Each year as soon as the Desertfest details are announced I find myself counting down the days until DF Friday is upon us! Not only does it always guarantee an excellent array of bands but also provides the opportunity to meet up with old friends and make new acquaintances over a beer or two!
This year’s line-up was maybe more eclectic than previous years, with the likes of Napalm Death, Puppy and Telepathy rubbing shoulders with bands such as Graveyard, Weedeater and Hawkwind. Whilst the afore-mentioned 3 bands are not your normal DF fodder they all put on superb performances and went down an absolute storm with the punters. Overall the line-up was once again superb and presented me with that age old problem of “what bands must I drag myself away from socialising to see!” Thankfully I managed to catch pretty much full sets from all the bands that I really could not miss (see reviews below) and also saw snippets of others.
The Desertscene London crew do an amazing job each year to put on the festival and provide what is a quite unique community atmosphere that I rarely experience at other music events. During the three days I witness drinking on a large scale (well it was boiling hot so what do you expect!!) but not one single spot of bother. Those who had maybe partaken too much were well dealt with and looked after at all times, which is a credit to all staff involved. So a huge well done to Reece, Sarika and everyone else involved for once again presenting us with an epic DF weekend. Anyway, on to the bands…….
The Desertfest Black Heart Hub 🖤
FRIDAY
Due to work commitments I didn’t manage to get to Camden on the Friday until about 6 and had to sink a few pints before wandering up to The Dev to see Tuskar. Having witnessed the Tuskar lads in full flow at the recent Local Fuzz gig at the Underworld I was more than looking forward to seeing them at DF. Once again they did not disappoint (I doubt they ever do!) and flattened the Dev stage with their 2 man assault. Tyler was once again in full “Animal” mode behind the drums, screaming his lungs out whilst his partner in crime Tom was thrashing away front stage cranking out riff after gloriously noisy riff. These guys manage to incorporate so many elements of metal into their sound (from sludge and doom to black metal influences), which coupled with their live spectacle keeps the crowd entranced at all times. Playing all of their debut ep “Arianrhod” (released by Riff Rock records) during their set, Tom and Tyler make a glorious racket that leaves everyone wanting more. Their next release cannot come soon enough!
Tuskar in full flow @ The Dev
As mentioned during my DF preview, I’d somehow never managed to see Warning live before and so was eagerly anticipating their set at the Electric Ballroom. If the rumours that were circulating are to be believed, this was the last Warning show on UK soil and, therefore, if this is the case, I felt privileged to have witnessed it. Playing the whole of their legendary “Watching From A Distance” album in its entirety, the 50 odd minutes that Warning were on stage were an emotional rollercoaster of pure doom majesty. From the opening chord of the title track to the closing crescendo of “Echoes”, this was one of the best sets that I’ve ever witnessed by any band! Grown men were surrendering to their inner emotions as they roared out the mournful lyrics whilst arm in arm with their comrades in doom – yes I’m talking about us Nick from Serpent Venom!! My favourite track on the album is “Footprints” and the version they played on this night was flawless in its execution, with Patrick Walker’s unique vocals in particular standing out. This truly was an epic set of doom classics and I really hope it’s not the last time that I’ll get to see this legendary band.
The legendary Warning
As soon as Warning had finished I was straight up to the Dev to catch Dopelord. By the time I arrived the Dev was full to capacity and pretty much resembled a sweatbox complete with dripping walls! Poland’s kings of stoner/doom were on magnificent form as they bludgeoned their way through most of 2017’s superb “Children of the Haze” album. Stand out tracks for me were the title track itself and album closer “Reptile Sun”, which had the intoxicated crowd singling along and punching the air in joyful unison. This was pretty much the perfect way to end day one of DF 2018 and set the foundations nicely for the weekend ahead.
Dopelord
SATURDAY
Saturday was once again a scorcher! As soon as I arrived in Camden I headed straight to the Underworld to catch brilliant Londoners Puppy. Having seen these 3 guys a couple of times before I was keen to see how they’d progressed and hear new material. I entered the sweaty confines of the Underworld to the glorious sound of “Entombed” (first track on their Vol 2 ep and the track that got me hooked on the band!), with its catchy as hell riffs and vocals. It was apparent that hangovers were being well and truly exorcised as the sizable early afternoon crowd lost their collective shit to the likes of the beautiful “Arabella” and the Weezer-tastic “Forever”. A couple of new tracks were aired, including “Demons”, which I recall sounded great and had a staccato style riff that reminded me a bit of Helmet, which is not a bad thing at all! What a great way to start day 2 of DF 2018!
Puppy
Lewis from the superb Morag Tong insisted that I join him at the Electric Ballroom to see Tokyo’s Church of Misery and boy am I glad I went! As with Warning, I’d also not seen CoM before so wasn’t sure what to expect. The Ballroom was packed to the rafters and heat levels were most definitely rising as CoM hit the stage. As has no doubt been said many times before, whilst CoM definitely worship at the altar of the mighty Black Sabbath, they also inject their own style and personality into their songs and performance. Bass player Tatsu Mikami plays his bass slung low round his knees and supplies a thunderous groove for the rest of the band to follow. Playing a set that covered their whole serial killer obsessed back catalogue, the stand out tracks were undoubtedly Candyman (Dean Corll) and Brother Bishop (Gary Heidnik), which left the crowd with huge doom inspired grins on their faces.
Church of Misery
Telepathy released one of the albums of 2017 in the shape of “Tempest” so I was eager to get to the Dev early to secure a good view. What was to follow for the next hour or so was one of the best sets of the weekend. Telepathy have a knack of mixing up huge riffing sonic landscapes with beautiful melodic passages that transfixes the listener into a trance like state. Seeing all three guitarists lunging forward at the front of the stage in time to the music is a sight to behold and the feverish crowd follow in kind. Playing pretty much all of the tracks from “Tempest” (maybe all of them!!), the likes of “Smoke From Distant Fires” and “Hiraeth” sound huge in the live environment and prove that Telepathy should most definitely be playing much bigger venues in years to come. New material from these guys cannot come soon enough and I wait in anticipation to see what this will bring!
The superb Telepathy
Is there a better way to finish day 2 of DF 2018 other than witnessing the legends that are High on Fire destroy the Electric Ballroom? I very much doubt it! This date was part of HoF’s 20th anniversary tour so we’re treated to a great selection of songs from the bands illustrious back catalogue, which the rowdy, (mostly) drunken crowd lap up in spades. A topless (does he ever wear a shirt on stage??) Matt Pike leads the way in style, firing out riff after huge riff, whilst Des Kensel and Jeff Matz provide the thunderous back beat to the ensuing maelstrom. “Blessed Black Wings” and “Snakes For The Divine” are my 2 favourite HoF albums so to hear the likes of “Sons of Thunder” and the two title tracks played with such vigour made my day and rounded of the day in a superb manner!
High on Fire
SUNDAY
It’s a Sunday scorcher at Desertfest as the temperature continues to rise even further! First port of call is the Roundhouse to meet up with friends and have a beer in the glorious sun before the mighty Monolord take to the stage.
Having just completed a European tour with BLS, it’s immediately apparent that Monolord’s already superb live performance has been honed even further. Kicking off with “Where Death Meets The Sea” from latest album “Rust”, the Swedish Trio of Thomas, Mika and Esben kick straight into gear and have heads nodding along appreciatively in the crowd. The only minor quibble is that the volume is pretty low, but this does not distract from the great performance of the band. Monolord sure look at home on a large venue stage and are clearly enjoying themselves as they rattle through “Lord of Suffering “ and instrumental track “Audhumbla”. Thomas cranks out an amazing solo during second last track “Rust” before Monolord wrap up proceedings with a great elongated jammed out version “Empress Rising”, which leaves the crowd wanting more that the allocated 45 mins. Awesome stuff guys!
The Mighty Monolord
As was the case back in 2016, Elder follow Monolord on the main stage on the Sunday of DF and once again pull out all the stops to produce a stunning performance. With a backdrop of various multi-coloured psychedelic effects throughout, the four piece air three tracks from their recent album of the year “Reflections of a Floating World” in the shape of “Sanctuary”, “Blind” and “The Falling Veil”. The addition of second guitarist/keyboard player Mike Risberg has definitely helped to flesh out their live sound and enable vocalist Nick di Salvo to concentrate more on his own exquisite guitar playing. This is most evident during “Compendium” from the superb “Lore” album, which definitely seems to have a new lease of life and has the ever growing crowd entranced throughout. Finishing up with “Gemini” from classic second album “Dead Roots Stirring” is a great way to end their set and leaves the crowd already looking forward to their next UK tour in October.
The incredible Elder
I bid farewell to the Roundhouse and move back down to the Hub at the Black Heart to have a few more beers and catch Blackwulf, Kind and King Buffalo.
I only discovered Oakland’s Blackwulf a couple of weeks before DF (thanks Spotify!) and was keen to see how their good time stoner rock would come across on stage. Thankfully the answer was very well, as the four piece put on a great show and had a whale of a time on the BH stage. Singer Alex Cunningham has a great set of lungs on him (reminding me of the late great Chris Cornell at times) and guitarist Pete Holmes was clearly having the time of his life, spending a great deal of time atop the floor monitor encouraging the crowd. Drawing mainly from latest release “Sinister Sides” Blackwulf are most definitely a band to keep an eye on.
Blackwulf
Ever since the release of their debut album “Rocket Science in 2015 I’d been looking forward to seeing Kind play live so was delighted when they were announced for DF18. Somewhat of a supergroup of sorts (featuring Matt Couto from Elder plus members from Black Pyramid, Roadsaw and Rozamov), Kind proved that the wait was worthwhile with a superbly energetic performance that had the capacity BH crowd eating out of their hands. Playing 6 tracks from Rocket Science including the brilliant “Pastrami Blaster”, “Hordeolum” and Grogan”, Kind were on top form tonight. Finishing their set with the 9 plus minute epic “The Angry Undertaker” was the perfect way to end a simply superb performance. I was assured after that there is new material on the way, which we’ll all be eager to hear and hopefully see played live in the UK in the near future.
The awesome Kind
Rochester, New York’s King Buffalo finish proceedings in fine style at the BH with their superb heavy psych sounds. By this stage the BH is rammed to capacity, a total sweat box and people are queuing to get in! I first experienced KB when they supported Elder in the UK and ever since have been addicted to their superb debut album “Orion”. Follow-up EP “Repeater” expands their sound further and their set at the BH is one of the highlights of the weekend. Hearing the 13 minute track “Repeater” played live was a total privilege as it built up and up to THAT riff that had every head in the crowd nodding along in approval. Other highlights of their set included “Centurion”, Sleeps on a Vine” and “Orion”, which are all played with a huge amount of feeling and vigour by this amazing 3 piece. What a way to conclude DF 18!
King Buffalo
Jules Throne 