Posted in Whathaveyou on December 5th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I’m with Hoflärm on this one. After 24 years of writing out the full year all the time — it was worst in the aughts, admittedly, but I’m still more inclined to type 2024 instead of just ’24 — it’s time to admit that we’re probably talking about this century rather than the previous one when it comes to a festival announcing a lineup for, say, months in the future. So, as you can see on the poster below, Hoflärm ’25 is not only doing this, but doing it with a banger of a lineup to support its argument. Plus, my understanding is the fest has a pretty casual vibe anyhow — I’ve never heard a bad word about it from either anyone who has attended or played — so the ’25 fits. Wait until the ’40s.
Graveyard and Monolord at the top of the bill is a winning opening salvo from the German three-dayer, but that’s really just the tip of the riffberg, with Rezn and Elephant Tree, MaidaVale, The Warlocks and Mexico’s Vinnum Sabbathi taking part, Khan coming from Australia, Annie Taylor and her band from Switzerland, Spirit Mother making a return to Europe, Coltaine supporting their new album, plus Vug, Piece and Lurch and more to come. Nothing to complain about as they put tickets on sale for those who might be fortunate enough to make the trip from wherever. I expect a few of these will have tours around them — Khan, Spirit Mother, Rezn, Vinnum Sabbathi — so that will be worth keeping an eye on, but whatever shakes out in that regard, Hoflärm looks sweet as hell.
From social media, which was a thing back in the ’20s:
⚡️ Hoflärm 2025 – Satan‘s Finest ⚡️
The goat cult continues – First Bands + Presale Start 🪦
We thrilled to announce that we are back – 14. – 16.08.2025 – Tickets are now an sale. Link in Bio 🐐
Please welcome the first bands for 2025:
@graveyardmusic and @monolordofficial will headline Friday and Saturday of @hoflaerm 2025!
We are more than happy to welcome Monolord again after their cancellation in 2022!
We are proud to announce Graveyard as festival headliner! This band has been an elementary companion since the first idea for this festival.
@rezzzn , @elephant_tree_band and @pieceismetal are going to open the fields of doom!
@thewarlocks , @maidavaleband @khanbandofficial and @lurch.band are here to trip with you through the cosmic clouds above!
Shake your knees to @annietaylorband , @vug.band and @spiritmotherband while you walk through the dark woods around Hoflärm with @vinnumsabbathiband and @coltaine !
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The sadly-usual caveats that apply to everything circa 2021 — announcements, life, etc. — are of course in play here. Is DoomFarmFest 2021 going to happen? Well, I’m no viral expert — and that should probably be the end of the sentence, but it’s not — but it seems to me the fact that it’s in a barn, which is presumably a pretty well ventilated area, plus the fact that it’s in a kind of remote locale, means that you’ve got a likelier chance than something in a major urban center that’s perhaps about to come under lockdown scrutiny again. That doesn’t mean DoomFarmFest will, or can, or should be anything less than diligent in observing any and all local, national, international and — let’s face it — reasonable restrictions, I’m just saying we don’t know what those might be by the time the end of next month comes. Or next week, for that matter.
And anyway, if you’re getting either your information or your opinions on such things from my ass, shame on you.
But as I’ve said once or twice at this point, I’m choosing to err on the side of positivity. If that makes dumb in the face of cynicism-as-intelligence, then fine. I’ll be dumb.
2 days packed with concerts from dusk till dawn. Come join the harvest of the DOOMFARM in the wastelands of Brandenburg. The stage is in a huge barn on a ancient farm outside of Putlitz, Brandenburg.
After a season of enjoying riffs with our online eventson DoomFarmTV, the time of harvest has come to the farm of doom. 12 bands bringing you doom, psychedelic, black metal funeral doom, post-metal, stoner, sludge, bloodthirsty metal, dope doom bong metal, that will be a feast to your ears.
Fuzzy fields and distorted cows roam stoned through the meadows. After months of silence, our Post quarantined needy ears will rejoice to the drone of heavy riffs and growls through the night.
Free camping & shower. Food and bar will be there! We will be following all current and local hygiene requirements. To ensure the health of our crew and guests Everyone MUST bring a Negative test result or proof of vaccination, or convalescence. Stay doomed! Stay healthy!
Posted in audiObelisk on November 1st, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Canadian trio Empress and German foursome Piece are hitting the road together in Germany and the Czech Republic starting this weekend. The final show of the tour, Nov. 9 in Piece‘s hometown of Berlin, will mark the release of a split 12″ they’re sharing to mark the occasion. It’s heavy. And it’s metal. So what else to call it? The sense of severity doesn’t take long to grab the throat with Empress‘ tracks arranged as the initial assault, as though Piece were telling them “it’s okay, guests first.” Both bands conjure a decent sense of barrage, make no mistake, but there’s no lack of distinguishing character between them and they’re by no means chasing after the same goals. Empress, who call Vancouver, British Columbia, home, tap into Pacific Coastal extremity ever so slightly in “At Peace to Burn the Gathering,” and while I wouldn’t necessarily call the track subtle on any level if only for the inherent volume of its execution, the fact that in the first 90 seconds it goes from crashing sludge riffs to Cascadian-style black metal and then turns again to a kind of post-metallic atmosphere is not to be overlooked just for the fluidity for which it’s done.
“At Peace to Burn the Gathering” and the accompanying “Zwölf” are both well over six minutes long, so there’s plenty of time to flesh out such genre interplay, and Empress demonstrate that malleability plainly en route to the gradual deconstruction of the first cut and into the chug that begins “Zwölf,” which does well in bringing the varying sides together ahead of a midsection break to drum-pushed ambience that introduces clean vocals put to effective use as the full force of tone returns. Is it right to think of a two-song release having an apex? I don’t know, but it does, and like their first track, Empress gradually bring down “Zwölf” before Piece take hold with the suitably introductory “Oblivion.”
All told, the split is 27 minutes long, and that’s pretty evenly divided between Empress (a little shorter) and Piece (a little longer). While both bands should be noted for the flow they conjure during their time, Piece take the extra step of using “Oblivion” to set the stage for side B of the vinyl, which makes gives a glimpse at the tonal foundation and riffy grandstanding at play before “Blood Eagle” (no relation to the Conan album of the same name) gallops in with a marked, defining High on Fire influence. I mean, it’s prevalent, and Piece aren’t trying to hide it. Their black wings are blessed and their communion is with death. No complaints. Blown-out vocals help disassociate, and the ease with which they work their way into a slowdown later — still over double-kick drumming — helps them make an impression of their own before “Blood Eagle” ends cold and leads to the near-eight-minute “Primordial Void.”
A more distinctly sludged opening riff rolls out there during the initial couple minutes topped with echoing barks of vocals and pushed with a rhythmic fervency that foreshadows the gallop soon to resume. That conversation between tempos plays out again before “Primordial Void” opens up to a more spacious solo just past its halfway point, and though brief, it has the effect of adding a new context for the song, which is soon to hit into an even bigger slowdown that sneakily introduces the organ that will be the last remaining element after the final march recedes into residual amp noise and feedback.
Both acts released debut EPs in 2017, and each approaches their half of the outing with suitable intensity. The tour is eight shows — seven in Germany, one in the Czech Republic — and I expect by the end of it there will be a couple raw throats and a couple tired drummers, but there’s no way that Berlin gig won’t be a good time. You can stream the entire split below courtesy of SoulWrecked Records, which is handling the release, and see all the dates and more info thereafter.
Please enjoy:
SoulWrecked Records will be Putting out this release on November 2nd 2018 on Digital and 12” Vinyl formats. This will be Empress’s first time touring Europe.
Drawn by the call of Cthulhu, PIECE have created a concept EP that sounds more Bayou than Berlin, more Swamps than Spree and unlike anything else that made it out of a dusty rehearsal room in Germany?s capital city. Deeply rooted in the DIY Hardcore Punk scene, Piece prove that they are able to create a sound that resembles Crowbar or High On Fire and wanders far off the respective sub-genres of their members? previous or still active bands such as Demonwomb, Scarred Mind, Sleep Routine, Soulground, Trapjaw and Waterlvngs.
The three-headed beast EMPRESS from Vancouver, B.C. was born after guitarist/vocalist Peter Sacco (SEER) and drummer Chris Doyle attended a show headlined by doom mavens ELDER. Inspired by the massive wall of sound and psychedelia they encountered on that fateful night, the pair enlisted bassist Brenden Gunn (CRATERS) and set out to create their own brand of stoner/sludge metal. The trio, whose collective history dates back nearly a decade, went immediately to work. Within two months EMPRESS wrote and recorded the five tracks now collectively known as Reminiscence. With this debut EP, EMPRESS harvests a hybrid strain of monolithic groove, over-amped sludge and mutant prog.
