Posted in Whathaveyou on September 29th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Portland heavygaze trailblazers Blackwater Holylight and Palm Springs locals The Holy Corrupt join the lineup for next March’s Mojave Experience, and the narrative of the festival digging in for its second year remains strong. Blackwater Holylight were out with Elder until that tour got canceled last week following Elder bassist Jack Donovan‘s hospitalization with pneumonia, so it seems likely that whether they’re touring in March or not they’ll be itching to get back out on a West Coast stage.
Meanwhile, I hadn’t heard The Holy Corrupt until putting this post together, but checked out a few of their tracks on Bandcamp, and that’s part of what festivals do too: expose people to things they haven’t yet heard. Their 2024 single “Hate” streams below under Blackwater Holylight‘s 2026 album, Not Here Not Gone, and you’ll find its garage metal residing between styles as the fest info hints. Good fun. Also my first exposure to Muut, who for sure remind of desert rock of yore on their newest single “Ridin’ 62.”
The update, as always, came from socials:
Mojave Experience – March 19–21, 2027 Joshua Tree Lake, California
Formed in Portland, Oregon, Blackwater Holylight have spent the past several years carving out their own place between psychedelia, doom, shoegaze and post-rock. Their music can be delicate and almost weightless one moment, then turn dark and immense without warning.
There’s a patient quality to what they do. Songs stretch out, guitars build in layers and vocals drift through the spaces between them. The heaviness is there, but it isn’t always the first thing you hear.
Across their records, the band has continued to push further into atmosphere and texture while keeping the riffs firmly underneath it all. It’s a sound that can feel beautiful, strange and slightly ominous at the same time, and one that should take on an entirely different character as the daylight fades and Blackwater Holylight settles into the Mojave night.
The Holy Corrupt
Coming out of Palm Springs, The Holy Corrupt joins Mojave Experience 2027.
Born in the Coachella Valley and shaped by the desert around them, this two-piece brings a dark, atmospheric edge to the weekend. There’s weight in their sound, but plenty of space too, with guitars that stretch out and songs that feel right at home under an open desert sky.
We’re always glad to have bands from our own desert community represented at Mojave Experience, and The Holy Corrupt will be making the short trip up from Palm Springs to join us March 19–21 in the Mojave Desert.
Muut
MUUT joins Mojave Experience 2027.
From Yucca Valley, MUUT plays heavy, atmospheric music with a distinct desert sound. Thick guitars, hypnotic passages and plenty of weight give their music a feel that fits naturally with the High Desert.
They’re part of a growing group of bands making original heavy music right here in the Morongo Basin, and we’re excited to have another local band represented at Mojave Experience.
Artists Playing: Clutch Corrosion of Conformity Fu Manchu Red Fang Blackwater Holylight Fatso Jetson Nebula Sasquatch Brant Bjork Trio Big Scenic Nowhere Mondo Generator earthlings? High Desert Queen Black Moon Cult Heavy Temple Deathchant Yawning Balch Unida Sons of Arrakis Warm Uncle Magick Potion The Holy Corrupt 20 Watt Tombstone Muut
When I got back to the room after night one, I found that I’d left my SD card reader at home (it’s on the table next to my side of the couch; I saw it there before I left) and so had no way to transfer the day’s photos from my camera to my laptop. Fuckbuckets. I panic-texted The Patient Mrs., who generally speaking is magic, even across continents, but there wasn’t much she could do from New Jersey. My next panic text went to Matt Bacon, who came back with a camera store recommendation about five blocks down from the hotel. They opened at 10 on Saturday morning. It was very clearly as good as I was going to get, and I decided to sleep as much as I could if I wasn’t going to spend the next three hours sorting pics.
So I did. I had made plans for morning coffee with Howling Giant, and it turned out Tom Polzine had a reader he let me borrow so I could post the first day review, as well as this. I’m in debt to his generosity, and the coffee at that place around the corner from the hotel, the name of which I’ve already forgotten (again, because I was there in 2025 as well), but to which I’ll return if I’m fortunate enough to be here again next year, is pretty killer. I had to stop myself from buying a bag of beans, but I could eat about half a caesar salad and that felt like a godsend.
Went back to the room and finished the post, crashed a bit more but didn’t really sleep again from the morning, which I guess was fine since I survived. Called home to check in, always in a somewhat apologetic tone because I’m not there, but they of course were thriving as could only ever happen in my absence, so that’s fine. The Patient Mrs. had already checked me in for my flight at 10AM tomorrow, and of course that was on my mind all day. My night would end during The Sword for a Sunday 6AM wakeup, shower and go. Madness does not end.
Howling Giant’s soundcheck was quick and straightforward and among the more polite in terms of conversation that I’ve witnessed, though The Sword at Rockefeller a bit later you would never call rude either. They hit into a couple songs, which I was glad to see as I already knew I’d need to be out early, and was more than a bit dragging if you want honesty at the expense of cool. But they were one of the principal acts who taught the Millennials how to riff, and they’ve gotten due acclaim over the years — the hype when they came out was thick enough to stand on — but 20-odd years after the fact, the material holds up. It would be fun to see them later, even just for a little while. Earthless soundchecked next, which just felt like (and kinda was) me getting away with something.
Some more coffee and chat later, it was time for the actual show to start. Howling Giant were first at John Dee, and people were already waiting when I walked back in about 20 minutes before they went on. Their 2025 album, Crucible & Ruin (review here), remains fresh in mind, and though if I’m lucky I’ll see them at least three times this year, Desertfest Oslo being the first, it was also my first time seeing them as a four-piece with Adrian Zambrano on guitar, my first time seeing them since the record, and perhaps most crucially, my first time seeing them since bassist Sebastian Baltes reined in his formerly glorious locks for a shorter and doubtless lower maintenance look.
Opening night of their tour, opening the day to a crowded room — there was some unintentional feedback coming through from Zambrano’s guitar in the P.A. They’ll be at Desertfest Berlin on this run, and they finish at Freak Valley, which will likely also be a celebration but even though they didn’t cover “Song of Storms,” it was a set of banger after banger as their catalog has grown in he last decade since the first EP. The guitar thing stuck around and Polzine, Baltes and reminder-of-the-difference-a-great-creative-drummer-can-make drummer Zach Wheeler jammed slick while Zambrano got sorted, which took a couple minutes and some light electrical work, then a new head. The Marshall did the trick.
In absolute professional fashion, Zambrano entered the jam and wrapped it with a solo, then they were on to the next song with all the space of a beat, like nothing had happened. A blip at best in the momentum of their set. The place went off first when the guitar clicked on and then again when the song started. It was a rad move, smooth and no less confident in execution than the vocal harmonies been Wheeler and Polzine. In the end it was a monster set and it felt like the technical trouble only endeared them more to the room, as well as how they handled it. Must of what they played was Crucible & Ruin stuff, but the title-track of 2023’s clarion Glass Future (review here), and “Tempest and the Liar’s Gateway” slower but a definite highlight regardless. Even with Earthless getting ready to go on upstairs, I watched the whole set. My neck would be sore getting on the plane, but seriously, who cares about that when they’re closing with “Sunken City?” Fire emojis from here to Nashville.
I’m not sure what you’re supposed to say to an Earthless set other than “hey yes please.” The long-running Californian mostly-instrumental trio playing first assured Rockefeller would be packed early, and they dug in with about a 10-minute buildup and were onward from there with their signature immersive shred, guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba like a machine that gets on stage and does that thing, casting expanses of psychedelic rock, melting your brain and mine and everyone else’s like they do. You expect that from Earthless, and they delivered all the headspinning, all the twist and all the longform fluidity that’s promised when they’re on a bill. And also as one has come to expect over the years, they’re on plenty of bills over here between this, Desertfest in London and Berlin, Mitchell’s slated Tranquonauts appearance at Freak Valley in Germany, and so on.
Adjusting one’s perception of time, a half-hour was fine before you knew it and it felt like they had barely stopped to take a breath, because they hadn’t. I found a spot to sit and let the sound wash over for a bit and that’s always a good choice as regards the experience. The last time I saw them was SonicBlast 2023 (review here) in Portugal, and though the form of what they do never really changes unless it’s one of those times they do a tune or two with vocals or cover whichever heavy ’70s act it might be, every show is different and I was lucky to catch this one, even if I was so worn out my eyes were closing. It was a good thing I wasn’t stoned or I’d have been screwed. More water, more coffee like I was trying to burn a hole in the lining of my stomach, then back downstairs for Blackwater Holylight.
Granted I’m not chasing down all their press or anything, but I don’t see nearly enough people giving credit to Blackwater Holylight as heavygaze pioneers, and I assume that’s a sexism thing. Set to a kick you could feel in your chest and feet both because the floor was shaking, they had all the mist one would hope for in their sound — this would make them a fitting one-two with the grungeier Daevar a short time later — but I’d never seen them play as a trio before and it let their moments of push come through a little more directly, and that suited them as well. They packed the place out, as one would expect, and churned through enough brown-note tone that I thought I might need to go back to the hotel room, but were methodical enough in their delivery that the coolness in their sound became its own presence on stage. They’ve been at this a while now, so fair enough, but the last time I saw them was four years ago and their metallic delve is all the more refined now.
Maybe most prevalent of all was a sense of flow, and that made them kin to Earthless too, but on a much different path in terms of aesthetic. The sampled strings were welcome when they kicked in, but the band hardly stopped once they got going, and having momentum behind a sound so outwardly languid felt like a win in and of itself. They’ve been a vibe all along — even before everything was vibes — but the complexity that maturity has brought to their dynamic, as well as the continued prevalence of melody, made the corresponding crush even more theirs.
They brought out a second full stack for Conan at Rockefeller, and that was probably a reasonable thing to do. The UK omnidestroyers were on tour in the US recently, and did a show in Kingston, New York, with Geezer that I very much wanted to see but couldn’t as it conflicted with life, so catching them here was a bit of bruising reconciliation. They are who they are stylistically, and aggression has remained central, but they’ve gotten noisier along the way while holding firm to the tonal extremity of their earlier days. If I said they killed, I wouldn’t do so expecting anyone to be surprised, but it was so satisfying just the same to be flattened by their riffs and cathartic pummel.
I don’t know what movies were splicing together on the screen behind them while they played, but it was practical effects and violent wizardry just the same — could’ve been classics and I wouldn’t know because I’m a poseur philistine — but the visuals were an added atmospheric element to run alongside all that warhammering and punishment. I’m pretty sure somebody’s face fell off, so about as fitting as it gets. It would’ve been nice to see them without having to drive to NYC last month, but I’ll take hoping on a plane to Oslo and witnessing them at Desertfest Oslo for consolation anytime. I didn’t know it, but as exhausted as I was after Howling Giant finished, the much-bleaker gallop of “Battle in the Swamp” and “Levitation Hoax” was precisely what I needed to pick me up for the rest of the night ahead. Deathly, and even more brutal than the fart cloud I passed through getting photos on the balcony. Oh, humans.
Daevar were on soon — train don’t stop — and John Dee was ready. Their 2025 Sub Rosa LP (review here) was a deeper dive into slow-nod ’90s riffing, and it felt good to see them and recognize songs from the album, as they’ve continued to grow as songwriters over the last few years and fleshed out the murk of their beginnings. I heard a little Type O Negative even, which is something just about bound to land with me. And they’ve progressed quickly. To wit, I enjoyed seeing them for the first time at Freak Valley 2024 (review here), but the Sub Rosa material has a richness that stands out. They felt in conversation with Blackwater Holylight, as anticipated, but diverged as well into their own roll, and that was dense and engrossing.
They spoke out against injustices against women in Iran, which was the only political sentiment I’d heard from the stage in the two days of Desertfest. I’m all for escapism, don’t get me wrong — just as an example, I’m in Norway this weekend — but I respect having something to say and saying it and, frankly, doom needs more of that and less “I’m not political,” though if you think human rights are a political issue, that’s part of the problem too. It was refreshing to hear, despite the fact that every time I think about the situation in my home country I want to cry as much as rage against it. I could go on here, and probably should, though it feels a bit like voidward screaming. Either way, it has been encouraging to see (also hear) Daevar come into their own, and a pleasure to watch them on stage again.
I did some socializing — it recently occurred to me most of my interpersonal communicating not with my family or at concerned meetings at my daughter’s school happens at shows, and that that’s a thing worth investing in — ahead of Dozer, but there was no, no, no fucking way I was missing their set. Not even for pleasant conversation. Every time I’ve seen Dozer they’ve leveled the place, and every time I have seen them has felt like a gift, and this was the same. Fredrik Nordin led the crowd in singing happy birthday to Tommi Holappa, as if the songs weren’t sweet enough, and the band ran through a succession of inimitable grooves like the masters they are. Similar to King Buffalo last night, they weren’t the headliner but they were my headliner, if you know what I mean.
There was a point in my life when I thought I’d never see Dozer. That seems so sad now, on the occasion of my fifth time doing so, and they are a reminder of how fortunate I am to have the life I do, here and at home. I don’t believe in a soul, but mine felt awfully good watching Dozer anyhow, and standing over by Johan Rockner’s side of the stage with Sebastian Olsson’s snare cutting through the low end was a gorgeous experience. I didn’t understand most of what Nordin said from the stage between songs, but even in the photo pit as they were starting, you had to be into it. Electric in the figurative and literal sense. I know I’m not here to pick favorites. It’s not what I do and not who I want to be, but I was a Dozer fan before I ever wrote about them and the ensuing two decades-plus has only endeared them further. One of the best heavy rock bands of all time — all. time. — and an onstage force unto themselves. Highlight of the weekend, highlight of the year. My only complaint is the hour went too quick. A singular tumult.
Where do you go from there? The answer was to extremity, and fair enough for the superlative aural weight of Primitive Man, legit giving Conan a run for their money in tone while embracing a nastiness born from sludge but that has mutated into something next-stage that I don’t have a name for other than monstrous. A huge consuming thing, built to tear flesh from bone, stylistically speaking. I had gotten to chat with their tour manager early in the day, and I wasn’t aware that this show closes out a 35-date tour for Primitive Man, but they were hardly limping to the finish. Lumbering, yes, but strident in existential victory. They are a challenging band, and always have been, but if you can hang in with them, all that onslaught has a reward beyond simply making it through, and they capture something inhuman about the world that has a value bordering on the literary. They’ve pushed themselves as artists all the while, and while there’s rampant disdain in their music, the sheer physical presence of their sound is undeniable.
I did my best, but it was getting late and my head was half out the door, at the risk of honesty. The Sword would be on soon, but with Primitive Man still bashing away to headline the night at John Dee, I said a round of preemptive goodbyes to a few of the incredible people here and reiterated how fortunate I felt to have been at Desertfest Oslo again, which is really the only way I have of putting it. The next morning I’d fly back to Jersey and be glad to get there, but this was a special couple days and as much for the community as the acts on the bill, though, Dozer.
Some day I’ll watch a full The Sword set again. This wasn’t that day and I knew that coming in, but that doesn’t mean they made it easy to go. I found myself hanging in the back of the room trying to convince myself to stay put, but the go impulse almost always wins. I don’t know what The Sword’s plan is as they make the inevitable transition from reunion-band to working-band, but riffs have always been on their side and 20 years after people used to complain about “hipster metal,” they stand tall having proved themselves right over and over and over. If you need a convenient metaphor for the history of heavy rock more broadly, there you go.
I thank you for reading.
Thank you to Ole, Preben, Dan, and everyone at Desertfest Oslo for having me back. Thanks to Tom from Howling Giant for the SD reader when I needed it (and have a great tour; see you at Freak Valley). Thank you Matt Bacon and Kaia.
Thank you to The Patient Mrs. for the time and the support from home. I can’t even begin to tell you how tired I’m going to be when I get home, but hell, I needed this. Really. From Thulsa Doom to Russian Circles and Earthless to The Sword, there wasn’t one single minute I regretted coming here, and if I’m so lucky as to be invited back, I’ll be here in a fucking minute so long as that minute is also an eight-hour flight from Newark. Thanks to The Patient Mrs. for booking my flight.
The lesson of the weekend is the heavy underground is a treasure and a sanctuary. It was a pleasure to come here and be obliterated by it. To break myself on it like a rock tossed off a bridge onto more rocks. Like I said, I needed this.
More pics after the jump. No posts tomorrow, May 11.
Okay, here we go. Sorry in advance for the typos. I’ll do my best to correct as I see them.
No sleep on the plane overnight meant that by the time I flopped through the entrance of the hotel, I was exhausted to a point of emotional fragility. No, I wasn’t actually crying, but it wasn’t far off as I begged at the counter for an early check-in. I had to wait a bit, so I sat in the lobby, said hi to Tor-Erik from Slomosa and three-fourths of Howling Giant, who were passing through for coffee — oh shit I need coffee — and whathaveyou. About an hour and an early-check-in fee later, I happily galavanted, flailing from joy, to pick up my bags and head upstairs.
In the end, I slept about three hours, which isn’t enough, but so it goes. Nobody comes to a music festival to be well rested. I checked in, got my credentials and made my way to the outside stage at Revolver, where Håndgemeng were soon to repeat the madness of last year’s outdoor appearance. It was packed by the time I got there. I probably should’ve slept less, but my consolation was going down the way to Rockefeller for Thulsa Doom’s soundcheck. They brought all the drums. I tried for coffee but couldn’t find any — I was gonna get one at the hotel but there was a line and I wanted to get moving. John Dee was still closed but was playing Sabbath when I walked through, so good things happening one way or the other. The day would ultimately start with High Desert Queen down there, and of course that’s a riot.
The Austin outfit were starting their ‘Riffs as Big as Texas’ tour with this slot, and I’m not sure who’d do better getting an early crowd on board for a busy weekend, though Håndgemeng might have a thing to say about that up at Revolver. Or they might not, because fuckall. But the point is High Desert Queen are a high-energy band, and that’s what you want in that spot. They brought it certainly when I saw them in January at Planet Desert Rock Weekend (review here), and apart from (my) jetlag in the other direction, Oslo was no different.
A hard snare hit snapped through the P.A., and they were off. Of course, frontman Ryan Garney was all over the place — Garney gonna Garney — and people were moving out front as there was little choice in the matter amid such infectious riffery. They noted from the stage it was their first time in Oslo and ran through a succession from their two to-date LPs with not a bummer in the bunch and no real drop in vitality, despite the fact that the songs do more than just shove. “Head Honcho” is always fun. People clapping along to “Ancient Aliens” and such. If all goes to plan, this won’t be the last time I see them this year, and they held that room captivated. I never found coffee and High Desert Queen made that hurt a little less at the start of my day.
The bar upstairs was open when I went up ahead of Thulsa Doom, so I got a pair of espressos — is that self-care? — and had to be told to take my card out of the machine because I was so out of it. It was beeping, not without volume. I told myself last year I wasn’t going to play it so tight on 2026, but here we are. I said a quick hi to Cas from Sasquatch, who’s here playing bass in Nebula, and went up to the Rockefeller balcony to drink my coffee. Already it was filling up for Thulsa Doom, and reasonably so. I don’t know when their last record was, and so far as I know they’re not out touring like High Desert Queen and some of the others on this bill, going from Desertfest to Desertfest to Desertfest in the ecosystem of Spring festivals in Europe — living the dream, as it were — but the long-running countrymen heroes absolutely owned the big stage and the big room and I’d have expected no less. It made me wish Ron was here to see it. You know Ron.
They seemed to be enjoying it as much as the crowd as well, and that made the set even better, seeming as they did to screw around until it was suddenly time for a three-part harmony. Their singer’s arm was in a sling, and maybe he was more subdued than usual on stage, I haven’t seen them before so I don’t know, but he and the whole band nailed it either way, and having seen the soundcheck, the actual performance was a thrill on a different level. Better band than anybody outside Norway knows, it would appear.
They were doing tattoos in the art room. I was thinking about getting a little Triforce on my hand, but probably not. Pretty sure I don’t have enough power, wisdom, or courage to justify that, but it would be a fun moment to show up at home with it and show The Pecan. I went and got some water instead. Gotta hydrate. So important.
In doing so I left my phone where I had been sitting on the side. I retraced my steps and asked the guy in the Turbojugend jacket presently occupying that spot of he had found it and dude very smoothly pulled it from his pocket. I gave him a big hug, said thank you, and went to watch the rest of the set. Spelljammer were doing a line check downstairs at John Dee for their set, but the photo pit there meant I and my b recently recovered technology could enjoy more of Thulsa Doom, so that’s what I did. Not a band I ever imagined seeing, honestly. I’ll be surprised if Garney doesn’t bring them over to the States for Ripplefest Texas next year, or at least try.
They broke it down and got bluesy (-er) with about 10 minutes left, but built a nod back up from there — the stuff of classic stoner rock. After a little while, it was time to get downstairs for Spelljammer, but the end of Thulsa Doom was immense and I’m glad to have caught it. If you’ve ever found yourself curious though as to the difference between stoner rock and stoner metal, the Toner Low-worthy nod-worship enacted by Spelljammer, immediately after Thulsa Doom, offered convenient distinction.
I’d had another espresso by then and so was close enough to consciousness that there was something there in my mind for the Swedish trio to steamroll, and that they must certainly did. The green lights (and no, they didn’t stay green the whole set) could hardly have been more suitable to the floorshaking tonality, a thickened lurch that, while invariably influenced by Sleep, maintained its own riff structure and slow crawl. I love seeing a room get flattened, and that’s exactly what Spelljammer were doing to John Dee.
It was such a hyper-specific, dug-in thing. I mean, think about the normies you know. Your friends, coworkers/classmates, maybe even your family if you don’t all have the right kind of sauce on your neurology for this kind of thing to speak to you. I would love to see someone walk into the middle of a Spelljammer set by accident and have no idea or context for what’s happening. Oh that racket? That’s decades of Sabbath riffing exponentially built upon by decades of international underground experimentation and progression. What’s that? Why’s it so loud? Because you can’t feel the kickdrum in your stomach otherwise, that’s why.
Peaceful drone in Rockefeller ahead of Pelican. The Chicago outfit, who it turns out are my favorite emo band — being instrumental helps their cause in that regard; also the chugg, which is chug enough to warrant a second ‘g’ — took the stage with momentum at their back from the last few years of touring and their LP Flickering Resonance (review here) that came out a year ago next week, with the original lineup reclaiming its sound as they did. It was a raw joy to see them again. Last time, somehow, was Freak Valley 2022 (review here), so of course I was looking forward to the newer material in the set. They did not disappoint in that regard or any other, and that they were sharing the main stage with fellow Chicagoan sans-vocal heavies Russian Circles — with King Buffalo between, no less — felt like something special to see, and so it was.
Moving through the crowd was swimming through the sea of nodding heads. The band hit it on pro-shop style, got on stage, railed into “Cascading Crescent,” saying not a word but waving to the crowd for a reciprocated hello beforehand. What a band, and what a time to be a Pelican fan. Any “all cylinders” cliché you want to throw their way, they’re ready for it, and they were just so fucking good and so goddamn heavy that I put my phone down and stopped writing for a minute to just listen and watch the show as it unfolded. The place went off between every song, including when the band apologized for not having been to Oslo since 2007 ahead of “Ascending” from the 2026 EP (review here) of the same name. “Ascending” is a little slower, so the effect after the opening salvo was of the band getting deeper into it, and it was just a pleasure to see and hear. I don’t know if a live record could do justice to Pelican on stage, but I’d take one anyhow in the Flickering Resonance cycle.
In perhaps the weekend’s most brutal clash, Nebula were about to go on outside at Revolver in what I had no doubt would be a set epic enough to became part of Desertfest Olso lore — yo, did you see when Nebula played Revolver? — but I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be able to get in, and Pelican for sure made it less of a challenge than it would otherwise have been to stay put. I closed my eyes for a bit, became part of that sea, and while this day hasn’t been easy necessarily after not sleeping, everything else kind of evaporated and I just spent some time in the music, receiving a dose of the rejuvenation that’s why I still do this in defiance of logic, good decision-making, time and money. I don’t want to oversell it by calling it spiritual, but guitarist Trevor Shelley DeBrauw said on stage they were a band who loved each other and that’s what the band was to them, and it made perfect sense.
The poster I’d been using to guide myself through the day because I’m old had Blackwater Holylight next on the John Dee stage, but when I went down there and was talking to a dude also there a couple minutes early, he said the Broadcast app had Astralplane next. And so it was. Cool by me, as Blackwater Holylight were playing Saturday instead and I got to see another band I’d probably never see if I wasn’t here. Astralplane have their cosmic elements, and sometimes they have a singing drummer, but the heart of their sound is in the riffs and tone and that’s just fine. They came out in nothing-too-fancy style and immediately locked in. I don’t know what they were saying from the stage because I’m an ignorant American, but people applauded and seemed stoked, so I’ll just assume it was something about a new record because watching them play live for the first time, I also would be stoked on more Astralplane.
Some continuity from Pelican in camaraderie and warmth of sound, naturally, but Astralplane were mellower by a margin, and in pursuit of a different kind of groove accordingly. I was lucky to be there for the set, and glad for that switch since it would’ve been less likely that I could’ve caught them at Revolver anyhow. Cool to see the room fill up as the set went on as well. I guess some of that was people coming over from The end of Nebula but rad just the same.
I had watched a bit of King Buffalo’s check upstairs at Rockefeller and they weren’t through “Silverfish” at the start of their set before they demonstrated plainly that guitarist/vocalist Sean McVay doesn’t even need to stand up to kick ass. He played started due to a recent injury — pretty sure it was an ankle, which hurts like hell for a long time in my experience — though of course with Scott Donaldson drumming and Dan Reynolds on bass, he was hardly acting alone toward the cause. I’m ready for a new King Buffalo album at this point, which is something I probably wouldn’t have said even this time last year, but I’m excited for what they still have to offer in songwriting. They’re touring here in Europe and just announced a couple Midwest US shows, and if you’ve never seen them, I’m not sure what urging I could give you would be enough. I wound up on Reynolds’ side of the room, and I call it his because the bass was so thick that it shook the wall I was leaning on because I’m so frickin” tired.
They had the standalone single “Balrog” (posted here), but I thought I heard some newer sounds in the set as well, though I wouldn’t swear to it, but their digging back for “Drinking From the River Rising” was appreciated as well. Really you could just extrapolate that across the board to the whole time they were on stage. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen King Buffalo at this point — less than some, surely, but more than a few — and they’re never exactly the same. The setlist is different, or the room is different, or it’s just a mood thing, but one way or the other, there aren’t a ton of bands I’d rather behold in a stage on a given evening than King Buffalo. It felt like the lineup was doing you favors all night.
Because basically it was, and the thread continued into Dopelord back downstairs. Singing along to “The Chosen One,” “Evil Spell,” “Addicted to Black Magic,” and so on was apparently my pull-out-the-earplugs moment for the day, and it was like I’d waited until I could do absolutely max damage for it, but I guess that’s how it goes sometimes. The Warsaw stoner-doom four-piece toy with occult themes and yes, they brought enough satan for the whole class in “Hail Satan” alone, never mind the rest of it. What a blast. This was my second time seeing them after Budapest in 2024 (review here), and between signing to Season of Mist, celebrating 15 years as a band and opening for Napalm Death on tour earlier this year, they’ve been busy in the interim.
Their 2023 album, Songs for Satan was packed with memorable tunes like some of the aforementioned, but new or old, the worship of riff and dark gods remains. They’re another one who, if you’re not already into this music and the deviant subculture that values it, they probably make no sense or come off angry or whatever, but in the genre they’re just so, so much fun. They asked the crowd when they got up today and said they were so tired from the travel that they were going to die in 40 minutes when the set was over, and got a laugh, but while their tempos are mostly pretty languid, there was no discernible fatigue in their performance. Instead, the roll was palpable in the room and they basked in it, speaking of celebrations. The room was with them all the way.
It was getting late, but Russian Circles promised more chug to come and there you go. The evening’s headliner have always had a lot in common with Pelican, but more influenced by post-rock, and while on paper it’s instrumental heavy from Chicago, there’s never been any trouble distinguishing between the two parties, and both are readily identifiable when listening. Dopelord induced an oblivion of nod, and Russian Circles were a turn in another direction, less gleeful in their delivery, for sure, but with texture and atmosphere as primary elements of their sound. My favorite memory will always be seeing them in 2013 in New York at Radio City Music Hall (review here) and then skipping out to get Mexican food with my wife before Coheed and Cambria went on, but that doesn’t mean I want glad to see them. The weight and intensity of 2022’s Gnosis (review here) made that record a bit of an outlier for them, but in a most welcome way, and at a welcome point in the evening.
Even though I would credit the hotel shower I’d taken before heading over to the fest with getting me through the day, I stank by the end of it and was fairly rundown. With Saturday still to go, I made my way with deliberate pauses toward the back and out of the venue. My own afterparty of sorting photos and falling asleep at the keyboard awaited, plus somewhere right around their third song, my keep-going chemicals shorted and I realized the only thing I’d eaten all day was a protein bar, also before I left the hotel room. I’ve never been especially good at being a person. Would you believe I give my kid shit for being a picky eater? Ridiculous, the level of hypocrisy.
So, food, work, and rest were the order of it, but what a day this turned out to be. Not that I wasn’t looking forward to a bunch of the bands, but I was coming back no matter who was playing, so that it worked out so righteously was a boon. Saturday last year was hard for me to keep my head in, already anxious about the travel home as I was. How it would play out this year I guess I’d have to live through it to find out, and I was definitely looking forward to that.
More pics after the jump, with special thanks to Tom Polzine for letting me borrow his SD card reader. More later. Thanks for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 12th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
When I started this post, it was about the US tour that Blackwater Holylight announced the other day. Then there was word of a slot at Roadburn playing an album that hasn’t been released yet. Then there was the announcement of the album. Then there was the European tour that fills in the gaps between prior confirmations at Desertfest in Oslo, London and Berlin. They’ll also play A Colossal Weekend in Copenhagen, Obsidian Dust in Brussels and Sonic Rites in Helsinki, as well as others.
All of this information came to me in succession as I was trying to put the post together. I found this, then that. I have to think if I was cooler I’d be on some press list that I’m not, but so it goes. Now there’s a song streaming too — it’s called “Heavy, Why?” and continues the thread of Blackwater Holylight being way more complex in terms of style and progression than anyone expected them to be from their psychedelic beginnings — and a bunch of info from the album’s Bandcamp page, so what I’ve done is my very best to assemble all the information from various sources — the US dates were from Nanotear‘s Nathan Carson, the album info comes from Bandcamp as noted, the Euro dates are cut and pasted from the band’s Linktr.ee, because I couldn’t find a typed out list anywhere. Also so it goes.
I don’t know if any of that or any of the below makes sense, but there’s a lot of info and I wanted to get at least what I think is all of it in, so here we are. Album’s out Jan. 30, they’ll tour the US, do it in full at Roadburn, then head back over for more shenanigans in May. No doubt what follows will be more touring.
From the internet:
When Blackwater Holylight left their hometown of Portland OR three years ago, their mission was to escape the gloom of the Pacific Northwest and the placating comfort of familiarity. Aiming for the sunnier climes of L.A., the band found themselves not only in a warmer environment, but in a blank slate landscape—one without jobs, longtime friend groups, and the easy retreat of old habits. And it was here, unencumbered by the contentment of security, that Blackwater Holylight began diligently working on their fourth full-length album, Not Here Not Gone.
As with their previous work, Not Here Not Gone explores the duality of light and dark—menacing riffs provide the bedrock to beguiling melodies; dense walls of shoegaze guitars pair with lighter-than-air synths; and heavy subject matter is delivered by siren song vocals. Across their work, the listener gets a sense of empowerment at one turn, vulnerability the next. As drummer Eliese Dorsay describes it, “some songs we’re the predator, and some songs we’re the prey.” The juxtaposition of confidence and uncertainty is never in as such stark relief as when one makes a life changing decision, which may explain how the band’s relocation intensified their study in contrasts to intoxicating new heights on Not Here Not Gone.
The title is the perfect description of the band’s adjustment. “It’s one foot in, one foot out,” vocalist and guitarist/bassist Sunny Faris explains. “It’s about how you can lose people in your life but still have their presence and energy around you.” And indeed, listening to Not Here Not Gone, you get the distinct sense that Blackwater Holylight dragged some of the Northwest gloom down into Southern California. The opening chords of “How Will You Feel” are drenched in the muddy weight of perpetually overcast skies. But a Jacob’s Ladder of light shines through the scuzzy guitars in the form of Faris’ lilting vocals and Sarah McKenna’s blissed-out ambient synth work, guiding the listener out of the mire and into the garden.
Even in their heaviest moments, like the sludgy psychedelia of “Bodies” and “Spades,” Blackwater Holylight masterfully sculpt the thunder and grime into something that feels transcendental. Lead single “Heavy, Why?” is perhaps the apex of the band’s masterful duality and an appropriately titled examination of the ensemble’s methods. Mikayla Mayhew’s low, dirge-like riff and Dorsay’s propulsive drums could easily find a home in the catalog of an amp-worshipping Roadburn act, but Faris’ fragile vocals transform the composition into a question, a pointed and probing examination that uses beauty and grace to offset the threatening instrumentation.
In one of the biggest stylistic shifts of the album, the instrumental track “Giraffe” churns out a hallucinatory blend of woozy keyboards and pulsating bass over a beat provided by David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio, Run the Jewels, Solange). The song serves as a dividing line of sorts, as Not Here Not Gone shifts gears into even more nuanced territories. The band asserts that the primary change to their music has been the addition of time. On previous albums, youthful urgency yielded material that felt immediate and direct. But on Not Here Not Gone, Blackwater Holylight deliberately slowed their creative pace. “If there were to be a theme to the album, it would be patience,” says Faris. “Some of these songs we’ve been working on for three years, just giving the songs time to breath and develop while we were exploring a new place and new lives.” It’s especially evident on the latter half of the album, where tracks like “Void to Be,” “Fade,” and “Mourning After” deliberately eschew the big riff in favor of fever dream melodies and layered instrumentation. But forever savoring the paradox, the album’s final track was composed just days before the band entered the studio. “Poppyfields” is a harrowing account of a friend losing their home in an LA wildfire, set against a backdrop of blast beats, double kick drum, symphonic synths, and black metal-inspired guitars. In what feels like a counterweight to the album’s general tilt towards less tormented territories, “Poppyfields” serves as a stark reminder that no paradise is permanent, and everything will be reborn through ashes.
Not Here Not Gone was recorded at Sonic Ranch outside of El Paso TX by Sonny Diperri (Narrow Head, DIIV, Emma Ruth Rundle), allowing the band to once again step outside of their comfort zone and isolate themselves in a place where they could focus exclusively on their art. The result is the crown jewel of Blackwater Holylight’s catalog—a rich and immersive study in tonal chiaroscuro, where light finds its way out of the shadows.
Tracklisting: 1. How Will You Feel 2. Involuntary Haze 3. Bodies 4. Heavy, Why? 5. Giraffe 6. Spades 7. Void To Be 8. Fade 9. Mourning After 10. Poppyfields
Written & Produced by Blackwater Holylight Producer, Mixer, Engineer – Sonny Diperri Mixing Assistant – Zach Capittifenton Engineering Assistant – Felipe Aldana Mastering – Howie Weinberg
Sunny Faris – Vocals, Guitar, Bass Mikayla Mayhew – Bass, Guitar Eliese Dorsay – Drums Sarah McKenna – Synths Camille Getz – Violin David Sitek – Beats on “Giraffe” (Track #5)
Blackwater Holylight are HITTING THE ROAD early next year to celebrate the release of their new album Not Here Not Gone. Glassing supports 2/13-2/27. SOM supports 2/27-3/14.
Tickets on sale now.
Fri 2/13 – San Diego, CA – Casbah Sat 2/14 – Phoenix, AZ – Last Exit Sun 2/15 – Albuquerque, NM – Sister Tue 2/17 – Austin, TX – Radio/East Wed 2/18 – Houston, TX – White Oak Thu 2/19 – New Orleans, LA – Siberia Fri 2/20 – Pensacola, FL – Handlebar Sat 2/21 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn Sun 2/22 – Asheville, NC – Eulogy Tue 2/24 – Charlottesville, VA – Southern Cafe Wed 2/25 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Thu 2/26 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s Fri 2/27 – Brooklyn, NY – Meadows Sat 2/28 – Braintree, MA – Widowmaker Brewing Mon 3/02 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl Tue 3/03 – Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle Wed 3/04 – Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village Fri 3/06 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive Sat 3/07 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive Sun 3/08 – Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Tue 3/10 – Seattle, WA – Neumos Wed 3/11 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater Thu 3/12 – Sacramento, CA – Starlet Fri 3/13 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel Sat 3/14 – Santa Cruz, CA – Moe’s Alley Sat 3/21 – Los Angeles, CA – Pacific Electric
BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT 2026 EU/UK TOUR 4/18/2026 Tilburg: ROADBURN FESTIVAL 5/6/2026 AMENRA/BWHL in Brussels 5/7/2026 Hamburg 5/8/2026 Copenhagen: A Colossal Weekend 5/9/2026 Desertfest Oslo 5/12/2026 Poznan 5/13/2026 Leipzig 5/14/2026 Desertfest Berlin 5/15/2026 Neunkirchen 5/16/2026 Brussels: Obsidian Dust 5/17/2026 DESERTFEST LONDON 5/18/2026 Newcastle 5/19/2026 Glasgow 5/22/2026: SONIC RITES Helsinki 5/20/2026 Manchester
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 12th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Because it’s the future, the poster with the new round of lineup additions for Roadburn Festival 2026, in always-accommodating Tilburg, the Netherlands, is a video. And Roadburn is one of few places on the planet where ‘the future’ is a hopeful prospect. While you and I live in dystopic hellscapes of various shapes and oppressive, overwhelming, strip-you-of-your-rights-on-our-way-to-passively-if-not-actively-murdering-you realities, Roadburn unrepentantly brings a sense of optimism. The future isn’t that boot on your neck. It’s whatever you want it to be.
This is a message I appreciate as much as I appreciate being obliterated by bands on stage, and surely the likes of Inter Arma, Primitive Man and Slift meet that need here, among others. Look at Warning becoming a Roadburn house band. And a full-album performance from Blackwater Holylight for a record that isn’t out until Jan. 30 — the band will be back in Europe in May for more touring and more fests, and has a US tour slated for February/March, as I think went up yesterday. I have trouble keeping up sometimes with when things are actually getting posted these days. See horrors above.
A beacon amid perennial awfulness and distraction:
Maruja, billy woods, Inter Arma, aya and many more announced for Roadburn 2026
Roadburn festival has today announced a second wave of bands for the 2026 edition which will take place between April 16-19 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Among the names announced today are festival favourites Inter Arma performing their epic 2014 release The Cavern for the first (and last) time, American rapper billy woods, and Manchester’s genre-bending four-piece Maruja.
Roadburn’s artistic director, Walter Hoeijmakers comments:
“As the path toward Roadburn 2026 unfolds, the energy around us is rising. Every connection, every sound, every spark of creativity is drawing us closer together as the festival comes into view. This second announcement marks another step on that journey, an open invitation to feel the pulse of what’s ahead.
“The artists at the heart of this year’s edition are each shaping worlds of their own, their past, present, and future intertwining in bold new ways. At Roadburn 2026, you’ll hear echoes of where we’ve been, glimpses of where we’re going, and the raw emotion of right now. Each performance will remind us that art can move us, heal us, and bring us together – that through music, we find our shared humanity.
“We’re letting optimism light the way. Let’s meet in Tilburg next April – alive, open, and ready to share this amazing energy, face to face.”
All ticket and accommodation options for Roadburn are on sale now and more information including the full line up can be found atroadburn.com
The latest additions to Roadburn 2026 are as follows:
Additions to Roadburn 2026:
Ak’Chamel aya Backengrillen Blackwater Holylight performing Not Here Not Gone billy woods Haress Inter Arma performing The Cavern Kowloon Walled City Mandy, Indiana Maruja Milkweed Orcutt Shelley Miller Pain Magazine Primitive Man performing Observance and a set of early years’ material titled Remembrance Prostitute RÓIS Saetia SLIFT Slow Crush performing Aurora and premiering a special audio-visual presentation of Thirst Slowhole Truck Violence Unsane performing Occupational Hazard Warning
These artists will join a slew of previously announced artists including Oathbreaker, Krallice, Agriculture, Habak and many more. The full line up can be found at roadburn.com
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Business as usual here, by which I mean Desertfest London is coming in hot with the latest round of names for the 2026 lineup, with Clutch headlining on a UK exclusive, plus Gnome, Mario Lalli, Blackwater Holylight, friggin’ 16, Howling Giant, Waxy, and a host of others — names I’ve heard, names I’ve not — joining the bill. Some homework to do — who are Ian? who are Meatdripper? — and still more reveals to come, you can see on the poster below it’s getting pretty crowded.
Clutch are the last of the headliners to be revealed, and sure to be a draw for oldschool heads alongside Green Lung, Hermano and The Sword, whoever else counts. They’re always, always, always fun live, so no doubt they’ll deliver. Tickets are on sale and linked below:
Are you ready? Our third and final 2026 headliners are here – some of you may have guessed it from our teasers — please welcome the mighty Clutch to Desertfest 2026!
It certainly has been a longtime coming but we are thrilled to announce these supernovas are *finally* bringing their legendary high-energy live show to the Desertfest London stage – their only UK show in 2026.
And that’s not all we have to share — we warmly welcome:
↠ Antwerp powertrio Gnome
↠ LA (via PDX) ethereal heavy psyche dreamers Blackwater Holylight
↠ The Godfather of Desert Rock, Mario Lalli, returning with The Rubber Snake Charmers, to take us on a shaman’s journey through the desert landscape of imagination.
↠ Swedish quintet Hällas, bringing their cinematic storytelling, and epic fantasy-themed Adventure Rock.
↠ California sludge pioneers 16 The Band – playing their first UK show in over a decade – their first time at DF London.
Feast your eyes on the 24 new artists who have joined are 2026 line up! 💥 CLUTCH GNOME BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT MARIO LALLI & THE RUBBER SNAKE CHARMERS Hällas 16 Howling Giant khost Cwfen Harrowed Coffin Mulch The Grey Red Eyed Cult DROMOS LIQUID SHIT Waxy Midhaven Meatdripper IAN SMOULDERING TOMB Praetorian Den Der Hale SUPERSEED INSTAR SLING
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 6th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Hell yeah, Desertfest Berlin. The 2026 edition of the German flagship event of heavy’s most crucial festival brand will bring over Nebula for oldschool heads, Fomies for newer heads, Fuzz Sagrado for the in-betweens and Blackwater Holylight for the betterment of all humanity and the weekend in general. That’s not everybody in the second lineup announcement from Desertfest Berlin 2026, as Seattle’s Monsterwatch and Mexico City’s Cardiel will also be making the trip, but taken in combination with the first announcement — you can see the names below; golly they’ll make for a lovely assemblage — you can see it’s very much a roster worthy of the tradition they’re upholding. I don’t think underground heavy would be what it is in Europe today without Desertfest Berlin.
The PR wire brought the update:
DESERTFEST BERLIN reveals second wave of bands for 2026, adding NEBULA, BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT & more!
The 2026 edition of DESERTFEST BERLIN just turned up the fuzz and drifted deeper into the void, as more mind-bending acts join the already eclectic line-up!
From the sunburned deserts of California, NEBULA bring their fuzz-soaked, interstellar riff rituals – pure cosmic fire. Portland’s BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT summon a dark, dreamlike blend of heavy psych and ethereal melody, where doom meets hypnosis. Sweden’s EF shape vast post-rock landscapes, full of emotion and light, stretching beyond the horizon. Switzerland’s fuzz prophets FOMIES channel raw desert spirit through sun-cracked distortion and groove, while FUZZ SAGRADO (ex Samsara Blues Experiment) deliver hypnotic, groove-driven stoner rock rooted in thick tones and jam-heavy flow. Seattle’s MONSTERWATCH erupt in a storm of grunge and punk fury, reckless and cathartic. And from the streets of Mexico City, CARDIEL will ignite the DESERTFEST BERLIN stage with their skate-punk–meets–psychedelic fuzz revolution – political, wild, and unstoppable.
Today’s new additions crank the line-up to the next level, joining a first wave that already boasts heavy-hitters like RUSSIAN CIRCLES, HERMANO ft. JOHN GARCIA, THE SWORD, KING BUFFALO, ACID KING, TRUCKFIGHTERS, EARTHLESS, and many more!
From May 14–16, 2026 at Columbiahalle & Columbia-Theater, DESERTFEST BERLIN will turn the German capital into a heavy riff sanctuary, with more names and special suprises to follow. Better act quick and get your ticket now at:https://desertfest-tickets.de/produkte
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 3rd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
King Buffalo, Dozer, Pelican, High Desert Queen, Blackwater Holylight, Howling Giant, Daevar, Bottenhavet, Moonstone, The Sword, Russian Circles — I mean, do I really need to say more here than the list of names. Desertfest Oslo 2026 will be the third edition of the Norwegian Desertfest installation, and one might accuse them of coming out of the gate swinging. Some of these — The Sword, Earthless, High Desert Queen, etc. — are being shared with Desertfest Berlin and Desertfest London, setting up the possibility of three weeks of touring at least for a few acts here. Then there’s King Buffalo, who I think are just spending their entire summer abroad next year. Not gonna complain about it if there’s a chance I can see them.
To that end, I was lucky enough to be invited to cover Desertfest Oslo last year and, unsurprisingly, I had a blast. Should I be so fortunate as to be invited again, I’ll go, but I’m not about to presume. Whether I’m there to see it or not has no bearing on the sickness of the lineup-thus-far, as you know, but still makes for a nice daydream.
They’ve got tickets on sale now, as per socials:
Let’s get this train running! 🔥
We’ve been so excited to share the first batch of bands coming to Oslo the 8th and 9th of May 2026.
From great geniuses of the genre, to guitar-wielding warlocks of the wasteland. From divine drop-d decibels, to new necromancers of nostalgic noise.
MUUT joins Mojave Experience 2027.
