Bloodstock Adds Six New Bands and New Charity Partner!


 

Bloodstock Open Air 2020 continues to pile on the big names with six new acts added to the lineup! Savage Master, Blasphemer, Liberty Lies, Black Tongue, Pist, and Sharks In Your Mouth have joined a bill that includes headliners Devin Townsend (Friday), Behemoth (Saturday), and Judas Priest (Sunday) as well as Hatebreed, Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, Skindred, Paradise Lost, Life Of Agony, Bury Tomorrow, Black Dahlia Murder, Diamond Head, Jinjer, Vio-Lence, Sacred Reich, Gloryhammer, Dark Tranquillity, Bloodywood and more! The fest also named this year’s charity partner will be the mental health charity Mind. Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem, and campaign to improve services and raise awareness. 1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health problem every year and Mind won’t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both support and respect. In addition to guestlist donations, raising funds on behalf of Mind on site at BLOODSTOCK will be festival attendee Michael Lacy, with his Patch Amnesty initiative. Bring your old, spare, or new patches to donate, browse patches to buy, or even just stop by for a chat. All proceeds go to Mind. Please look out for Patch Amnesty/Mind signage and stop by his stand in the main arena to give your support. Continue reading


Desertfest London 2019: Live At Various Venues


It’s spring bank holiday in the UK, which can mean only one thing; a long weekend of headbanging in London’s dingiest venues. 2019 marks the eighth edition of London’s Desertfest; a festival dedicated to the slow, the slower, and the heavy. With a healthy dose of bong and Satan worship thrown in for good measure. Continue reading


FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Desertfest London 2019


 

Desertfest London kicks off for their eighth edition today, taking place all weekend from 3rd May – 5th May 2019 in Camden, London UK. Tickets are still available at the link below. The fest is headed up by immense talents such as Om, Amenra, Fu Manchu, Electric Citizen, Black Tusk, Mondo Generator, Wovenhand, High Reeper, Kadavar, All Them Witches, The Skull and more! Get ready with our day by day list of must-see bands! Continue reading


Desertfest Announces Final Bands, Stage Times


Desertfest London is around the corner with just a month to go before the eighth edition. The fest had added the final dozen bands including an entire stage takeover from the incredible Black Deer festival! Their Sunday curation stage welcomes The Devonshire Arms, The Vanguards, The Fargo Railroad Co., The Southern Companion, The Outlaw Orchestra and more have been added such as Whoremoan, Cities of Mars, Orbital Junction, Drore, Årabrot, Vokonis, The Great Machine, and Wren. Desertfest takes over London 3rd May – 5th May 2019 | Camden, London UK. Tickets available at the link below. Continue reading


Desertfest London 2018: Live At Various Venues


 

It’s the May Day bank holiday in London, which can only mean one thing; Deserfest! A weekend of avoiding the sun in the darkest and dingiest venues across Camden Town, listening to the darkest and dingiest stoner and doom music. Continue reading


FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Desertfest London Kicks Off Today


London’s annual three-day festival to tune in, turn on and drop out: Desertfest is back this weekend. Ghost Cult will be on hand once again covering the fest which features headliners High On Fire, Graveyard, Warning, Eyehategod, Napalm Death, Weedeater, The Obsessed, Hawkwind, Church of Misery, Death Alley, Kind and more! We thought we would help all you heshers and hesherettes out with a fest preview of all the must-see bands, all the stage times, and other essential shit, which will give you all more time to find snacks, snake brews and find your missing rolling papers. They are in your hand, dude. Dig? Cool. Continue reading


Desertfest UK Adds High On Fire As Final Headliner, The Obsessed, Church Of Misery, Death Alley And More Added To Lineup


 

High on Fire, by Hillarie Jaosn

Desertfest has named High On Fire as the final headliner to their 2018 UK festival. They have also added eleven more bands to the bill including The Obsessed, Church Of Misery, Death Alley, Ackercoke, and more. The fest takes place 4th – 6th May 2018, at various venues in Camden, London UK.Continue reading


FESTIVAL REVIEW: NOIZ All-Dayer Live at Rebellion, Manchester UK


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He was so deeply huddled under a blanket that it took a while to locate the source of the voice hollering my name. Eytan Wineapple, curator of the rumbling beast that was the NOIZ All-Dayer, initially celebrated its second incarnation looking like death warmed up. After a long couple of days, with Wineapple escorting eventual headliners Dukatalon to Sheffield and back, they eventually bedded down in today’s venue. “They got here around 3 a.m., and I tucked them all in!” joked Rebellion manager and event collaborator Hayley. Five minutes later, the flat-capped Wineapple was bounding around like a madman: putting to serious shame Ghost Cult’s scribe who, twelve hours later, and still nearly three hours from the denouement, interviewed said host in a rather weary and addled fashion…

NOIZ is not your average festival. Displays of album-style art and guitars in various stages of completion (one of which is raffled off later in the day) stand beside the S.O.P.H.I.E. merch stall in the upper level of the club-style venue. A dedicated handful, meanwhile, witness the pulverising Industria of openers Khost: looking for all the world like a couple of local scallies bumbling about on a stage, yet laying waste with a mystical power which deserved a better slot and much more attention. The Birmingham duo’s ambient, crushing set, its implosive chords and guttural scours blending with a wonderful and passionate line in Middle-Eastern vocal samples, ended bang on time: a courtesy that some of the festival’s other performers could have tried harder to match.

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Weedeater – King Parrot – Tombstones: Sound Control, Manchester


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Nothing like a sunny day to visit the bowels of the basement of Sound Control for some grimy sludge and hardcore from a bunch of miscreants. First up today at the ungodly early hour of 4:30 PM are Bury’s own Pist who impress early on with their mixture of Eyehategod swagger and Mancunian grit. Guitarist John Nicholson churns out slabs of metallic blues while David Lee Rowlands shrieks manage to shake up the early goers.

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Unfortunately Siege Mentality completely fail to capitalise on Pist’s momentum. The ex-Iron Witch mob trade in generic hardcore punk with plenty of spit but no polish. The quintet’s interchangeable throwaway compositions all follow the well-worn post Discharge hardcore punk template and are forgotten straight after they are aired.

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Thankfully Tombstones get us back on track. Sticking to the tune low and play slow ethos the Norwegians win the audience back with their primordial slabs of noise ‘King Of Daze’ and a storming cover of Melvins classic ‘The Bit’ which have the audience eating out of their hands.

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King Parrot are aptly named because they have plenty of squawk but so little of substance. Their performance ignites a decent size pit but the irritating screeching of vocalist Youngy is greatly off putting, as is his moronic stage banter and insistence on soaking the first couple of rows with water. Their warp speed racket sounds allows some to get their mosh on but the band come across as sexually repressed Neanderthals’ with no memorable songs to speak of.

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Weedeater do not fuck around. These deranged Louisiana rednecks slam into their set with a frightening vigour. Dave “Dixie” Collins is a cross-eyed lunatic screeching out his lyrics while drummer Travis Owen slams his kit tossing his sticks around and kicks his high hat all while continuing to play without missing a beat. Numbers like ‘Weed Monkeys’ are impossible to resist such is their reckless delivery and visceral delivery. These trailer park titans came to throw down and impress with a watertight set of potent sonic hits which leaves the audience deliriously happy and hungry for another fix.

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WORDS BY ROSS BAKER

PHOTOS BY SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS