It was like two weeks ago that The Knights of Doom 2026 — the inaugural edition of a two-dayer put on by JB Matson and the crew from Maryland Doom Fest, which ended its decade-plus run in 2025 — announced the first names for its lineup. The full bill has been revealed since, and if you’re getting mini-MDDF vibes off the list of names, many of whom are veterans of past years, I don’t think that’s unfair, but there are some newcomers as well. And if you do some quick division on 35 bands over two days, you know that’s 17.5 per day — actually it’s 16 on June 20 and 19 on June 21; yes I had to count — so those days are probably going to start early, go late, and be jam-packed in a spirit that should be familiar to anyone who hit MDDF during its time.

You can see how this might go, right? Folks show up for the family reunion — and MDDF was very, very much that; a more loyal crew would be hard to find on the Eastern Seaboard if you even deigned to look — and bands get added. This year is two days. It’s got room to grow, and I don’t know if it will — on some level, these folks have been-there-done-that in terms of building a festival culture and vibe, let alone managing four days’ worth of logistics with 50-plus bands shuffling about — but this will be the starting point one way or the other. It can only happen first once, and with love and respect for many in that family from a little ways north, I hope it goes off without a hitch.

The announcements were made on social media:

💀KNIGHTS OF DOOM ‘26 final band dump / rosters / complete lineup!!!

Early bird discounted ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mddf-knights-of-doom-early-bird-discounted-tickets-tickets-1980654877055

Lets go!!!!!!

June 20:

Wolftooth, Vanishing Kids, Foghound, Crop, Moonsinger, Uga Buga, Clamfight, Sun Voyager, Locust Pointe, End of Age, Thunderbird Divine, Black Manta, Bog Wizard, Faith in Jane, Black Night, Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf

June 21:

Lie Heavy, Borracho, Stone Nomads, Curse the Son, Bloodshot, Stormtoker, Hovel, Mourn the Light, Thunder Horse, Kulvera, Born of Plagues, Dreadstar, Professor Emeritus, Strange Highways, Gravedigger’s Biscuits, Grave Next Door, Double Planet, Bleak Shore, Burn the Martyr

2 Days of Nonstop Music
More Than 20 Bands

www.marylanddoomfest.com
https://www.instagram.com/marylanddoomfest
https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/

Wolftooth, Wizard’s Light (2025)

So here’s what I know: The Knights of Doom isn’t quite a reboot for Maryland Doom Fest, which was held for the last time in 2025, and it’s not quite not. To wit, it’s being headed by that decade-plus-running festival’s founder JB Matson, being held at Cafe 611 in Frederick, Maryland, and seeming to pack as much music into its span as possible. A key difference is in the length of that span itself. This inaugural edition of the fest, to be held in June when otherwise MDDF might’ve taken place, will be two days as opposed to MDDF‘s four, and this first lineup announcement with seven bands is the first of four to come in the next two weeks.

You can do the math on that yourself. Four times seven is 28 bands, which if you break it evenly means 14 per day. I don’t know that each announce will have the same amount, and I don’t know what the total number will be, but clearly one thing The Knights of Doom will have in common with Maryland Doom Fest is the continued ethic of putting on as many acts as it can. And from Curse the Son to Crop, Hovel and Faith in Jane, there are names even in this first batch of reveals that will be familiar to the former denizens of MDDF, while Professor Emeritus, Bleak Shore and End of Age (formerly Black Cowgirl) are new to the fold.

A mix of familiar and not, then, and that should work well as the reveals play out over the next couple weeks. I guess staggering that is another form of departure from MDDF methodology, where Matson‘s prior fest would drop all the names at once each Halloween and let small changes shake out over the ensuing months, but it still looks like it’s going to be a family reunion for that crowd, who are great, and a way to welcome new folks without an overwhelming, 60-bands-in-four-days onslaught. Scaling back in some ways and trying some new things. When Maryland Doom Fest announced it was done, it was clear something needed to take its place. This looks like the readiest candidate.

From social media:

WE ARE PLEASED TO SHARE THE FIRST OF 4 SEPARATE BAND DUMPS SHOWCASING THE ROSTERS OF KNIGHTS OF DOOM!!!

The Knights of Doom ’26

Curse the Son
Professor Emeritus
Hovel
End of Age
Faith in Jane
Crop
Bleak Shore

2 Days of Nonstop Music
More Than 20 Bands

www.marylanddoomfest.com
https://www.instagram.com/marylanddoomfest
https://www.facebook.com/MdDoomFest/

Curse the Son, Delirium (2024)

I was lucky enough to attend the April 2023 edition of the Baltimorean all-dayer Grim Reefer Fest (review here), which featured Bongzilla as headliners and the likes of Sun Voyager and Holy Fingers, among others. Returning from last year’s bill for 2024 are Haze Mage, who are involved in organizing the fest — fair’s fair — and that’s it so far, though there are still two bands TBA, which tells me there’s probably a tour waiting to be announced or something like that. Sometimes it’s logistics as much as teasing with these lineup reveals.

But with the undebatable Weedeater in the top spot for 2024 backed by the atmospheric heavy rock of Black Lung, Yatra‘s we’re-the-death-metal-band-the-heavyheads-like extremity and Leather Lung‘s sludge metal party, along with High Leaf coming down from Philly, Foehammer up from VA and Bleak Shore, who just played their first show this past December, the day seems pretty packed even before you get to the two TBAs. It’ll be a fun one if you’re in the neighborhood on April 27, which you might consider being.

The announcement came down the PR wire thusly:

This April we return to the legendary Ottobar in Baltimore on Saturday April 27th for our 5th annual fest, bringing a very full day of the dankest & heaviest riffs around!

This year’s lineup includes:
Weedeater
Black Lung
Haze Mage
Yatra
Leather Lung
High Leaf
Foehammer
Bleak Shore

Plus we’ve got a couple more to still announce! Stay tuned!

Once again, the amazing Golden Grillz food truck will be parked outside all day and night to take care of all of your munchie needs!

Tickets are now available here: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/62386586

Early birds get your tickets now! Prices for tickets go up after March 1st!
More details at GrimReeferFest.com

Poster by John DeCampos aka @ghost_bat_

Facebook event: https://fb.me/e/4LgCZ1iCo

https://www.facebook.com/GrimReeferFest
https://www.instagram.com/grimreeferfest/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3BL9lkMWbIC2qaqWZ4LH8g
https://www.grimreeferfest.com/

Sun Voyager, Live at Grim Reefer Fest 2023