What am I even supposed to say here other than ‘yes please?’ As Desertfest London 2019 rounds out its lineup and once again demonstrates its willful growth year after year, I’ll tell you this: there are a lot of bands listed below, and a lot of good bands. And if you’re reading this and you’re in London or you’re fortunate enough that you’re going to be in London for this festival, I know you’re hip to where it’s at. I get that. But seriously, if you don’t know, there re a few really must-see bands here, and it’s not all Amenra headlining. That’s great, and I’m sure it’ll be super-intense and very cool and all that.

But I’m telling you: don’t sleep on seeing High Priestess, BlackWater HolyLight, Worshipper, Salem’s Bend, Skraeckoedlan and Great Electric Quest. Some of those names are kind of buried near the bottom of this announcement, but really, you’d only be doing yourself a favor if you caught them. Let’s put Zed in that category too, and when they’re done, tell them I said hi. You probably already know all this, but I just wanted to highlight the point, since there’s a lot here and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I get that too.

Kudos to the Desertscene team for focusing on what matters — the music — even amid pulling double-duty in putting together the first-ever Desertfest NYC, the lineup for which is still in progress. This fest looks amazing and I wish I could say I was going. Quite simply, it’s been too long.

Here’s the announcement:

Amenra to headline Saturday at DESERTFEST LONDON 2019 + day tickets and 28 more bands announced!

Showcasing the best of what the underground has to offer is at the core of DESERTFEST LONDON and this year’s line-up is the most eclectic, yet satisfying to date by ticking those “wish-list old school desert rock” boxes with Fu Manchu and Witch at The Roundhouse, whilst pushing the boundaries of heavy with the likes of HHY & The Macumbas and Grave Miasma. Year after year it’s about offering up a diverse bill that allows for discovery, whilst celebrating the musical foundations of the festival, and the final Saturday headliner and remaining 28 acts do just that.

DESERTFEST LONDON /// 3-5th May, 2019 in London
Weekend and day tickets on sale at this location

Desertfest are honoured to reveal that the incomparable AMENRA will celebrate their 20-year anniversary across the London weekend this May, bringing their uniquely atmospheric sound as headliners of Saturday’s mainstage and, for the first time in the UK, an even more intimate side of the band takes place at The Underworld on Sunday with solo performances from CHVE & SYNDROME. We would be proud to have Amenra headline Desertfest on any year, but to have them on the year they celebrate their 20th anniversary makes it all the more special for us and also the band themselves.

Desertfest are also pleased to announce a stage takeover from the mighty Riding Easy Records, the righteous west coast label will not only bring the sun (we hope) but a hefty dose of fuzzed out riffs from their roster. Headlined by rock’n’rollers ELECTRIC CITIZEN who refuse to be pigeonholed with a 70s proto-metal sound that chimes into psychedelic realms. Street-doom killers R.I.P will hit the UK for the first time and vocalist Fuzz is ready to bring it hard and loud. Completing the stage showcase are 80s punk heavy metal hybrids ZIG ZAGS, hazy Swedish doom newcomers ALASTOR and the low and slow psych goth-rock sounds of BLACKWATER HOLYLIGHT.

If that wasn’t enough Desertfest also adds thunderous space-rock psychedelic masters MONKEY3 to upcoming proceedings, the unforgiving primitive metal sounds of THE SECRET and LA party starters THE SHRINE, who haven’t graced DF with their amped up stoner-skate vibes for well over 5 years.

We also welcome back our long-time partners Human Disease Promo/When Planets Collide for another takeover of The Underworld on Saturday. Topping the bill, the riff muscle of Savannah, Georgia is brought back to The Underworld by the mighty bruisers BLACK TUSK. Dropping in straight underneath we’re living the doom dream of olde with Chicago legends in THE SKULL. Glasgow gives us two offerings this year in the form of explosive riff n roll filth-party heads ACID CANNIBALS, and to lower the tone whilst severely twisting some melons we also welcome their fellow city dwellers HEADLESS KROSS. As ever we chose to open up with a cataclysmic attack, hence why we’ve invited Brighton’s bleak hardcore oblivionists KALLOUSED to set the day into fittingly venomous motion. Bring your ear plugs, it’s gonna be a floor shaker!

And finally, Desertfest round off with the brilliant SKRAECKOEDLAN, BLANKET, SALEMS BEND, SURYA, HIGH PRIESTESS, ZED, KUROKUMA, GREAT ELECTRIC QUEST, PSYCHLONA, VIDEO NASTIES, ONE FOR SORROW, WORSHIPPER, MOUNTAIN CALLER & 1968 all added to the monumental 2019 line-up.

DESERTFEST LONDON /// 3-5th May, 2019 in London
All tickets on sale at this location

http://www.desertfest.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest

BlackWater HolyLight, BlackWater HolyLight (2018)

Heavy heavy heavy heavy heavy. You got another word — or five? — for Headless Kross? Dig into the leadoff track from their new album, Projections I, and see what comes to mind first. The record is the beginning of a trilogy according to the PR wire, and in part to herald its coming, they’ve made their 2015 release, Volumes (discussed here), available as a free download. So that’s nice. If you didn’t hear that record, once you get a handle on “…Does Not Equal Time,” by all means, take that one on. I doubt you’ll regret spending the time and complete lack of money.

Projections I is out Nov. 18 on At War with False Noise. Info follows:

Scottish Doomsters HEADLESS KROSS Announce New Album ‘Projections 1’

Projections 1 first part in a trilogy of albums

Within the realms of extreme music, there are paths few bands dare to tread, masochistic auditory experiences enjoyed by a select few, feared and misunderstood by many. Glasgow’s HEADLESS KROSS are terrifying, dishing out grim music that’s an exercise in primeval tension and paranoia. Their forthcoming offering Projections I is released on November 18th via At War With False Noise.

Ahead of their release the band have debuted their track …Does Not Equal Time for listening. Check it out here: https://headlesskross.bandcamp.com/album/projections-i and have made their 2015 album Volumes available for free (grab it here).

Comments Vocalist/Bassist Derek Sexton: “Projections I is the first in a trilogy of albums whose fractured narrative examines this distorted yet strangely cyclical world we live in through equally distorted yet strangely cyclical psychedelic doom. We recorded it as part of a psychogeographical experiment in which we conducted a series of field recordings in various ritualistic areas of Glasgow and we feel we are embracing an increasingly polarised sound – the riffs are heavier, the monolithic groove is catchier, the freak-outs are space-ier and the fragmented lyrics descend into an infinite regress as time seems to collapse in upon itself.”

Recorded and mixed by the band themselves at guitarist Tommy Duffin’s own 16 Ohm Studio in Glasgow and mastered by James Plotkin (Khanate, Isis, Conan, Palms), the result is a menacing album that embodies avant-garde invention and unstoppable aggressive creativity throughout. Envisaged as the first part of a trilogy, this new record sees HEADLESS KROSS heading toward further extremes – heavy bits are heavier, trance-y bits are tranc-ier, this is a band that has honed its sound to vicious effect. The album’s four songs explore ideas related to projectivism, psychogeography and psychochronography. These growing obsessions were reflected in the very recording process of the album, which included a ritualistic tour of various significant areas of Glasgow to both gather field recordings, and map out an altar of sorts across the city, upon which the album could be created.

Having perfected their grippingly bleak and abrasive sound on stages across the country with bands such as Slomatics, Conan, Bast, Jucifer, Samothrace, Inter Arma, Orange Goblin and Ufomammut to name a few, the new year will see the band touring the length and breadth of the UK in support of their trilogy of releases, with parts 2 and 3 being released within the next 12 months.

Projections I will be released on November 18 via At War With False Noise.

Projections I track listing:
1: …Does Not Equal Time
2: Practical Mental Effects
3: Church of the Fifth Season
4: The Map is Not the Territory

https://www.facebook.com/headlesskross/
http://headlesskross.bandcamp.com/
http://www.atwarwithfalsenoise.com/

Headless Kross, “…Does Not Equal Time”

Click Here to Download

 

I was coming down to the end of this one and decided that I couldn’t let it go without including one more track to push it toward the two-hour mark, and the weirdness of Skunk Hawk’s “Lovers of Pompeii” won out. All bets were off after JPT Scare Band anyway. Nothing to lose between that and Jonas Munk and Headless Kross. Kind of all over the place stylstically there, but each song is so immersive on its own that I figured it would work one way or another. Heaven forbid you change it up once or twice in 60 minutes. Ha.

The first hour gets pretty heavy as well — I suppose it starts that way, with Ufomammut leading off, but look out. Once Wren kicks in from the Jarboe & Helen Money track, that, Gale and Watchtower get into some serious heft. Not that the others don’t, but you know what I mean. Blah blah blah riffs. Oh yeah, and I totally snuck in some new Acid King there, because that record is killer. So dig on that for sure if you haven’t yet. As always, hope you enjoy:

First Hour:
Ufomammut, “Plouton” from Ecate
Royal Thunder, “Time Machine” from Crooked Doors
Boarchucker, “Red Rain” from Swine Throne
Suzukiton, “Snakehead” from Suzukiton II
Jarboe & Helen Money, “Hello Mr. Blue” from Jarboe & Helen Money
Wren, “Before the Great Silence” from split with Irk
Gale, “Burn Your Person” from Vol. 1
Watchtower, “Living Heads” from Radiant Moon
Leather Nun America, “Bourgeois Pig” from Buddha Knievel
Worshipper, “High above the Clouds” from Black Corridor/High above the Clouds
Acid King, “Red River” from Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere

Second Hour:
Headless Kross, “Rural Juror” from Volumes
Jonas Munk, “Absorb” from Absorb Fabric Cascade
JPT Scare Band, “Sleeping Sickness” from Acid Acetate Excursion & Rape of the Titan’s Sirens
Skunk Hawk, “Lovers of Pompeii” from Skunk Hawk

Total running time: 1:59:24

 

Thank you for listening.

Download audiObelisk Transmission 046

 

The below image isn’t the W. Ralph Walters cover art for Headless Kross‘ upcoming sophomore full-length, Volumes, but it’s working on a similar theme, so I figured close enough. The three-track LP will be issued April 1 by Black Bow Records on vinyl and tape and Burning World Records on CD, and I don’t know how but the words “Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studio” seem to have become interchangeable with the phrase “very, very heavy.” Funny how that works.

If you’ve never checked out Headless Kross before, you might want to head over to their Bandcamp, where their 2011 Bear debut LP, as well as their 2012 Demises EP and splits with War Iron and Lazarus Blackstar are all available for free download. That seems to be everything up to the new album, which, you know, isn’t out yet.

Aside from giving their music away for free, they also get points for the 30 Rock reference. See if you can spot it.

Burning World had this update:

Burning World Records to release HEADLESS KROSS – Volumes

Formed in 2011, Glasgow’s Headless Kross combine monolithic riffs, mind bending psychedelia and crust tinged freak-outs to give them their unique sound.

Frequently described as ‘psychedelic doom’, swirling phasers and repetitive pounding rhythms give way to downtuned heaviness in a way that is somehow both tight and loose at the same time.

Headless Kross recorded their latest album ‘Volumes’ in July 2014 with Chris Fielding at Skyhammer Studio. This is due for release in early 2015 on Black Bow (vinyl and cassette) and Burning World (CD and download), with an amazing painted cover by US artist W. Ralph Walters. The album contains 3 gargantuan songs exploring the well-worn theme of nature reasserting herself in an incredibly violent way.

‘Volumes’ is released on vinyl via Black Bow Records on April 1st 2015, while the compact disc pressing will be handled by Burning World Records.

Tracklisting:
1. The Rural Juror
2. Who is This Who is Coming
3. Even the Destroyed Things Have Been Destroyed

https://www.facebook.com/headlesskross
https://headlesskross.bandcamp.com/
http://burningworldrecords.com/
http://blackbowrecords.bigcartel.com/

Headless Kross, “The Rural Juror” Live in Edinburgh, 2013