Since it was first announced the other day, I’ve been squinting my eyes at what were purposefully-blurred out logos of the two bands taking part in H42 Records‘ second annual Desertfest London split single, but today I’m happy to announce that it will be UK sludge aggressors Raging Speedhorn and New Jersey heavy psych legends Monster Magnet teamed up for the release. Art is a switched up form of the cover for last year’s Sons of Alpha Centauri and Karma to Burn split by Alexander von Wieding, preorder info is still to come, and the release is out April 29, which also happens to be the night Desertfest London 2016 kicks off.

Long defunct, Raging Speedhorn will include the track “Halfway to Hell,” which was also released as their first 7″ since reuniting, and Monster Magnet contribute “Hallucination Bomb,” presumably the version that appeared on last year’s excellent Cobras and Fire (review here), though I don’t have confirmation of anything other than that the songs will be included in some form.

The 7″ will invariably be limited to some small number yet to be revealed, and it’ll be available exclusively at Desertfest. More info follows from the PR wire:

NEW DESERTFEST LONDON 7″-SINGLE 2016 ANNOUNCEMENT

In 2015 H42 Records started the cooperation with the DESERTFEST LONDON with the split single Six/66 by KARMA TO BURN and SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI:

2016 Festival line-up is complete and just around the corner and H42 Records are working hard on the new Festival 7″ Part 2. To provide a unified art we choose the old art but a bit modified! Responsible for the art is once again the great Alexander von Wieding (www.Zeichentier.com).

Once again we were able to win two grandiose bands: The Saviours of British Metal meets a psych-rock whirlpool from the USA! The single will be released again in very limited quantities available at the DesertFest London and H42 Records!

Tracklisting:
Raging Speedhorn – Halfway to Hell
Monster Magnet – Hallucination Bomb

Release is 29th April (DesertFest London). Presale date and editions info coming later in February/March.

http://www.h42records.com/
http://www.h42records.8merch.com/services/store
https://h42records.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/H42Records
https://twitter.com/H42Records
https://www.instagram.com/j.b.h42records/

Raging Speedhorn, “Halfway to Hell”

Monster Magnet, “Hallucination Bomb”

Well, that’s a wrap for Desertfest London 2016… unless, you know, you count the actual holding of the fest in April. Which you should probably count. Okay, maybe not a wrap at all.

But the lineup is complete, and that’s something in itself. Spanning genres and geographical borders, I feel like this year’s Desertfest London perfectly emphasizes just how much this festival has grown in its five years into this encompassing celebration of heavy rock, sludge and doom, holding firm to its local roots even in this last batch of bands, while also expanding its reach in pulling legendary acts from beyond the UK and Europe as well.

Russian Circles will headline the second of Desertfest London 2016’s three dog nights, and a slew of others have joined the bill as well, including Mondo Drag, Stinking Lizaveta, underrated Londoners Crystal Head, Siena Root and many more details below:

DESERTFEST LONDON: lineup complete with Russian Circles headlining the Saturday!

Russian Circles to headline the fifth edition of DESERTFEST LONDON this spring in Camden!

It’s finally here: your complete DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 line-up has arrived! Chicago’s majestic instrumental progsters Russian Circles are set to headline the Saturday night with Pelican as lead support. Not only that, but we have the mighty forefathers of doom Trouble celebrating their 30th anniversary with a very special show for us, just before Electric Wizard bring down the Sunday night curtain in style! See you all in April…

Desertfest is all about our passion for heavy music, our love through deep-rooted friendships and above all, our collective appreciation of diversity, musical skill and the broadest range of powerful performances…

RUSSIAN CIRCLES are not from the desert, they’re not exponents of standard 5-minute, 4-4 rock songs and they expose their soundscapes exclusively for us to form our own interpretations without the mask of any form of lyrics. Shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by flashes of white light and the occasionally projected visual, they’re performers worthy of headlining any show in front of an audience who have the ability to think before they roar. With fellow instrumental crusher-destroyers PELICAN primed and ready as their main support, get ready to see, smell and FEEL the sheer weight of these swirls of Siberia.

Desertfest is also proudly joining in with Chicago doom legends TROUBLE’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Original members Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell will be touching the sky with their classic dual guitar leads and now-established front man Kyle Thomas (Alabama Thunderpussy, Floodgate, Exhorder) will be tempting the crowds with his prayers for the dead, it’s going to be a real mind bender!

The rest of final announcement for Desertfest London 2016 goes as follows:
SIENA ROOT
STINKING LIZAVETA
DYSE
MANTAR
MONDO DRAG
GURT
NECRO DEATHMORT
CAROUSEL
THE MOTH
CRYSTAL HEAD
SPIDER KITTEN
SEDULUS
BEASTMAKER
DOG DAYS

– DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 –
April 29th to May 1st in Camden, London (UK)
Weekend tickets available AT THIS LOCATION

https://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/4804/Desertfest-2016
http://www.thedesertfest.com/london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://instagram.com/desertfest
http://desertfest.bigcartel.com/

Russian Circles, Live at Saint Vitus Bar 2014

Desertfest London 2016 continues to take shape, adding a second performance from Justin K. Broadrick as JK Flesh to its Quietus Stage to go along with Godflesh playing near the top of the bill. I’m fortunate enough to have been to The Black Heart in Camden Town on more than one occasion. Once you make your way upstairs from the bar on the ground floor to where the shows are, it’s not a huge space. I would imagine that Broadrick will bring a considerable rumble to that room for his performance, which rounds out a grippingly heavy day that also features a slot from The Poisoned Glass, the new project from Asva‘s G. Stuart Dahlquist, as well as a host of others.

JK Flesh, The Poisoned Glass, Teeth of the Sea, Guapo, Bonnacons of Doom and Lower Slaughter make up the Quietus Stage lineup, which the PR wire highlights below:

Justin K. Broadrick to headline The Quietus Stage at DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 this April!

As always, the The Quietus Stage at DESERTFEST LONDON is a highlight in the yearly calendar for anyone who likes their mind-frazzlingly progressive sounds to come with a side order of skull-crushing riffs and tank blast beats. We’re proud to announce that Justin K Broadrick will headline the Black Heart on Friday 29th April.

JK FLESH is the brainchild of Godflesh/Jesu/ex-Napalm Death genius JUSTIN K BROADRICK is arguably his most incendiary incarnation yet, combining slamming industrial dub rhythms with his trademark avalanche of rifftrocity.

There isn’t anything wrong with any festival in the world that couldn’t instantaneously be fixed by the appearance of London’s TEETH OF THE SEA – we’re willing to stake our reputation on the claim that no other band in the world combines elements of Ennio Morricone, Killing Joke, Giorgio Moroder, Prurient, Queen and Tangerine Dream and even if they did, they wouldn’t be half the fun.

GUAPO is a cult name among the afficionados of blazing, LSD fried, outer reaches prog; their last album Obscure Knowledge was never far from tQ’s office stereo and just wait until you hear the bagpipe solo!

Featuring ex Burning Witch, Sunn O))) and Asva members G.Stuart Dahlqvist and Edgy 59 bring the THE POISONED GLASS and their droned out experimental sound using only electronic noise, organs and bass and some left field vocals.

Opening up the stage are two of the hands down, uncontested highlights of last year’s Supernormal festival – BONNACONS OF DOOM played an unannounced gig in the middle of a forest – a bunch of shadowy figures in monks cowls, with mirrors instead of faces playing an immensely satisfying style of Krautrock influenced doom twang that sounded like Circle jamming with The Shadows; and LOWER SLAUGHTER, put simply, will tear your face off, rip it to pieces and then stuff the whole lot up your anus, with their savage Melvins meets Television riffing and 12 cans of Monster energy drink for breakfast vocals.

– DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 –
April 29th to May 1st in Camden, London (UK)
Weekend tickets available AT THIS LOCATION

https://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/4804/Desertfest-2016
http://www.thedesertfest.com/london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://instagram.com/desertfest
http://desertfest.bigcartel.com/

JK Flesh, Nothing is Free EP (2015)

Seems like a few festivals aren’t ready to let the year end quite yet, which is fair enough. Desertfest London 2016 has unveiled a slew of new acts for its lineup — enough to fill a whole other stage and then some — and along with Monomyth, who were previously announced as taking part in Desertfest Berlin as well, the DesertScene crew has seen fit to bring aboard Pelican, Blood Ceremony, Bast, Witchsorrow, Dusertoid, Lionize, impressive upstarts Sunder and others. It was a packed bill before. Now it’s a more packed bill. Funny how that works.

Here’s the latest with Happy Holiday wishes from the PR wire:

Pelican, Asteroid, Blood Ceremony and more added to the DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 lineup!

Jingle bells, jingle bells… The DESERTFEST LONDON promoters have one more treat for you before Christmas, with thirteen more bands confirmed to play the festival in Camden this spring, including the Old Empire Stage lineup that will be hosted at the Electric Ballroom on the Sunday.

Like the previous edition, DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 will broaden its horizon by bringing an alternative darker edge to the lineup. London’s independent promoters Old Empire will thus take over the Electric Ballroom on May 1st, with industrial metallers GODFLESH headlining the stage, plus five fantastically heavy acts including BLOOD CEREMONY, ORANSSI PAZUZU, BAST and WITCHSORROW.

As a mouth-watering addition, ten other delightful acts are added to the weekend, with Illinois legendary dream rock merchants PELICAN, Ukraine’s finest stoner trio STONED JESUS, as well as grooving rock’n’rollers LIONIZE, French proto-rockers SUNDER, UK’s post-doom outfit OHHMS, DUSTEROID, MONOMYTH, BLACK PUSSY and POSEIDON.

– DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 –
April 29th to May 1st in Camden, London (UK)
Weekend tickets available AT THIS LOCATION

Current lineup is as follows:
ELECTRIC WIZARD – CORROSION OF CONFORMITY w/ Pepper Keenan PELICAN – GODFLESH – CROWBAR – TRUCKFIGHTERS – BLOOD CEREMONY – ELDER – EGYPT – CONAN – ORANSSI PAZUZU – WO FAT – MOTHERSHIP – MONOLORD – ROTOR – ASTEROID – RAGING SPEEDHORN – STONED JESUS – LIONIZE – PLANET OF ZEUS – MONOMYTH – BLACK PUSSY – WITCHSORROW – OHHMS – SUNDER – DUSTEROID – BAST – POSEIDON

https://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/4804/Desertfest-2016
http://www.thedesertfest.com/london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://instagram.com/desertfest
http://desertfest.bigcartel.com/

Pelican, “Immutable Dusk” live on Sound Opinions

Desertfest London 2016 continues to break out big guns in its lineup for the end of next April. The latest? Oh, just the reunited Deliverance-era lineup of Corrosion of Conformity. That’s all. Oh, and they’ll co-headline the Friday night with Crowbar. No big deal. Oh wait, it’s a friggin’ huge deal. By that time, C.O.C. will likely be working toward their previously announced next full-length — which will be their first in 16 years with all four of its current players — and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that ahead of the Fall 2016 release on Nuclear Blast, they’ll have a new song or two in the set.

These are wild days, my friends. The PR wire sent over the following announcement:

DESERTFEST LONDON 2016: Corrosion Of Conformity to headline the Friday!

It is with great excitement that we’re revealing the second headliner to walk the DESERTFEST LONDON stage next April 29th in Camden, with America’s coolest volume dealers CORROSION OF CONFORMITY and no one but their historical frontman Pepper Keenan at the helm! Icing on this greasy cake: their sludgy brothers in arms CROWBAR will co-headline the night, for a “southern special” Friday at Desertfest!

UK’s forerunner stoner/doom/psyche gathering DESERTFEST couldn’t reach the milestone of their 5th edition without having cult acts on the bill. And who could open this special weekend better than one of America’s most inspiring and outstanding bands of musicians in heavy music, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, reuniting with their iconic guitarist and frontman Pepper Keenan (also well-known for founding leading southern metal unit Down). With the recent news of COC’s signing on Nuclear Blast Records and recording of a new album due out in the fall of 2016, there is no doubt that this fifth Desertfest London will go down in history!

As previously announced and to make it even more special, NOLA’s sludge metal heroes CROWBAR will co-headline the Friday along with COC, bringing their influential slow-and-low sound to the masses. Once again this is a first, as Kirk Windstein and his crew of titans have never played any Desertfest before. A night dedicated to US sludge and rock heavyweights!

– DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 –
April 29th to May 1st in Camden, London (UK)
Weekend tickets available AT THIS LOCATION

Current lineup is as follows:
ELECTRIC WIZARD
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY w/ Pepper Keenan
GODFLESH
CROWBAR
TRUCKFIGHTERS
ELDER
EGYPT
CONAN
WO FAT
MOTHERSHIP
MONOLORD
ROTOR
RAGING SPEEDHORN
PLANET OF ZEUS
WITCHSORROW

https://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/4804/Desertfest-2016
http://www.thedesertfest.com/london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://instagram.com/desertfest
http://desertfest.bigcartel.com/

Corrosion of Conformity, Live in Glasgow, March 2015

Goodness gracious. There wasn’t really any doubt that Desertfest London 2016 meant business when it came out of the gate with Electric Wizard, Elder and Conan in the lineup, but the Camden Town festival has continued to swing hard with its next batch of adds, which includes Godflesh, Crowbar, Truckfighters, Wo Fat, Mothership, Egypt (if those last three aren’t touring Europe together around their Desertfest appearance, they should be), Monolord, Rotor and Planet of Zeus. It’s a pretty significant round two from Desertfest London 2016, which, again, wasn’t exactly struggling to make its quota of awesome to start with. If I had a bank holiday weekend, that would seem to be the way to spend it.

Tickets are on sale now. Details follow, as seen on the PR wire:

Godflesh, Crowbar, Truckfighters, Egypt and more acts confirmed to play DESERTFEST LONDON 2016!

UK’s #1 stoner, doom, sludge and psych event DESERTFEST LONDON is thrilled to announce the second wave of artists who will be taking the stage at the 2016 edition, taking place in April 29th to May 1st across multiple venues in the legendary musical hub of Camden Town…

NOLA’s sludge metal heroes CROWBAR will be heading back over seas to make ears bleed, bringing their influential slow-and-low sound to an eager, ready, and willing Desertfest. Kirk Windstein and his crew of titans haven’t graced UK revellers with their rowdy presence since 2014; and Crowbar has never played Desertfest London. Making for a truly exciting, and long over-due, addition to the already stellar proceedings next year has in store.

Desertfest are also pleased to reveal that our friends at Old Empire will once again be curating a stage, bringing an eclectic and exciting array of acts to broaden the pallet. First to be announced are industrial legends GODFLESH, who will be headlining the Old Empire offerings. Their experimental and aggressive sound has established the Birmingham-based duo as one of the most innovative bands in industrial music, cited as influencing everyone from Metallica to Faith No More.

As if all that wasn’t enough to process, there’s of course a healthy helping of doom and stoner rock goodness joining the mix for Desertfest 2016. Heavy-hitting warriors TRUCKFIGHTERS will be chucking riffs left, right and centre, alongside fellow Swedish fuzz lords MONOLORD, who will be riding easy and destroying all in one slow, hard and loud blow. Psychedelic monsters WO FAT are a welcome return, having well and truly mastered the art of trippy doom – many can do it, but few do it as well as the Dallas desert trio. EGYPT will also be heading over and hitting the bill hard to bring some Dakota doom goodness to the haze, alongside eccentric instrumental gurus ROTOR. Southern rock lovin’ PLANET OF ZEUS are bringing their raw grooves out of the Greek underground and into thirsty a London, and finally heavy rockers MOTHERSHIP will be taking fans well out the galaxy – musically speaking, of course.

– DESERTFEST LONDON 2016 –
April 29th to May 1st in Camden, London (UK)
Weekend tickets available AT THIS LOCATION

Current lineup is as follows:
ELECTRIC WIZARD
GODFLESH
CROWBAR
TRUCKFIGHTERS
ELDER
EGYPT
CONAN
WO FAT
MOTHERSHIP
MONOLORD
ROTOR
RAGING SPEEDHORN
PLANET OF ZEUS
WITCHSORROW

https://www.leedstickets.com/eventinfo/4804/Desertfest-2016
http://www.thedesertfest.com/london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://instagram.com/desertfest
http://desertfest.bigcartel.com/

Truckfighters, Live at Desertfest London 2013

Desertfest London 2016 will be held April 29 through May 1 in the (black) heart of London: Camden Town. This is the fifth year the fest has been held, and while I’m not sure that was on their minds when they decided to open their season with an opening shot of five band announcements, it works out nicely all the same.

That’s true in no small part because of the bands announced. For a first headliner, Desertfest London 2016 unveils Electric Wizard, and they’re joined by a considerable battalion comprised of Conan, Elder, Witchsorrow and reactivated sludge rockers Raging Speedhorn, whom I once saw play — true story — in a hotel bar way off the beaten path at SXSW in Austin, Texas, maybe 2005 or 2006? I mean that show was so far out it might as well have been in Houston. Long walk. They were worth it though, and I don’t think they ever came back to the US, which is fair enough. Hard to beat “Fuck You, Pay Me.”

Anyhoo, of course we’ll have a ton more to come on Desertfest London 2016 by next April, though for now it’s cool to see Elder will apparently be making their way back to Europe. Very interested to find out how London’s lineup will interact with that of the Berlin-based Desertfest. When I see something, I’ll say something.

For now:

***DESERTFEST IS BACK WITH A BANG! FIVE BANDS FOR APRIL 2016!***

Hello all! We at Desertfest HQ hope you’ve had a great summer so far and as we sidle into September we’re thrilled to bring you some great news about the fifth annual Desertfest in Camden this coming April. Our first headliner to creep out of the shadows are those mighty legends of true British doom Electric Wizard! Marching behind the standard they bear for us all come Liverpool’s battle-hardened warriors Conan, Boston’s heralded masters of heavy psych Elder, the UK’s blackened doomsters Witchsorrow and those heroes of sludgy hardcore Raging Speedhorn!

Head over to our new-look website to find out more about these incredible bands and stick with us in the coming weeks as we bring you yet more of the world’s greatest doom, psyche, stoner, sludge and all things in between this April in Camden!

http://www.thedesertfest.com/london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://instagram.com/desertfest
http://desertfest.bigcartel.com/

Conan, Live at Desertfest London 2013