There are two parts to the news here. The first is most of the lineup for Rocky Mountain Riff Fest 2026 proper. With one headliner still to be announced, this year’s edition of the all-dayer festival is set for April 18 in Kalispell, Montana, and features Lung, Ealdor Bealu (new LP this summer), Pegzilla (new LP sooner than that), Merlock and more, and a pre-show the night before. Of those announced, Free Drugs, Surfbat, Mother Root, Superplex and Swamp Ritual (the latter three of whom comprise the pre-show) featured in 2025, while Schticky were there in 2022 and Merlock in 2023 and 2024.

What does this tell you? That a community has developed around the festival with these bands (and others: thinking Wizzerd and The Gray Goo specifically), and that leads to the second part of the news. Beginning April 15, Rocky Mountain Riff Fest will be hosting Road to Riff Fest showcases in five cities — Portland, OR; Shoreline, WA; Boise, ID; Moscow, ID; Bozeman, MT — put together in collaboration with bands and artists from the towns in question, highlighting a deeper look into the regional underground and its denizens and leading up to the festival itself.

As ideas go, it’s a rad one. More info is below, as per the PR wire:

Rocky Mountain Riff Fest 2026

We are beyond stoked to share this year’s lineup! Ten bands from the PNW and beyond, and from right here at home, gathered in the Flathead Valley in the great name of Riff. Praise Iommi.

Presale tickets will be available at Wheaton’s and Photo Video Plus in Kalispell, and entry available at the door as per usual – be sure not to miss out on the year’s most epic party of riffs hosted at the Eagles in downtown Kalispell.

Artwork by the phenomenal @impillustration

Lineup:

Lung
Ealdor Bealu
Pegzilla
Merlock
LáGoon
Continuum
Surfbat
Schticky
Free Drugs
Onion Milk

Pre-Party April 17:
Mother Root
Swamp Ritual
Superplex

SEE YOU IN APRIL

Road to Riff Fest PNW Showcases

Road to Riff Fest: Portland, hosted by Anthony Gaglia of LáGoon. Featuring Lung, LáGoon, Sorcia, and Lesser Demons at High Water Mark.

Road to Riff Fest: Boise, hosted by Carson Russell of Ealdor Bealu. Featuring Pegzilla, Ealdor Bealu, and Dirt Russell at Neurolux.

Road to Riff Fest: Shoreline, hosted by Jessica Brasch of Sorcia. Featuring Lung, Sorcia, Merlock, and Mother Root at Darrell’s Tavern.

Road to Riff Fest: Bozeman, hosted by Tim Bowers of Scavenger. Featuring Pegzilla, Ealdor Bealu, Continuum, and Scavenger at the Labor Temple.

Road to Riff Fest: Moscow, hosted by Taylor D Waring of Merlock. Featuring Lung, LáGoon, Sorcia, and Merlock at the Moose Lodge.

https://www.instagram.com/rockymtnrifffest/
https://www.facebook.com/blackmagickbooking

LáGoon, “You Tried (You Failed)”

Spoiler alert: it’s rad.

Admittedly, that was the case in August, when this year’s Rain City Doom Fest — set for Dec. 12-13 in Seattle, Washington — made its initial announcement, with Acid King and Ragana and Merlock and sundry others confirmed at that time. But more of a good thing is a better thing, and with the complete picture of how those two days will look, it’s not hard to imagine seeing the bill and wanting to make the trip. Wherever you might be traveling from, from Mizmor to Kadabra, Hippie Death Cult, Sorcia, Sun Crow, Serial Hawk, Glasghote, Ragana and the relocated-from-the-desert Red Mesa, you’ll not be likely to find a richer sampling of the Pacific Northwest’s native underground — plus Acid King and Electric Citizen, from CA and Ohio, respectively — and if you wanted to cap the utter awfulness of 2025 with something decidedly less than awful, well, here you go.

To answer the question no one asked, no, I’m not likely to be there, but it still makes for a welcome escapist daydream for my afternoon, and for that I’m grateful. I’m not sure it needs to be said, but the below comes from social media, and I’ve left the atsign profile tags intact in case you’re on your phone and can use them to magically transport yourself to the bands’ pages or whatever. I assure you, I have no clue how any of that works, on the rare occasion it does. Killer bill, regardless.

Check it:

RAIN CITY DOOM FEST 2025 – Full line-up officially announced!

Ticket link: https://app.opendate.io/e/rain-city-doom-fest-december-12-2025-625223

@raincitydoomfest
December 12 + 13 at @elcorazonseattle / @funhouseseattle
2 stages | 18 bands | 2 nights of DOOM
2-day passes (limited) and single day tix on sale NOW! 🎟️🔗 in bio

@acidkingrocks
@raganaofficial
@whollydoomedblackmetal
@electriccitizenband
@tithe.pdx
@hippiedeathcultband
@kadabra_band
@serialhawk
@reburied_death
@sorciaband
@sun.crow.rock.heavy
@glasghote_pdx
@mother_root
@redmesaband
@merlocklives
@heldscalla_band
@ravine.pdx

Also, a very special Ozzy tribute set by Wizards of Oz feat. members of @witch_ripper, @un.vibes, @filthiseternal and @girlsnfnroses

Presented by @metalshopkisw_
Poster by @_brainkim

https://wl.eventim.us/event/rain-city-doom-fest-2025/660391?afflky=ElCorazon
https://www.instagram.com/raincitydoomfest/

Ragana, Desolation’s Flower (2025)

Acid King, Live at Desertfest Belgium, Oct. 19, 2025

If you look at the poster for the Sorcia and Mother Root tour that will take both bands from their shared home state of Washington to Montana for Rocky Mountain Riff Fest 2025, you’ll see the scaly snakey-snake that the boogie van is driving on — awesome, by the way — is on-point with the poster art for that same festival. I don’t know if there’s a corresponding tour for the other side of that poster — that is, if it might a triptych, ultimately — but that’d be rad and I’ll for sure keep an eye out. It’s a killer design either way.

That lineup, for Rocky Mountain Riff Fest in Kalispell, MT, also features Kadabra, Wizzerd and Swamp Ritual, among others, and it reads like a damn good time. I’m not trying to discount the series of club shows that will lead to Mother Root and Sorcia taking part, however. The tour runs eight nights in a row and dips as far south as Las Vegas, so for two bands who could just probably cut east for however many hours and get where they’re going, they’re making a genuine loop of it.

Both bands had records out in ’23, and you’ll find them below. Safe travels and good times wished to all involved parties, who collectively sent the following down the PR wire:

Sorcia & Mother Root – The Road to Riff Fest

Says Sorcia: “We are thrilled to announce our ‘Road To Riff Fest Tour’ with our good friends and fellow Snoqualmie Valley dwellers Mother Root as we make our way to Kalispell, MT for Rocky Mountain Riff Fest! We are looking forward to getting back out on the road and are very excited that the majority of this tour will be places we have not yet played. Cheers to Wizzerd for putting this amazing fest together and to Isaac M Passwater for killing it on the poster art. See you on the road in April!”

Says Mother Root: “In April 2025, we’re hopping in the van for our Road to Riff Fest tour with our longtime friends, Sorcia! This tour will take us through new cities, a few new states, and give us the chance to meet some amazing new people along the way. The journey will culminate at the legendary Rocky Mountain Riff Fest in Kalispell, MT- an event that’s been on our radar for a while. We’re honored and beyond thankful to be able to play it! If we’re nearby, we’d love to see you at the show so come say hi! See you soon!”

4/11 – Bend, OR @ Silver Moon Brewing
4/12 – Eureka, CA @ Siren’s Song Tavern
4/13 – Reno, NV @ Lobar Social
4/14 – Las Vegas, NV @ Griffin Bar
4/15 – Grand Junction, CO @ Copeka
4/16 – Denver, CO @ HQ
4/17 – Rapid City, SD @ AFL-CIO Labor Hall
4/18 – Bozeman, MT @ Gallatin Labor Temple
4/19 – Kalispell, MT @ Rocky Mountain Riff Fest

Mother Root photo by Sara Michelle @saramich3lle and Sorcia photo by Jesse Brasch @jessebrasch. Poster by Isaac M. Passwater.

https://sorciaband.com
https://sorcia.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/sorciaband
https://www.facebook.com/sorciaband
https://linktr.ee/sorciaband

https://motherroot.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/mother_root
https://www.facebook.com/MotherRootmusic
https://linktr.ee/mother_root

Sorcia, Lost Season (2023)

Mother Root, Clamour of Souls (2023)

Here comes the full lineup for Rocky Mountain Riff Fest 2025, fresh off the social media hellscape and set to take place April 19 in Kalispell, Montana, as per tradition. This is the sixth edition of the all-dayer fest (plus a pre-party the night before), which brings Kadabra and Sorcia to town as headliners with support from local spearheads Wizzerd, as well as Mother Root, Doomboyz, Cruel Velvet, Scavenger, Swamp Ritual, Surfbat, Loin Hammer and Superplex. No word on if Superplex sound anything like Suplecs, only, you know, more. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Of the confirmations, at least Sorcia, Loin Hammer, Swamp Ritual, Wizzerd and Surfbat have featured on past Rocky Mountain Riff Fest editions, which tells you there’s a family developing. The only band on this bill I’ve ever seen is Kadabra, and I’ll gladly confirm that they’re something you want to check out when the opportunity presents itself, and certainly other names ring familiar, whether it’s Mother Root or Wizzerd (who had two records out last year) or Sorcia, who also have their own affiliated festival in Washington. Must be nice.

I don’t for one second imagine I’ll be there to see it, but Rocky Mountain Riff Fest has grown over the last few years into its own thing. It’s never struck me as wanting to be huge or some mega-event. It’s an all-dayer with good bands, likely good friends and good times. I like fests with 100,000 people as much as the next guy — so long as the next guy’s also crippled by anxiety in that kind of crowd — but this is more of a hometown showcase for locals and others coming in. Maybe one of these years I’ll get there too. If this is your year, right on.

Here’s info:

FULL LINEUP IS HERE

SEE YOU IN APRIL!

Art by @impillustration

•
@kadabra_band
Sorcia
Wizzerd
Mother Root
Doomboyz
Cruel Velvet
Scavenger MT
Swamp Ritual
@surfbatband
Loin Hammer
@superplexrulez
–
Children of Atom
The Lucitones
@freedrugsusa

https://www.facebook.com/blackmagickbooking
https://www.instagram.com/rockymtnrifffest/

Kadabra, Umbra (2023)

Sorcia, Lost Season (2023)

First of all, this lineup is pretty badass. This year’s Rain City Doom Fest was originally billed as the release show for the new Year of the Cobra LP, but my understanding is the album has been delayed. It’s great, keep an ear out for it. In any case, the Seattle two-piece are still playing, alongside Bell Witch, who’ll headline in their particular morose, crawling, consuming fashion, and The Well, who will trek up from Austin as they do from time to time, presumably to remind everybody in attendance how fucking underrated they are. Those three alone make it quite an evening.

Those three also rest at and near the top of a 10-band bill with Ape Machine, Sorcia, Sun Crow and others showcasing from Washington/the Pacific Northwest, and the uniting factor is heavy as two stages play out over the course of one packed evening. This is the fourth year of the fest — I thought it was five, but I recall being very wrong about that last year — and it’s set for Dec. 14 at El Corazon and Funhouse. I don’t anticipate being in that part of the world at the , but it would be one to see if you are.

The PR wire has details:

Rain City Doom Fest announces lineup for this years festival in Seattle on December 14th!!

2 stages, 10 bands, One night of Doom.

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY 8/30!
https://wl.seetickets.us/event/bell-witch/616791?afflky=ElCorazon

Rain City Doom Fest 2024 will be held at El Corazon/Funhouse in Seattle on December 14. This is the 4th year of this annual festival that showcases heavy music of the PNW and beyond. This year’s lineup will include some of the Seattle areas most esteemed active doom bands including Bell Witch, and Year of the Cobra who will be making this show their album release party. The festival is also pleased to welcome The Well as special guests from Austin, TX.

For more than a decade, Bell Witch have sent tides surging over the seawalls of the song form, unraveling conventional expectations about the ways music stations itself in time to absorb a listener’s attention.

Dynamic duo Amy and Jon Barrysmith make up the doom-y twosome that is Year of the Cobra, a Seattle-based sludge metal band. Moaning vocals accent what reeks of Black Sabbath coming back through a long, dark tunnel. The rippling hums of Amy’s ever-expanding bassy tones are complimented by the dynamics in Jon’s drumming, shifting effortless from laid back grooves to pushing, driving climaxes. Amy’s easy voice over Jon’s steady splashing lulls you in, only to hit you with the surprise, brutal left-hook!

A heavy psych rock/proto-metal power trio based out of Austin, Texas, The Well’s lethal blend of knotty prog, punk, and bluesy doom rock invokes names like Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sleep, and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. Citing a desire “to blend different musical styles as diversified as Joy Division to Blue Cheer”, the band, which consists of Ian Graham, Lisa Alley, and Jason Sullivan, came together in 2012 out of a shared love for extreme music, cult horror films, and dark mysticism.

Completing this incredible lineup are some of Pacific North West’s finest doom bands. Each bringing their unique twist on the genre:

Witch Ripper

Washington’s WITCH RIPPER have seamlessly welded together the contemporary heaviness of such hard-hitting acts as MASTODON, GOJIRA, and BARONESS with the anthemic bombast of classic artists in the vein of QUEEN and DAVID BOWIE from the start.

Slow Goat

Gamy riffs cut from the flank of the Pacific Northwest

Ape Machine

The name APE MACHINE is a nod to the days of reel-to-reel magnetic tape audio recording; a fitting moniker for the heavy-hitting quartet as the band plays through vintage tube amplifiers and lays down its songs using exclusively throwback quality studio equipment.

Sorcia

SORCIA hails from the Snoqualmie Valley in the backwoods of Seattle, Washington. Combining blues-laden groovy riffs, heavy doom and raw grunge with the added dynamic of dual vocals, they deliver their own method of Pacific Northwest stoner sludge metal.

Sun Crow

Rain-soaked doom blues, moss-covered stoner rock, grey sky heavy psych, whatever they call it, SUN CROW summons the old spirits of high volume heavy rock into close quarters and paints the ceiling and walls with magnets, wood, and glass.

Melancholia

True to its name, MELANCHOLIA explores dread and anguish in all of its malformed glory through the lenses of crushing doom/sludge, ferocious black metal/death metal and raw, primitive crust punk.

Mother Root

Two brothers making noise in the backwoods of the Snoqualmie Valley.

https://wl.seetickets.us/event/bell-witch/616791?afflky=ElCorazon
https://www.instagram.com/raincitydoomfest

Bell Witch, Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate (2023)

An all-dayer set for Saturday, Dec. 16, at El Corazon and Funhouse in Seattle, Washington, Rain City Doom Fest was announced late last week by the bands. There are eight of those, which is probably plenty, considering you’ve got Matt Pike bringing his Pike vs. the Automaton solo band through with direct support from Witch Ripper and Mos Generator. Un, Sorcia, Sun Crow, Grim Earth and Mother Root round out, and if you know all of those bands or you don’t — Sorcia in July put out a record called Lost Season (review here); Witch Ripper gleaned fervent hyperbole around their The Flight After the Fall (review here) this Spring; Sun Crow are working toward their next LP; the list goes on — but if I’ve earned any trust in the last 14 years, I hope maybe you’ll take my word for it when I say it’s a solid lineup between established and newer acts, and that I hope it continues to be a regular thing.

Because a homegrown heavy fest isn’t anything to sneeze at and it’s not easy to put together, learning many invariably crucial lessons the only way they can be learned: by doing the thing. I didn’t know it when I first posted the lineup, but Jessica Brasch of Sorcia books this one and it’s been going for three years. This is the first time it will be at two venues — I think — and it remains a killer bill.

Have at it:

El Corazon & The Funhouse present:

RAIN CITY DOOM FEST 2023

2 stages, 8 bands. Showcasing some of the heaviest music in the PNW and beyond.

Pike Vs The Automaton
Witch Ripper
Mos Generator
Un
Sorcia
Sun Crow
Grim Earth
Mother Root

Saturday, Dec. 16

Doors @ 6pm | Show @ 7pm
$20 ADV | $25 DOS | 21+

(#127903#)️ on sale Friday 10/13 at 9am

Poster: Brian Kim

Event page: https://facebook.com/events/s/rain-city-doom-fest-2023/1021960045617875/

Sorcia, Lost Season (2023)

This show’s actually really cool. A couple weeks ago I put up a post on Thee Facebooks asking for recommendations of young heavy bands, and by young I meant under 30. I’ve felt like it’s a lot of dudes who look like me: headed to or past 40, grey in the beard, showing more hairline and gut than they’d probably prefer. Anyway, I got a ton of awesome suggestions from people and decided to put together this whole show based on those suggestions. You’ll see there are groups from all over the US and Europe, plus Nor from Nova Scotia, which I particularly dug, and there are a range of styles covered as well from straight up heavy rock to sludge to post-metal and jams.

And I’d love to talk more about how great that is and how wonderful it is that even in these shit-tastic, things-are-only-getting-worse-every-single-day, times in which we live creativity can flourish among disaffected youth — gotta have something when you’re about to enter an even worse job market than I did — but I can’t talk about any of it. Because the dog is whining in the kitchen and all I can think about is how fucking obnoxious she is. Can’t stand this fucking dog.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show.

The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com

Full playlist:

The Obelisk Show – 09.18.20

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 2 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

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