Posted in Whathaveyou on January 19th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
It was like two weeks ago that The Knights of Doom 2026 — the inaugural edition of a two-dayer put on by JB Matson and the crew from Maryland Doom Fest, which ended its decade-plus run in 2025 — announced the first names for its lineup. The full bill has been revealed since, and if you’re getting mini-MDDF vibes off the list of names, many of whom are veterans of past years, I don’t think that’s unfair, but there are some newcomers as well. And if you do some quick division on 35 bands over two days, you know that’s 17.5 per day — actually it’s 16 on June 20 and 19 on June 21; yes I had to count — so those days are probably going to start early, go late, and be jam-packed in a spirit that should be familiar to anyone who hit MDDF during its time.
You can see how this might go, right? Folks show up for the family reunion — and MDDF was very, very much that; a more loyal crew would be hard to find on the Eastern Seaboard if you even deigned to look — and bands get added. This year is two days. It’s got room to grow, and I don’t know if it will — on some level, these folks have been-there-done-that in terms of building a festival culture and vibe, let alone managing four days’ worth of logistics with 50-plus bands shuffling about — but this will be the starting point one way or the other. It can only happen first once, and with love and respect for many in that family from a little ways north, I hope it goes off without a hitch.
The announcements were made on social media:
💀KNIGHTS OF DOOM ‘26 final band dump / rosters / complete lineup!!!
Wolftooth, Vanishing Kids, Foghound, Crop, Moonsinger, Uga Buga, Clamfight, Sun Voyager, Locust Pointe, End of Age, Thunderbird Divine, Black Manta, Bog Wizard, Faith in Jane, Black Night, Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf
June 21:
Lie Heavy, Borracho, Stone Nomads, Curse the Son, Bloodshot, Stormtoker, Hovel, Mourn the Light, Thunder Horse, Kulvera, Born of Plagues, Dreadstar, Professor Emeritus, Strange Highways, Gravedigger’s Biscuits, Grave Next Door, Double Planet, Bleak Shore, Burn the Martyr
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
As per Halloween tradition, the venerable Maryland Doom Fest has posted its as-of-now-complete lineup for next year’s edition, and MDDF 2025 looks like a rager. Set to unfold its massive billing across June 19-22 in the riffy epicenter of Frederick, Maryland, the fest will highlight newcomers and established acts alike, as veteran outfits like The Skull and Apostle of Solitude, Hollow Leg, Curse the Son, and others make returning appearances and new incarnations like Legions of Doom, Ages and High Noon Kahuna feature familiar players in new contexts. Always cool to see bands like Thunderbird Divine and Spiral Grave doing the thing, and I’ll admit that my eyebrows went up when I saw Virginia’s Lord would be playing, as I’d yet to encounter word of a reunion from that most chaotic of sludge metal outfits. Sonolith and Demons My Friends and Sons of Arrakis and plenty of others will be traveling for it — Ogre! — so I would expect some tours to be forthcoming, and Sun Years, whose Nov. tour begins — wait for it — tomorrow, will feature.
It’s a family reunion you probably already have on your calendar, so don’t let me keep you from perusing the poster and getting stoked on what you find. From Crystal Spiders to B&O Railroad, there’s both a lot here and a lot here to like, and always more waiting to be discovered by those bold enough to show up to Cafe 611 early in the day. Check it out:
MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2025 – June 19-22, Frederick, MD
WE JOURNEY FROM THE HEAVY UNDERGROUND AND STAGES ACROSS THE WORLD TO ASSEMBLE IN FREDERICK, MARYLAND, FOR A JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF DOOM, GROOVE, AND THE ALMIGHTY RIFF.
JOIN US.
After such a magnificent 10th anniversary celebration of #4daysofdoom in 2024, which involved reorganizing and coordinating two stages in one venue (Cafe 611), we are beyond stoked to share The Maryland Doom Fest 2025 roster and marvelous promotional artwork.
The art design was created by one of our Maryland natives in the local music scene—Ben Proudman, the Frederick, MD-based master artist at Key City Tattoo (IG: @tattoosbyprdmn). Ben is also the drummer for the powerful bands Thonian Horde and Foehammer. Our very own Bill Kole (IG: @BillyDiablo) handled the color design and layouts again this year. He majestically brought this piece to life!
Explore the heavy musical talent of these bands and performers and be prepared for the nonstop riffage party in June! Talent beyond words!!! We can’t wait for our doom community to congregate next summer!!!
Time slots, ticket sales, stage rosters, sponsors, and vendors will be presented by year’s end. — 💀DooM💀
THE SKULL + PSYCHOTIC REACTION + APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE + LEGIONS OF DOOM + COMPRESSION + CRYSTAL SPIDERS + HIGH NOON KAHUNA + RED BEARD WALL + WITCHPIT + STRANGE HIGHWAYS + AGES + SUNYEARS + HOLLOW LEG
FUTURE PROJEKTOR + ALL YOUR SINS + SONOLITH + SPIRAL GRAVE + LORD + SABBATH WARLOCK + GALLOWGLAS + SONS OF ARRAKIS + CROP + HOVEL + OGRE + DREADSTAR + THUNDERBIRD DIVINE + WYNDRIDER + SUN MANTRA + KULVERA + STYGIAN CROWN + CURSE THE SON + BENTHIC REALM + HOLY ROLLER
BLOODSHOT + DUST PROPHET + VANISHING KIDS + BLOOD AND EARTH + FIGHT THE FOLD + DAYTRIPPER + B&O RAILROAD + BAILJACK + COKUS + NEW DAWNS FADE + COMA HOLE + FLORIST + ABEL BLOOD + SEASICK GLADIATOR + ENTIERRO + HEX ENGINE + DEMONS MY FRIENDS + ABOMINOG + VRSA + HIGH HORSE CALVARY
Wisconsin’s Vanishing Kids will release their fifth full-length, Heavy Dreamer, Nov. 30 on Svart Records. It’s been 15 years since vocalist/keyboardist Nikki Drohomyreky and guitarist Jason Hartman made their debut with Rest the Glove that Wears You Down and five since their fourth LP, Spirit Visions, but their history seems to cross genres as much as time, and where their last outing found them dug into post-rock airiness, Heavy Dreamer carries a deep-running gothic heft, with the melodic wisps filling out the mix of “Mockingbird” reminding that indeed it’s the season of October Rust while the 7:57 title-track, second in the playlist behind “Creation” and very much part of an immersion-minded opening salvo with it, pulls elements of new wave into its chorus and transposes them onto the organ-laced doom of the leadoff. Deeply progressive and marked by the patient, standout performance of Drohomyreky on vocals and the low rumble of bass from Jerry Sofran, Heavy Dreamer is nonetheless fluid as it moves through psychedelic pastoralia on “Without a Sun,” creating a wash of tone and melody held together by Hart Allan Miller‘s drumming and the foundation of Hartman‘s guitar. The music is consistently, persistently adventurous, and there’s nowhere it goes to which it does not bring a stately, engaging presence.
The effect of “Creation” and “Heavy Dreamer” at the outset lingers. The latter is particularly memorable for Drohomyreky‘s soulful delivery of the title-line, and together they comprise more than 15 of the record’s total 51 minutes, so it’s not an insubstantial portion. Their placement seems purposeful, as only the nodding-doom-into-holy-crap-where’d-that-solo-come-from “Reaper” on side B hits the seven-minute mark otherwise, but more than runtime it’s a question of atmosphere and setting the mood. And whatever else Heavy Dreamer is — it is many things, and I suspect many different things for different listeners — it is a work of mood. Caked in echo and begun with a flourish of synthesized beats, “Without a Sun” projects a massive but not overwrought vibe, and while side B opener “Eyes of Secrets” isn’t without its shoegazing aspects, the flow between the back and forth swells of volume atop Miller‘s steady beat are nigh on hypnotic, with a finish of harsher guitar noise as though to willfully shock the listener back to consciousness. Following “Reaper,” which encases the aforementioned guitar showcase with a memorable chorus, “Rainbows” eases into a vision of post-rock and psychedelic doom that gracefully brings the styles together in a manner that’s an immediate highlight. A drifting figure on guitar in its second half opens to a blurring of the line between itself and keys — it’s all melody, right? — and once more the vocals provide a human presence in the wash of volume and tone, albeit an otherworldly one.
There’s a late spoken sample in “Rainbows” that’s somewhat obscured by the guitar solo, but the penultimate track ends with poise and gives way to “Magnificent Magenta Blue” as it once more revives the melodic reach of the keys and guitar and the dynamic they share with the earthbound drums pushing them forward. Hartman, who’s also played in Jex Thoth since 2013, doesn’t waste the opportunity to cast out one last stretch of deceptively shredding leadwork, and the vibe of culmination is palpable as he does so, with Sofran and Miller rolling the finale through its procession as the vocals recede and wait to return for a last chorus. Always, the keys remain, and the organ is not only essential to Vanishing Kids‘ overall approach, but it’s the base around which they’re able to shift between styles with such apparent ease while remaining sonically coherent. They’re not the only element doing so at any given time between the vocals, guitar, bass and drums, but the keys do a lot of work in tying the songs together throughout Heavy Dreamer, and ultimately allow the record to live up to its title with an unflinching sense of its own mission, knowing what it wants to be and how to be it. Or them, as it were for material so multifaceted.
I’m happy today to host the premiere of “Reaper” from Heavy Dreamer. You’ll find the track below, followed by more info from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Vanishing Kids, “Reaper” official track premiere
Svart Records sets November 30th as the international release date for Vanishing Kids’ highly anticipated fourth album, Heavy Dreamer. The somnambulic doom metal group’s new album will be available on CD, vinyl LP, and digital formats.
Hailing from Wisconsin, Vanishing Kids has been an ever-evolving artistic and musical journey since the early 2000s, with core members and founders Jason Hartman (Jex Thoth) and Nikki Drohomyreky on vocals. As kids of the ’70s and ’80s who grew up on metal, prog rock, krautrock, psych, punk, and goth, they have managed to carve out a niche of their own for themselves.
The band’s newest and most powerful culmination arose when Jason Hartman’s childhood hero – and Midwest metal legend – Jerry Sofran (Lethal Heathen, Mirrored Image) joined in 2013. Shortly thereafter, the hard-hitting Hart Allan Miller (Wartorn, Deathwish, Tenement) joined on drums to complete the lineup.
Being the first full-length outing from Vanishing Kids in over five years, Heavy Dreamer is soaked in captivating shoegazey fuzz vaguely reminiscent of what My Bloody Valentine would sound like had they grown up on a diet of psychedelic doom metal and occult rock.
Tracklisting for Vanishing Kids’ Heavy Dreamer 1. Creation 2. Heavy Dreamer 3. Without A Sun 4. Mockingbird 5. Eyes of Secrets 6. Reaper 7. Rainbows 8. Magnetic Magenta Blue
Vanishing Kids is: Nikki Drohomyreky- Vocals, Organ, Synths, Percussion Jason Hartman- Guitar Jerry Sofran- Bass Hart Allan Miller- Drums
