurosis has spent the pandemic, this collaboration with Mathieu Vandekerckhove and Colin H. van Eeckhout of Amenra and Igor Cavalera (ex-Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy, Petbrick, etc.) would seem to answer the question. And yes, that’s all well and good — a band with pedigree. Amenra have released stuff through Neurot, toured with Neurosis and Deafbrick, on which Cavalera played, was on Neurot as well, so yeah, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they’d collaborate at some point.
Honestly, what I have more trouble with here is the assertion that the band “formed in 2017.” Come on. Vandekerckhove and Kelly did a thing at that point, but they called the band Absent in Body and they called the record Plague God, and I have to wonder what’s wrong with just saying “this is a pandemic project?” Many, many people have seen lives and livelihoods upended, and everyone has been affected one way or the other. So maybe some creativity got routed into something new building on the one-off they’d done a few years earlier. From where I sit, that’s about the only good thing to come out of the last two years of this bullshit.
Video’s great. Of course it is. One more disc to buy:
ABSENT IN BODY (current and former members of AMENRA, NEUROSIS, SEPULTURA) ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM, PLAGUE GOD, OUT MARCH 25
ABSENT IN BODY make their Relapse Records debut with the terrifying new album Plague God, out March 25, 2022 on LP/CD/CS/Digital. Watch “The Acres/The Ache” music video and pre-order AT THIS LOCATION:https://orcd.co/absentinbody
Initially the brainchild of AMENRA guitarist Mathieu J. Vandekerckhove, and NEUROSIS vocalist/guitarist Scott Kelly, ABSENT IN BODY formed in 2017. Immediately recognizing their kinship, and with AMENRA frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout brought in on vocals and bass, what emerged is a reflection of the intervening years of turbulence, extending it’s scope as it navigates across five stretches of unstable terrain. From the opening Rise From Ruins with Sepultura drummer, Iggor Cavelera’s tribal beat emerging from foreboding, near-subsonic oscillations to explode in a tide of corrosive riffs and feral howls, through Sarin’s steadfast, procession-through-purgatory groove, to The Half Rising Man’s matrix of organic/mechanic evolution, it’s an album in constant dialogue between the animalistic, the human and the industrial, and a hunger to distill a truth, something unpolluted from the fray.
Plague God doesn’t just give voice to these moments of truth, but in the band’s deep kinship integral to every claustrophobic judder, every stretch of atmospheric dread and helpless alias assumed, lies a freedom we both forget and attain at our peril.
Mathieu Vandekerckhove comments:
“We had not imposed any limitations or boundaries on ourselves to create this music. Everything happened without any compromise, we gathered and let inspiration run freely. It is the beauty and the strength of this album.”
Iggor Cavalera comments:
“It feels great to collaborate with such forward-thinking minds like Colin, Mathieu, and Scott on AIB. The music is dense and slowly brutal, very similar to the times we are living.”
