An already formidable bill for Desertfest Athens 2017 only becomes more so with the additions of Italian heavy psych mavens Black Rainbows and US-based heavy rock purveyors Mos Generator. The two acts join the ranks of headliners Graveyard and Saint Vitus, as well as native Greek acts like Planet of Zeus, Mahakala, Bus, Sadhus, Puta Volcano, Allchiria and Krause, who along with stalwarts Orange Goblin, Church of Misery, Stoned Jesus and Colour Haze will comprise the two-day event at Iera Odos early in October. More bands are reportedly still to be announced, so stick around.

In the meantime, Black Rainbows and Mos Generator would seem to have plenty in common at this point. Both have issued new singles this year — the former’s “The Red Sky Above” (posted here) landed as part of a Heavy Psych Sounds compilation, and the latter’s “The Dance of Red” (posted here) combining Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson — and both have spent much of the last couple years banging out as many records and as many tours as possible. To wit, Mos Generator may or may not have a new full-length in the can that’s set for an early-2018 release, and though Black Rainbows frontman Gabriele Fiori is currently at work on the second LP from his offshoot project Killer Boogie, he’s been known to multitask before, and thankfully a new Black Rainbows release is never too far off. Again, stick around.

You might recall as well that Mos Generator‘s appearance at Desertfest Athens 2017 was hinted at when it was confirmed they’d support Saint Vitus‘ upcoming European tour (dates here). Nice to know for sure, either way. Announcement from the fest follows here:

BLACK RAINBOWS for their sophomore appearance at Desertfest Athens 2017!!! Do not miss them !!!

Mos Generator are coming to take over Desertfest Athens 2017!!!!

The two-day program of Desertfest Athens 2017 is:

Day1
Saint Vitus
Orange Goblin
Church of Misery
Stoned Jesus
Black Rainbows
Mos Generator
Mahakala
Bus

Day2
Graveyard
Planet of Zeus
Color Haze
Radio Moscow
Sadhus
Puta Volcano
Allochiria
Krause

Ticket prices are as follows: one-day tickets cost 30 euros and two days 55 euros until September 2.

Soon, many more names will be announced from Desertfest Athens 2017.

tickets
Single day: 30 Euro (up to 2/9)
Doubleday: 55 Euro (up to 2/9)

https://www.viva.gr/tickets/music/acro/desertfest-athens-2017/
https://www.facebook.com/events/141861139680368/
https://www.facebook.com/Desertfest-Athens-189161564797514/

Black Rainbows, “The Red Sky Above”

Mos Generator, “The Dance of Red”

Desertfest Athens 2017 continues to take shape on its own terms, adding to its quality-plus-quantity lineup with Japanese/American doomers Church of Misery, Ukrainian trio Stoned Jesus and hometown metallers Mahakala. The three acts vary pretty widely between them, as does the bill of the second Desertfest Athens overall, with the legendary doom of Saint Vitus, the boogie-thrust of Radio Moscow (who’ll have a new album out, remember), the groundbreaking heavy psych of Colour Haze, the hooch-swilling pummel of Orange Goblin and the revamped soul of Graveyard at the top of the lineup, but one could hardly accuse it of not making sense. The more the merrier, and with Greek outfits like Puta Volcano, Sadhus and Allochiria already included, it seems like the fest as a whole is only getting bigger this time around.

Which, if you’ve been paying attention for the last half-decade or so, you already know is how it goes with Desertfests. That’s been the tale of Berlin and London all along, and Belgium too. As the youngest incarnation of the festival, Athens has its work cut out for it in getting to the point where the others find themselves, but Greece has one of the most active heavy undergrounds in Europe right now and I’ve no doubt that with a lineup as strong as this one already is, they’ll absolutely get there.

Fest is set for Oct. 6 and 7. Here’s the latest:

2ND DESERTFEST ATHENS

ACRO
06-07.10.2017

Graveyard
Colour Haze
Orange Goblin
Radio Moscow
Saint Vitus
Church of Misery
Stoned Jesus
Mahakala
Sadhus: The Smoking Community
Allochiria
Puta Volcano

Stoned Jesus are back in Greece!!!! They will join this year’s edition of Desertfest Athens!! Here come the Robots!!

Mahakala, Satan’s finest, will deliver their sophomore album, “The Second Fall”, in front of the Desertfest Army!!! Beware!!

Church of Misery Official live at Desertfest Athens!!! The Japanese Doomsters are the last announcement for today, but at the same time one of the most exciting additions to this year’s line up!!!

Early-bird tickets are exhausted. Now only two-day tickets are sold for 50 euros.

https://www.viva.gr/tickets/music/acro/desertfest-athens-2017/
https://www.facebook.com/events/141861139680368/
https://www.facebook.com/Desertfest-Athens-189161564797514/

Stoned Jesus, “Here Come the Robots” official video

Hard to argue with what Desertfest Athens 2017 has put together thus far for this October. The second incarnation of the Greece-based brand extension of the Desertfest — see also London, Berlin, Antwerp and no doubt more to come; just by way of naming cities off the top of my head, Barcelona, Rome, Los Angeles/San Diego and Stockholm all seem like ripe, yet-unexplored ground that might be worth trying out — enters itself into what will no doubt become a considerable Fall fray of fests if last year was anything to go by. Successive weekends, one after the other, sometimes two on at the same time. It was sheer madness. Will it be again? Yeah, probably.

I’ll be honest, it was hard to keep up with in 2016 for what was happening when, but the good thing was it put a whole buttload of bands on tour and gave them huge shows to anchor between slews of club and theater gigs, so I can’t think it was anything but a win all around for the groups involved. You can see from the lineup so far below for Desertfest Athens 2017 that it no doubt will be as well for anyone who makes the trek out to actually see the show. Been a while since I caught Colour Haze, Orange Goblin, Saint Vitus or Radio Moscow, and golly, it sure would be awfully nice to tick all those boxes over the course of two days. Ah, to daydream.

Full lineup and latest announcement follows. I’ll be keeping up with this one going forward as best I can, so stay tuned for more:

2ND DESERTFEST ATHENS

ACRO
06-07.10.2017

Graveyard
Colour Haze
Orange Goblin
Radio Moscow
Saint Vitus
Sadhus: The Smoking Community
Allochiria
Puta Volcano

+ more names tba

The announcements from Desertfest Athens 2017 continue. After the six bands already announced (Graveyard, Color Haze, Orange Goblin, Sadhus, Allochiria, Puta Volcano), two extraordinary names are added to the line-up: the legendary Saint Vitus and Radio Moscow.

The name Saint Vitus is synonymous with doom metal, as they are among the bands that created the idiom with their recordings in the SST record label in the 1980s. Extremely influential, they remain a reference point for metal sound and feature at the major festivals of the genre.

With their famous debut (produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys) released in 2007, psychedelic blues rockers Radio Moscow burned hearts. Ten years later, Parker Griggs’s prominent trio remains one of the hardest working bands in the world, with significant discography and unstoppable touring.

Soon we will be announced many names from the line-up of Desertfest Athens 2017.

Early-bird tickets are exhausted. Now only two-day tickets are sold for 50 euros.

https://www.viva.gr/tickets/music/acro/desertfest-athens-2017/
https://www.facebook.com/events/141861139680368/
https://www.facebook.com/Desertfest-Athens-189161564797514/

Saint Vitus, “Zombie Hunger” Live in Portland, OR, 10.16.16