What more do you need to know? The e’er venerable parties behind Høstsabbat have snagged a mean-as-hell lineup for 2022, and they’re topping it off by swapping out Dead Meadow — who rule, don’t get me wrong, but couldn’t ultimately make the trip for whatever reason — for mainstay Swedish classicists Graveyard as headliners for a multinational conglomeration of a bill that ranges no less in style than it does in geography. Of course, due showcase position is given to Norwegian acts, as Høstsabbat has always done, but a return from Slomatics and appearances from Polish slammers Dopelord, Chicago’s Indian, Orkan from Sweden, REZN from the US and others assures that the scope wants for nothing, although even if the bill listed below was only the Norway natives, I’d still probably call this a badass lineup. Not my fault the Norwegian underground is incredible.

Cool fest growing, getting weirder, going further into the aesthetic ether. I missed this one last year and it was a heartbreaker. I hope I get to go this time, for reasons both hug- and riff-based.

Poster art is unveiled as of right this second. Design is by Spectral Ecstasy, and you’ll find it below (click to enlarge) along with the now-complete lineup for the two days Oct. 7-8.

Dig:

GRAVEYARD (SE)

Since 2006 the moody, hard rocking, bluesy balladry of Gothenburg’s Graveyard has served as a large part of the benchmark for the retro Scandinavian rock movement.
With an evolutionary history and output, they have inspired as many bands as their classic anthem laden guitar rock resembles from a time long past.

Their strong, neo psychedelic flourish and warm, retro drenched tonality has cut a forerunning path central to the breakthrough of our beloved, once underground, retro-style 70´s inspired scene.

Effortlessly gliding from dirty desert groove complete with stoner tinged, string bending solos to hard galloping rock and roll without losing momentum or vibrancy, alongside a signature raspy croon which exudes wanton humanity and pensive vulnerability.

Graveyard continually deliver a bountiful and gripping sonic experience with writing that consistently ebbs, flows and evolves through rich, heartfelt riffs, screaming solos and swinging groove and rhythm galore.

Without further ado, Høstsabbat is both proud and thrilled to welcome Graveyard as our last lineup addition to the 2022 edition in the church of riffs.

Thanks so much for your support, Sabbathians.

HØSTSABBAT 2022 Lineup:
Graveyard (SE)
Indian (US)
REZN (US)
Spaceslug (PL)
Årabrot (NO)
Dopelord (PL)
Slomatics (IE)
MoE (NO)
Needlepoint (NO)
Norna (SE/CH)
Kanaan (NO) – plays “Earthbound”
The Black Wizards (PT)
Orkan (SE)
Vi som älskade varandra så mycket (SE)
Bismarck (NO)
Kosmik Boogie Tribe (NO)
Håndgemeng (NO)
Agabas (NO)
Astralplane (NO)
U-Foes (NO)
Filthdigger (NO)
Kobol (NO)
ARV (NO)
Karavan (NO)
Gunerius & Verdensveven (NO)
Sturle Dagsland (NO)

Official poster design by Spectral Ecstasy.

TICKETS: https://bit.ly/HS-festivalpass

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
https://spoti.fi/3tkuMZl

NEWSLETTER
https://bit.ly/HostsabbatNews

https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
https://www.instagram.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Graveyard, “Hisingen Blues” live in Stockholm, Sweden, 2022

Obviously, Årabrot are the ‘big name’ here, but I’d like to go ahead and draw your attention to Norwegian progressive rockers Needlepoint, also announced for Høstsabbat 2022 in this past week’s round of daily updates. Stickman Records early in 2021 released that band’s Walking Up That Valley (review here) LP, and yeah, it’s the kind of record that, if you were putting together a festival to take place the better part of two years after it’s out, you might still want the band to play. Of course, it’s entirely possible Needlepoint will have a new album out by then — I’ve heard nothing, know nothing, as ever — but the point stands.

Also, for anyone looking for outright crush, there’s Bismarck, who offer it aplenty, and you can also see Høstsabbat expanding its reach here with Agabas and VSÆVSM, whose abbreviated name I won’t even attempt to pronounce, let alone the full thing, which I won’t even attempt to cut and paste. It is important to know your own limits. Anyhow, if you’ve got a quota for “out there” with your crush and your prog and your whatever Årabrot are, consider it met.

Tickets are on sale as of this past Friday, as the fest reaffirmed on socials:

HØSTSABBAT 2022 – TICKETS ON SALE

Finally, festival passes for Høstsabbat 2022 are out!

Tap the ticket link below and grab them while you can.
https://bit.ly/HS-festivalpass

‘VSÆVSM’
Vi som älskade varandra så mycket (SE)

We’re beyond psyched to announce the welcoming of our Swedish friends in VSÆVSM. These guys work around the common denominator of the random heavy festival, and their uncompromising hardcore-take on the heavy, along with their shiver-inducing wall of noise makes them a perfect addition to Høstsabbat 2022.

Intensely emotive and harshly grandiose, VSÆVSM presents us with an epically atmospheric experience built on a foundation of constantly melodic despair.

With an energy that is deafeningly bleak yet somehow triumphant, lashings of post-hardcore/post-rock/ early 2000’s screamo blend seamlessly to create a truly unique, dynamic, and extreme cinematic impact.

Please join us in welcoming Vi som älskade varandra så mycket to this year’s lineup.

NEEDLEPOINT (NO)

Høstsabbat has never been, and never will be, a festival aiming for the biggest names or the most profiled musicians. But if you love a band, and they happen to check a couple of those boxes AND want to play your fest? What are you gonna do?

Give them the best possible welcome obviously. It might be a small step to mankind, but a positive step for us.

We are truly humbled and very proud to present this star-drizzled lineup for all you Sabbathians. Needlepoint brings us jazzy, smoothly progressive and psychedelic tapestries, woven from an impressive and meandering kaleidoscope of folk and prog -rock fusion.

Join us in the church of riffs this October and experience Needlepoint’s placid psychedelic milieu.

BISMARCK (NO)

Powerful dissonance and colossal riffs are just the tip of the iceberg when referring to our next lineup announcement.

Bismarck is a force of nature unto themselves with their uncompromising vision and pristine production quality. Meditatively provocative, Bismarck Official beautifully blend Eastern melodies, impressive vocals sometimes even bordering on the chantingly shamanic, droning guitar and low-end textures with their interpretation of western esotericism via altered states of consciousness and mystical apocalypse.

The result is gripping in atmosphere and inescapable heaviness balanced by gutting darkness and exhilarating glimpses of light through crushing intensity.

We’re thrilled to welcome Bismarck to the ranks of Høstsabbat 2022.

ÅRABROT (NO)

Sometimes a band comes along that simply defies the box of conventional classification and the power of adjectives is completely lost in the shadow of their art. Årabrot happens to be one of those bands.

Since their humble beginning, Årabrot has proven to be masters of their craft and defining themselves as a commanding presence on stage as well as a truly motivational entity for the underground scene in Norway. Their evolution has been fascinating to follow and one never knows what they will do next. What we do know, is that Årabrot will always fearlessly push boundaries, constantly moving forward, ambitiously innovative in their overall sound and their very own Church of Årabrot aesthetics.

Their astonishing progression will speak for itself, given the 8 long years since they last visited Høstsabbat. The seamless transition to having Karin Park in a now more central role results in an organic fusion of old school Årabrot-riffary and Karin’s futuristic synth-induced endeavours, and the result is nothing less than compelling.

Årabrot is a band for the future. The noise rock-gothic rock gospel of Årabrot aren’t just songs that they perform, nor are the people behind the music simply musicians- they are each art pieces unto themselves.
The Årabrot experience is a malevolent, melodic sonic macrocosm that displays transcendent power, purpose and infinite mystery.

Please welcome the church of Årabrot to our church of riffs for Høstsabbat 2022!

AGABAS (NO)

Today’s lineup announcement is Agabas who give us their own unique genre of extreme “Death Jazz;” a relentlessly pounding and profane amalgamation of death/black metal and jazz.

Evocative and melodic even with their aggressively harsh vocalization, we find undulating clarinet, pounding percussion, and even saxophone interweaved effortlessly amongst an intensely seething pit of guitar and a raging rhythm section.

Agabas forge a path through uncharted territory waging an all-out war on the convention of all four genres yet marrying them in a way that seems almost organic. The persistence of their jazzy interludes consistently cuts the tightly wound metallic atmosphere to shreds like a seething river of lava laying waste to all in its path. The flow is undeniable yet alarmingly hideous and captivating at once.

Let’s welcome Agabas and their extreme Death-Jazz machine to Høstsabbat 2022.

TICKETS
https://bit.ly/HS-festivalpass

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
https://spoti.fi/3tkuMZl

NEWSLETTER
https://bit.ly/HostsabbatNews

https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
https://www.instagram.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Needlepoint, Walking Up That Valley (2021)

Starting last Friday — golly the glut of Friday announcements is exhausting — Oslo-based festival Høstsabbat 2022 began unveiling bands for its lineup this October. What’s more, they put earlybird tickets on sale with only Poland’s Spaceslug confirmed to appear and sold them out in eight minutes. Not too shabby. If you’ve ever been to Høstsabbat, that will only make perfect sense to you.

Orkan, my heavy sci-fi heroes in Slomatics and Karavan have since joined the lineup and I’m sure by the time this is posted they’ll have added more and I’ll already be behind because that’s how it goes with daily announcements. I’ve been and will continue to share the confirmations on social media as I’ve seen them come through my feed. I do my best to keep up. It is almost never enough to put my brain at ease.

This fest is great, the people, the place, the sound and experience. I was sad to miss it last Fall. I’ll be sad this year if I miss it again. So it goes.

From socials:

HØSTSABBAT 2022

Holy shit! We already sold out the Early Bird tickets…

In 8 minutes. You guys are crazy! THANK YOU.

So sorry to everyone who missed out. The rest of the tickets will be out next Friday.

In the meantime, look out for more exciting band announcements coming at you each day!

SPACESLUG (PL)

Friday is upon us, and what better way to kick off the weekend vibes than announcing our first band and Early Bird tickets for this year’s festival. And that’s not all. Over the next weeks, a new band will be added to the line-up each day. Let’s go!

Høstsabbat is delighted to bring you the magic of SPACESLUG, coming to Norway for the first time ever.

It’s no secret we have had our keen eyes on the thriving Polish doom scene for years. The soulful music this beautiful country keeps pouring into our scene illustrates a consistently heavy and deeply melodic presence which sets their particular scene apart in the richest and most enchanting of ways.

Spaceslug touches so many corners of our musical carpet, we feel they are the perfect fit for our first band announcement for Høstsabbat 2022 Seamlessly wandering from the Sabbathian swing to the darker complexity of the more post-rock and metal sounds, adding melody on top of their riffage. Harmonies even. The result is often hauntingly beautiful and masterfully heavy all at once.

Spaceslug is coming to slay.

ORKAN (SE)

Thank you for yesterday’s incredible response to our first band announcement of Spaceslug and Early Bird ticket sales.

Today we bring you our second band announcement and it’s a melodic, groovy pleasure to introduce Orkan to the Høstsabbat 2022 lineup.

In anticipation of their new album “Livsgaranti” due out in May, we take a deep dive into their organically melodic, 70’s influenced hard prog, and can’t wait for October to find ourselves immersed in their strong and expressive rhythm and vocal stylings, brilliant percussive elements and raucous riffage.

Toe-tapping, and catchy to the max, Orkan not only give us a swinging groove but let loose a slightly gritty, beautiful, idealistic freedom and elicit nostalgic vibes of decades gone by and simpler times long past.

Please give Orkan a warm Høstsabbat welcome!

SLOMATICS (IE)

The weekend draws to a close on this fine Sabbath Sunday and we welcome our third line-up announcement for Høstsabbat 2022.

We are thrilled to bring you the primal tidal wave of heaviness that is the magnificent Slomatics!

Slomatics have created a seminal benchmark in the doom scene for continuously manufacturing unrelentingly high calibre, expansive, sludgy heft.

Harnessing bone-shattering power alongside a tremendously stunning vocal range, a cavernous depth results from the beautiful, booming force of the interplay between thick walls of rhythm and oscillating guitar.

Crushing heaviness is the hallmark of the Slomatics experience and we can’t wait to welcome them back to Oslo for the first time since 2016.

KARAVAN (NO)

Happy Monday, Sabbathians.

We weren’t joking around with the promise of a daily onslaught of announcements for Høstsabbat 2022.

The way we figure it, why make you wait? We’ve got the goods and we’re letting it loose for you. And while Mondays are mostly blue, let’s hope today’s announcement can make your day slightly lighter with some heavy tunes.

We take pride in having our eyes and ears open to when new riffage unveils itself throughout our country, and we’ve had our sights on a new three-piece going at it full throttle, down in the southwest.

Distinctly dirty like devious denizens of a cold and dank cave comes the ghoulish rumbling of Karavan and they pick up on the classic stoner-doom sentiment that got Høstsabbat going in the first place. Despite being formed in 2019, they are already causing waves, and we are stoked to welcome Karavan to our 2022 edition.

Tickets go on sale at 12:00 sharp, Friday the 25th so keep an eye out. Cheers!

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
https://spoti.fi/3tkuMZl

NEWSLETTER
https://bit.ly/HostsabbatNews

https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
https://www.instagram.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Spaceslug, “Spring of the Abyss” official video

Do you want to dream with me for a while, or will it be too much of a downer? It’s okay. This one hits particularly bittersweet for me. I haven’t been to every Høstsabbat, but I’ve been to enough to see how the Oslo-based festival has grown and is growing, and the thought of not being there in a few weeks for this one is that much harder to take as the lineup is revealed today. Imagine the existential payoff of being engulfed in Mars Red Sky‘s melodic wash on the first night and obliterated by Conan the second, or seeing Greenleaf bring the blues of their latest album to life.

I’ve never seen Causa Sui. I’ve never seen Øresund Space Collective. These are bands I think and write about all the time. And newcomers like Slomosa, Jointhugger, Superlynx, Saint Karloff and Kryptograf, Hymn and Kite and Suncraft — these are some of the best up and coming acts the Norwegian heavy underground has to offer. Imagine being able to say you’ve seen Besvärjelsen. The thought of this happening and my not being there makes me genuinely sad.

It’s just a Fredag and a Lørdag, right? I could go! It could happen. It’s not a huge festival. I’ll mask up, of course… After a year and a half of so much bullshit, fear, sadness, ongoing, don’t I have to eventually just accept that this is what life is now and some things are worth the risk? That this is something I need to be the person I am? Who am I without live music?

And there you go. Bitter because I’m forced to reconcile myself to not seeing it. Sweet because I know in my heart these are good, passionate people who make this happen and because I believe in what they do, and even if I can’t/won’t be there to see it, it’s happening. I’m sorry to make this one about me. Really it’s about awesome bands and a righteous bill. If you’re going, enjoy. Live.

Full Høstsabbat 2021 lineup — though I’m hearing rumors about a Torsdag to-do as well — follows here:

HØSTSABBAT 2021 FULL LINE-UP ANNOUNCEMENT

In the spirit of optimistic caution and with safety precautions at the forefront of our minds, we step forward in preparation for our stages to resonate with the heavy once again! The riffs will rise from our home at Kulturkirken Jakob and our Norwegian stage at Verkstedet on Friday the 8th and Saturday the 9th of October.

Today we proudly release the full lineup and hope you are as excited as we are to come together again in celebration of the riff and all things heavy.

Daypasses and program will be out on Friday. Until then, get your festival ticket asap!

TICKETS: https://bit.ly/hostsabbat2021

Lineup HØSTSABBAT 2021 – October 8th-9th

– Mars Red Sky (fr)
– Øresund Space Collective (dk)
– Slomosa (no)
– Hymn (no)
– Conan (uk)
– Causa Sui (dk)
– Gøsta Berlings Saga (se)
– Greenleaf (se)
– Saint Karloff (no)
– Besværjelsen (se)
– Kryptograf (no)
– Kite (no)
– Sibiir (no)
– Orkan (se)
– Warp Riders (no)
– Jointhugger (no)
– Draken
– Gunerius & Verdensveven
– Superlynx
– U-Foes
– Shaving the Werewolf
– Suncraft

https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
https://www.instagram.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Høstsabbat 2019 official aftermovie

I don’t know. I felt like I had to post something here. Fests being canceled isn’t even really news at this point, but I’ll admit I was holding out some tiny measure of hope for Høstsabbat. Even if I couldn’t go, I was hoping it would happen, just so I could know it was happening. Something was happening. Well, there you go.

I’ve been in touch with the folks behind the scenes, and you should believe them when they say they really tried to make this work. They did. I don’t know what next year will bring, but hopefully it brings this back, and Greenleaf with it. Ha.

But hey, you want to know how I really feel about it? I’m bummed. But you know what else? Høstsabbat gave me hope for months. Months of hope, in 2020. As shows and fests and plans were getting canceled left and right, as the world seemed to be falling apart — turns out, nope, just the US — and everything was going to shit, Høstsabbat gave me hope. I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve said “Well I’m holding out hope for Oslo in October” since March. Couldn’t even guess at the number, but it’s a lot. So thank you, Høstsabbat. Thank you for giving me that hope for as long as you could give it. I find it not only reassuring that I could still feel hope given the surrounding plague and dismay, but that much easier to continue to feel hope for better things to come in 2021. Thank you for reminding me to hope and look forward to the next thing.

I hope to continue to do so:

Dear followers of Høstsabbat,

These last months have been a nightmare considering the planning of this years’ Høstsabbat festival. Countries and cities have been turning green and red over night, the capacity limit has been up for discussion and a lot of the other ever-changing restrictions has been difficult to work with along the way. The uncertainties have been never ending.

Despite all of this, we tried to put our heads together and come up with a Covid friendly version of this year’s edition, still paying justice to our visions. The crew at Kulturkirken JAKOB has been nothing short of amazing, helping out in all ways possible, trying to make Høstsabbat 2020 happen. As all of you can imagine, having any bands from abroad would mean too many x-factors to move forward with. Our last chance was to have an all-Norwegian festival, but all in all it was too many changes and too many restrictions to make Høstsabbat what it is.

Our final conclusion is therefore to postpone the festival as a whole, hoping as many of this year’s bands can make their way to Oslo next year in October 2021.

This decision is heartbreaking, and not an easy one to make. But in the end, we think this is the best and right thing to do. We hope you understand why we waited this long to bring forward the news. We really tried to make it work. This fall will leave a black hole, compared to what was expected, and how things should have been. On the upside we are planning some really cool, covid-safe happenings in Oslo throughout this Autumn and Spring. Keep your eyes peeled!

TICKETS
We hope as many as possible want to extend this year’s ticket to Høstsabbat 2021 for the same price. In that case, you just keep your ticket and Ticketmaster will change it automatically. You can also get a refund for your ticket by following the link in the end of this text. The refund sheet must be filled in within 2 months to get a refund.

We promise to do whatever it takes to make Høstsabbat 2021 the best one so far, and a special one for all of us. Save the dates next year, Friday and Saturday 1st to 2nd of October.

Until next time, we love you all!

Doom out,
Høstsabbat

REFUND link: https://bit.ly/refund-HS

Photo: Per Georg Krokstad

https://www.facebook.com/events/431138574088425/
https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
https://www.instagram.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

I hate to say it, but it’s getting to the point where I’m hanging a lot of hopes on making the trip to Norway this October for Høstsabbat 2020. Will it happen? I don’t know. Will anything? Maybe by then the world will be up and running — or maybe at least the rest of the world will, if not my home country — and the fest will take place in glorious fashion as a collective sigh of relief among those fortunate enough to be there. But with so much uncertainty around and the Spring festival season at least shuddered in its entirety, I have to wonder what’s in store thereafter. I by no means think that puts me in an exclusive category, by the way. We’re all waiting to see what happens, as the shadow of COVID-19 has become the context in which our lives seem to be taking place. Isn’t being a part of history fun???

Not usually, no. For one night in 2008, maybe.

Anyhoo, I give points to the Høstsabbat crew for pressing ahead and giving folks like me something to look forward to. It helps, genuinely.

Can’t help but notice REZN — added below — and Bongripper, who were added last time, are both Chicago bands. Wonder if — if, if, if, if — they might tour Europe together in some capacity this Fall. Or if at least that might be the plan under which they’re proceeding for now.

I pronounce the species day-to-day:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – REZN (US)

Finally Friday has kind of lost its meaning nowadays, but to finally be able to announce awesome bands, making their way across the pond to us Europeans for the first time, seems more than legit. The incredibly talented REZN has been a bubbling name in the US scene for years, and their coming to EU seems way overdue.

It’s with massive pride we are able to welcome REZN to Høstsabbat 2020

It’s lovely to see a band fulfilling the intention of our festival as a whole. The sound of REZN sums up the reasons we’re doing this, and reminds us of where it all started. Slow, dynamic riffs, ethereal vocals, grooving, rolling drums, all wrapped up in a sound that makes you forget time and space.

A solid treat for the mind and soul.

Their brilliant take on psychedelic doom adds more to the pot than just killer riffs.

REZN’s clever use of synths and eastern soundscapes make them sound forever fresh and relevant, putting them in a stand-out position in the jungle of bands trying to follow the same recipe.

Following last week’s announcement, they’ll join fellow Chicago band BONGRIPPER, for the most stacked bill of Høstsabbat ever.

October can’t come soon enough.

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

https://www.facebook.com/events/431138574088425/
https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Let’s put an asterisk there, maybe. Or at least an ellipsis followed by some kind of if-there-is-such-a-thing statement. Even the kind folks behind the Oslo-based Høstsabbat Festival, which I’ve been sort of hanging my hat on as other shows, tours and fests have been canceling as a result of COVID-19’s barely-contained spread — saying to myself, “Well at least Høstsabbat is far enough away that it might still happen — are acknowledging that they’re announcing the intention to bring Bongripper over as a headliner with a spirit of optimism. And hey, why not, right? What the fuck else is going on? Everyone knows the situation. If it happens, it’ll be great — the fucking Høstsabbat is so god damned good that, frankly, it’s worth having as something to look forward in all this — and if it doesn’t happen, well, we’ll know well in advance.

What’s the worst scenario? You buy a ticket and support people who make amazing crap happen when circumstances like global pandemics allow? You could do far worse while social distancing.

I don’t know if I even need to convince you of that, but that’s my case, anyhow. I think I made it well enough. Fucking Bongripper, dude.

I edited their post but didn’t write it:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – BONGRIPPER (US)

As we said in our last post, our everyday lives have been turned completely upside down recently.

After some discussion, we’ve decided to move ahead as planned. If nothing else, we want to try to add some sparkle to the end of the tunnel everyone seems to be in. We reckon you, as much as us, need something to look forward to, something that can make this surreal struggle a tiny, tiny bit easier to cope with. So yes, here it is:

BONGRIPPER will headline Høstsabbat 2020.

As you know, we always try to choose headliners suitable for the church acoustics. Since we started our collaboration with Kulturkirken JAKOB, this very band has been on the top of our wishlist of invitees. It is a massive joy to finally be able to announce Bongripper for our sabbathian crowd. For the first time in Norway, no less.

Bongripper is a band staking out new paths. They’re leaders of the pack, inspiring younger bands with their unearthly rumble and distinct riffs. Their instrumental, miserable Chicago doom has taken them all over the world, and they’ve been featured on every significant festival there is, building a solid and loyal fanbase throughout their seven full-length career. Finally the time has come for Høstsabbat.

The chapel stage will hold the presence of a band with sudden changes, blasting drums and a heaviness so impeccable, you’ll have a hard time standing up straight in front of it. This gig will mark a highlight in the history of Høstsabbat. Please welcome Bongripper, the headliners of this year’s heaviest event!

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

https://www.facebook.com/events/431138574088425/
https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/

Of course it’s all tentative. Everything’s tentative at this point, but one can hardly fault Oslo’s Høstsabbat for trying to inject a bit of optimism into the day by adding Sweden’s Greenleaf to the lineup for the festival that, as of now, is still scheduled to take place this October. Does Høstsabbat know what October will bring in terms of COVID-19? Nope. Does anyone? If they do, they’re not saying, so yeah. Might as well keep announcing bands and at least give people something to look forward to — shit, give me something to look forward to, never mind anyone else — even if that has to come with the inevitable asterisk of well-this-might-not-happen-because-of-a-global-pandemic. Fine. I’ll take it anyway. Just the thought of seeing Greenleaf on stage again is enough to make me smile, let alone seeing them in that church for Høstsabbat.

If there is a Høstsabbat 2020 — and I very, very much hope there is — it’s going to be something incredibly special.

Here’s their statement:

HØSTSABBAT 2020 – GREENLEAF (SE)

In these troubled times where life has turned into a battle of life or death for most things concerning music and cultural activities, we’d like to encourage our fellow riff worshippers to look ahead, towards a better existence. Our whole scene is under great pressure, and it’s more important than ever to support each other and to acknowledge the importance of the everyday shows, independent clubs, festivals, promoters, technicians and everything else surrounding what we love the most. Hopefully when October comes, the covid-19 pandemic has lost, and gatherings as our own Høstsabbat has been given the green light.

Speaking of green. GREEN LUNG has already been announced, so why not add Greenleaf to the party?

Yes, Greenleaf is coming!

These Swedish legends have become one of the biggest bands in the European stoner circuit, and it’s easy to grasp why. Even though it started out as “just” a side project by Tommi Holappa, at the time the key member of Dozer, their 20-year long history have seen the band climbing to the top, slowly but steadily. Their last two albums, both released by Napalm Records, marked their return with bells on, and proved their position as leaders of melodic fuzzed out stoner rock.

Their recent album “Hear the Rivers” interact with hard-hitting drums, groovy-as-hell riffs, topped with the epic melodies from the lungs of their new singer Arvid Hällagård. For a Swedish band of this size, we’re surprised they haven’t frequented Oslo more often.

For this year’s Høstsabbat it only adds to the quality though, and we are stoked to bring them to church.

Hail the leaf, hail Greenleaf!

TICKETS
http://bit.ly/hostsabbat2020

HØSTSABBAT 2020 SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
http://bit.ly/SFhostsabbat2020

NEWSLETTER
http://bit.ly/NLhostsabbat

Artwork: Trine Grimm Tattoo / Linda K Røed

https://www.facebook.com/events/431138574088425/
https://www.facebook.com/hostsabbat/
http://hostsabbat.no/