It might be the closing day of this year’s best festival for stoner, doom & rock but Desertfest might have just saved some of the best until last.
Opening up Dingwalls is the powerhouse Silverburn. I was lucky to catch their set on the last Crowbar tour & they blew me away. A massive display of post-hardcore with a metallic edge. Deadguy meets Unsane. Heavy riffs & mesmerising chaotic sections. And they bring it hard, their heavy palm-muted headbanging breakdowns at the end of “Vita Potentia Animus” is like a sledgehammer to the face. These are bloody tight & they seem to get better each time I’ve seen them. I can see some great things coming from these guys, take note!
Now over to the Electric Ballroom to watch the Swedish kings of stoner doom right now Monolord. Right from the first note, these guys are captivating. Drawing you in & with their hypnotic riffs & godly vocals from guitarist Thomas Jäger, their fuzzed-out tunes had me hooked.
Watching from the balcony I could see the whole crowd in unison banging their head to the group’s massive track “Empress Rising”. This track is my new favourite of the groups. Bassist Mika Häkki is giving his all during the performance & it’s truly breathtaking just how hard he does. If there’s a band that truly captures the DNA of Desertfest it’s Monolord!
Our last band of the weekend is the Titans that is Godflesh! Now seeing these guys is a big thing for me as they are a group I fell in love with at an early age & getting to see them live is a dream come true.
Using Suicides – “Che” as an intro represents the feeling Godflesh presents. As the tension builds the band unleashes into “LandLord” from their newest album Purge. Now it’s no lie when I say even with my top-tier hearing protection that Godflesh are the loudest & most punishing band I think I’ve ever seen live. “Towers of Emptiness” and its harsh & unrelenting drums are like being hit with a bulldozer. This track had me in some state of a trance as it makes you throw your head back & forth.
The group might be over 30 years old but leader Justin Broadrick still has the passion & power. Throwing his body around the stage & sounding note perfect they are truly like a well-oiled death machine. “Like Rats” it’s like the underground national anthem & seeing everyone move their body and sing along word for word awas a beautiful spectacle to see. Their closing encore “Crush My Soul” with its crazy pace & angushing vocals is the perfect way to close the Electric Ballroom & our time at Desertfest. A truly perfect weekend & still shows that Desertfest’s crown for THE festival bringing only the best acts together for once a year is still firmly placed upon their head!
Review: Joseph Mitchell
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