Branca, killing it again with the SonicBlast Fest poster art. Year after year, that partnership continues to flourish.

I was lucky enough to be invited to Portugal for SonicBlast Fest in 2023, and it was a great time from the pre-show through the end of the last night. I’m sick as a dog at the moment, so thinking of breathing the fresh air on the Atlantic Coast is perhaps a little more vivid in my mind, as much as I can smell anything right now or keep my head up while I’m typing or stay awake, etc. I took some DayQuil and I’ll go lie down in a bit.

The assemblage here is rad. You don’t need me to tell you having Turbonegro, High on Fire, Elder, Kylesa, Conan and Dead Meadow on the same bill is going to result in a good time. It’s something of a given. Cool to see Necrot included though. I like a bit of riffy death metal, and SonicBlast hasn’t been shy in years past about reaching outside the heavy rock umbrella for punk and hardcore — note The Casualties here — so an extension of that makes sense. Note also industrial punker N8noface and Early Moods. Both of those I believe are managed by Daniel from RidingEasy Records, so I can’t help but wonder if they might be touring together next summer. Guess we’ll find out eventually.

Also Jon Davis from Conan pulling double-duty with an Ungraven set, and more still to come. The following comes from social media:

Get ready for the 14th edition of SonicBlast Fest ⚡️

We’re thrilled to announce the first confirmed bands:

Turbonegro
High On Fire
Chat Pile
Deafheaven
Kylesa
The Casualties
Midnight
Frankie And The Witch Fingers
Snapped Ankles

Elder
Levitation Room
Dead Meadow
Conan
N8noface
Adult.
Necrot

Margarita Witch Cult
Early Moods
Primitive Ring
Goya
Hög
Ungraven

Tickets are already on sale at Bol and Masqueticket

https://garboyl.bol.pt/

https://www.masqueticket.com/en/entradas/sonicblast-festival-portugal-bilhetes-tickets-2026

Artwork by @branca_studio

https://sonicblastfestival.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sonicblast_fest
https://www.facebook.com/sonicblastmoledo/

Elder, Liminality/Dream State Return (2025)

It’s a big ‘un. And if you’re like me, there are a couple names that stick out from the poster below, particularly Earthride and The Skull. Both are tribute sets, of course. The Skull frontman Eric Wagner passed away in 2021 after complications from a covid-19 infection and the loss of Earthride‘s Dave Sherman just a couple months ago continues to be keenly felt in and beyond the confines of the scene he called home. Karl Agell (ex-C.O.C.) will step in for The Skull, while Scott Angelacos of Hollow Leg is set to front a rotating cast of players for Earthride. You would be hard-pressed to find a more fitting occasion for honoring one’s own, except perhaps this gig in a couple weeks.

Plenty of familiar, returning acts as well as newcomers. Hippie Death Cult and will travel from the Pacific Northwest, Switchblade Jesus and Doomstress make an appearance (not the first for either) from Texas, and Red Mesa come straight out of the capital-‘desert’ Desert. Meanwhile, Faith in Jane, Black Lung, Bloodshot, Mangog, Mythosphere, Thonian Horde, Spiral Grave and plenty of others represent the Maryland home team, High Leaf and Thunderbird Divine trip down from Philly, Curse the Son (CT) and Guhts (NY) come from farther north, Hollow Leg make the trip out from Florida, and Lo-Pan, Doctor Smoke and Brimstone Coven head over from the Midwest. That’s just off the top of my head. I’m not sure there’s ever been a MDDF pulling so many bands from different parts of the country, though of course international bands have featured in the past as well.

There are always some shakeup between the first announcement and the final lineup, but so far so good here. Any way it works out, Maryland Doom Fest has nothing to prove at this point. Guaranteed banger.

Here’s the poster (oy) and the lineup, the latter in alphabetical order:

Maryland Doom Fest 2023

June 22-25 – Frederick, MD

We are proud to present to you The Maryland DooM Fest 2023 lineup roster and 2023 promotional art!!!!

We showcase over 50 kickass bands bringing you heavy riffs over these #4daysofdoom!!

The centerpiece art was created by Joshua Adam Hart (Earthride, Unorthodox, Revelation, Chowder, Stout, to name a few).

Josh is a career tattoo artist and is currently scheduling appointments at Triple Crown Towson Tattoo. Schedule to get ink from him at info@triplecrowntowson.com

The incredible flyer layout, coloring, and design is by our very talented Bill Kole (make sure to check out his band Ol’ Time Moonshine)!!

Above the Treachery, Akris, Black Lung, Bloodshot, Bonded by Darkness, Borracho, Brimstone Coven, Cobra Whip, Conclave, Crowhunter, Curse the Son, DeathCAVE, Doctor Smoke, Doomstress, Double Planet, Dust Prophet, Earthride, Faith in Jane, False Gods, Flummox, Fox 45, Future Projektor, Gallowglas, Grim Reefer, Guhts, Helgamite, High Leaf, Hippie Death Cult, Hog, Hollow Leg, Hot Ram, Las Cruces, Leather Lung, Lo-Pan, Mangog, Mythosphere, Orodruin, Red Mesa, Severed Satellites, Shadow Witch, Smoke the Light, Spiral Grave, Switchblade Jesus, The Skull, Thonian Horde, Thousand Vision Mist, Thunderbird Divine, Unity Reggae, VRSA, Weed Coughin, Wizzerd

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

Lo-Pan, “Ascension Day” live at Maryland Doom Fest 2019

I gotta be honest, I don’t know what I like more about Hog, the free-for-all sludge or the name. It’s so simple, but it says so much about who the band are and what they do. If I came up to you on the street (wouldn’t that be awkward) and said, “Hey man, you gotta check out this band from North Carolina, they’re called Hog,” you’d have a pretty good idea of what you were getting into, right? I think that’s killer.

Hog have two demo tracks posted on their MySpace, “On the Eve of War” and “A Word is Born,” and yeah, they definitely sound like demos, but the recordings are clear enough for you to get an idea of what Hog are going for. They play a kind of post-Mastodon thrashing sludge (think Javelina, but a little riffier), hitting tempo changes on the quick to keep listeners on edge and making good use of R. James‘ lead guitar. They’re new school, yeah, and there are other bands out there doing this kind of thing, but I ask you, are they named Hog? No they are not. So there you go. Hog wins.

And it’s not like they’re annoyingly derivative. They just have some growing to do. According to the MySpace, they’re slated to head into the studio for a session with none other than Kylesa‘s Philip Cope at the helm. One imagines that someone of his boardly prowess should have no problem bringing the best out of a band like Hog, and that the righteous groove that caps off “A Word is Born” will be all the more lethal for time spent getting it right. Here’s looking forward to hearing how it all comes out.