FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Desertfest London 2022

April 28, 2022 James Weaver

After two years away enforced by the pandemic, Desertfest London, the UK’s premier festival for all things doom, stoner, psych and sludge, is back and ready to reaffirm its status as one of the key festivals in metalheads’ calendars. With a stacked lineup across the five venues in the heart of Camden, we are literally spoilt for choice on who to watch at this year’s festival.

Friday April 29

Day one of Desertfest London kicks off with the mightiest of bangs. The colossally heavy BLIND MONARCH have the audacious task of being the first band to perform but it’s a task they will utterly smash with their dense and thick sound – perfect for a venue of The Underworld‘s ilk. From there, there are bands of glistening quality scattered across the festival’s numerous stages. From the mighty WITHCRAFT (who headline the prestigious The Electric Ballroom), fuzz rockers TRUCKFIGHTERS, doom duo BLACKLAB or the venomous COLTSBLOOD – talk about being spoilt for choice!

ALUNAH grace The Devonshire Arms in a headline slot to support their majestic new album Strange Machine, American traditional metallers SPIRIT ADRIFT will ride high with their anthemic brand of metal at The Black Heart, feminist punks SHOOTING DAGGERS will be a raging good time, and having high-octane fun with the veteran INTEGRITY and the hotly tipped INHUMAN NATURE will surely prove to be a masterstroke in getting the adrenaline surging! it’s clear that Desertfest London are going for the jugular right from day one.

Saturday April 30

Day two of Desertfest London is equally stacked, with a plethora of killer bands to blow off the cobwebs from the night before. KING WITCH and ELEPHANT TREE will surely ensure the day gets off to a flier with their respective slots at The Underworld and The Roundhouse, armed with their new album Call Down The Sun, Denmark’s hot property KONVENT will utterly level The Underworld with their brand of death-doom, STÖNER (comprised of former KYUSS members) will go down a treat to the Desertfest faithful and British metal favourites ORANGE GOBLIN will bring the house down with a headlining slot at The Electric Ballroom.

Throw in sets from the likes of EARTHLESS, YOUR HIGHNESS, DEATHRITE or the majesty of ELDER, the monolithic soundscapes of HANGMAN’S CHAIR, and the sheer infectiousness of a band like GREEN LUNG, you’ll be wishing you can be at five different places at once!

Sunday May 1

By the third and final day of Desertfest London, we wouldn’t blame folk if they were beginning to feel festival fatigue but the final day proves to be arguably one of the strongest billings of the weekend. The Roundhouse‘s lineup is, to be perfectly honest, ludicrously brilliant with sets from ELECTRIC WIZARD, YOB, EYEHATEGOD, CONAN and DVNE. You could quite easily have the best day without ever leaving the venue.

But Desertfest is a feast of quality bands and there’s so much to discover. Greek psych rockers NAXATRAS make their much anticipated appearance at the festival coming in to replace SOMALI YACHT CLUB, HUNTSMEN will arguably provide one of the best sets of the weekend thanks to their brand of wicked epic doom and a double hitter of SLABDRAGGER and BONGZILLA; who close out the day’s action at Powerhaus will be immense. Throw in sets from the likes of doom metallers MORAG TONG, the rifftastic DESERT STORM, SHRYKULL (who will be noisier than a construction site), the unique WALLOWING or occult doom troupe 1782, by the time the festival closes, you’ll have been blessed with a bountiful crop of luscious live performances.