I think the advent of Desertfest in London and Berlin, subsequently in Belgium, once in Athens (and of course New York as well), is arguable as the best thing to happen to European heavy underground rock and roll in the 2010s. Set up with its two flagship editions each Spring, complemented by what was an outright stunning bill in Antwerpen this past Fall, Desertfest has helped shape the European touring circuit in ways that make shows possible that couldn’t otherwise happen, and Desertfest has become an epicenter around which releases and bands’ promotional plans are executed. It’s a place for new artists to emerge and headliners to reign. If you asked as much as Desertfest London 2025 is giving, you’d be overdoing it.

I haven’t been to Desertfest London since 2013 and I don’t expect the invite presumably because I’m a jerk and no one wants me around, but it’s been an honor to watch at a distance as this festival has become a landmark in each year of heavy. The full poster with day and venue splits follows here, and from Kind and Josiah at The Black Heart to Dopelord closing out the Underworld, to that entire Friday bill at Electric Ballroom eating your whole night, it’s a thing of beauty, I’m sure you’ll agree.

From the PR wire:

DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES STAGE SPLITS AND 14 FINAL ARTISTS FOR 2025

Friday 16th May – Sunday 18th May 2025

Weekend and Day Tickets on sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk

Desertfest London have released stage splits and announced a final round of artists, completing its diverse line up for the festival’s 2025 edition.

As Desertfest continues to celebrate all killer no filler independent heavy music, the festival has completed its 2025 line up with some formidable final additions that honour the current landscape of this subterranean scene.

Melbourne, Aus based distortion artist Divide & Dissolve will bring their ceiling-shaking soundscapes to Sunday’s Electric Ballroom, while Danish deathdoom quintet Konvent will open up affairs at Saturday’s Roundhouse.

Friday at The Underworld will see genre expansive Italian duo OvO bring their sinister sounds to London, before blackened sludge heroes Hexis celebrate their 15th anniversary alongside co-headliners, Norwegian noise-rock outlanders Årabrot.

Brighton doom beasts Sea Bastard make their long-overdue return to the Desertfest stage after 10 years. Elsewhere, The Black Heart will be buzzing with punk rock rebellion courtesy of Brazilian duo Yur Mum, while Canterbury doom devotees Famyne will close it out with their crushing riffs.

Desertfest London welcomes:
↠ DIVIDE AND DISSOLVE
↠ KONVENT
↠ HEXIS
↠ ARABROT
↠ FAMYNE
↠ CALLIGRAM
↠ OvO
↠ SEA BASTARD
↠ WALLOWING
↠ YUR MUM
↠ BILE CASTER
↠ OUTBACK
↠ OLD BLOOD
↠ INDICA BLUES

Weekend and Day Tickets can be found at: www.desertfest.co.uk

Desertfest London ↠ 16th -18th May 2025
Camden Town, London

http://www.desertscene.co.uk/support
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/
https://www.desertfest.co.uk/

Kind, Close Encounters (2023)

The Icelandic underground has a well-earned reputation for tight-knit variety. You might see different kinds of metal bands hanging out, sharing members and doing gigs in an inherently compact scene. ReykjaDoom Festival, the March 2024 inheritor of the annual Doomcember, looks this far like it will shape up to represent this stylistic diversity well and offer a heavy barrage in the process, with Denmark’s Konvent headlining and a slew of sludge, artsy black metal and so on accompanying in the thus-far-revealed lineup.

It’s worth noting (at least to me) that this is the first festival announcement I’m posting for 2024. Usually one thinks of September as the time the Spring season begins to reveal itself, but being slightly ahead of the April/May curve makes sense in light of the March 8 and 9 event dates. I’m going to do my best to keep up with the lineup for this one, as I’m interested to see how it turns out and the scope they end up with. Won’t be the last time you see me post about it, in other words. Maybe not even this week, as they note below more names are coming soon.

So then, to get caught up:

REYKJADOOM FESTIVAL 2024 – March 8 & 9

After four events under the name Doomcember, the organizers took the next step and announced ReykjaDoom, which specialises in bringing Doom metal acts to Iceland. The group consists of members of the Icelandic metal scene, with every member being involved with multiple acts over the years.

As Icelandic metal festivals started to appear, there was a need for a doom oriented one with appropriate outsiders given a chance to enhance the attendees. The emphasis was on bringing great doom metal bands to Iceland alongside the best of the local bands.

After four successful events which brought bands such as Conan, Slomatics, Saturnalia Temple and Mars Red Sky, it was time to make the events with even more ambitious expectations and overall aesthetics. Their first event under the new name is the instrumental doom metal band Bongripper, which will make their way to Iceland on the 26th of October.

Their next festival will be held on the 8th and 9th of march in Gaukurinn, downtown Reykjavík under the new name: ReykjaDoom Festival.

The bands so far announced represent Iceland achievements of mastering different genres. The post doom metal act of CXVIII, the synth infused progressive metal of Múr (which were recently signed with Doomstar Bookings), the psychedelic black metal band Altari, debut LP out earlier this year through Svart Records and the filthy sludgers of Kvelja. The first headliner is the Danish death doom metal band Konvent. Their reputation has been building greatly ever since their first album came out in 2020.

Tickets to each event:
www.tix.is/is/event/15762/bongripper-live-at-gaukurinn

https://www.midix.is/web/event/event_id/89

More will be announced in early August.

https://www.facebook.com/doomcember/
https://www.instagram.com/reykjadoom/
https://www.reykjadoom.com/

Konvent, Call Down the Sun (2022)