LIVE FROM THE PIT: The Big Desertfest Review 2026

We are back at Camden Town’s premier celebration of bone-dry guitars, nasty tones, Orange amps, Red Stripe beer, sick-ass riffs, and desert rock madness known as “Desertfest”. Once again, for those not in the know, Desertfest is the home of Stoner/Doom/Psych metal in the UK. And just for your convenience, dear reader, your reviewer-photographer dream-team (who are currently recovering their necks from three days solid of riff-slanging and head bangin’) are here to give you the rundown on what transpired on that magical weekend in May.

Not much sun this year, though, actually this might have been the coldest edition of Desertfest yet, which means it was actually viable to wear a leather jacket this year AND the Underworld was actually (mostly) a bearable temperature! (We thought the day would never come, but we live in unpredictable times.)

Last year we quipped that the event was becoming less “doomy” and more “zoom-ey”, with bands generally picking up speed to be known as the fast and sludgy “desert rock” rather than the slow, methodical “doom metal”. The question is… is it still awesome? (Spoilers: yes)

But enough waffle, here’s who and what we witnessed.

SERGEANT THUNDERHOOF

It was a bit of a shock when RUBBER SNAKE CHARMERS pulled out of the festival with barely two weeks left until they were due to play, but luckily they were replaced by the resplendent SERGEANT THUNDERHOOF, much beloved by OOR for their wondrous personalities as well as their swell music.  Even with an expectant crowd, they manage to conjure up a wild storm of a performance, mixing their upbeat numbers from 2022’s This Sceptred Veil with their more sombre offerings from 2024’s The Ghost of Badon Hill. The laities in the crowd are struck by the sheer magnitude of emotion they manage to convey through the vocal and riff delivery, with them receiving a grand cheer at the end of their performance. It is not a stretch to imagine they will be back once more, but on a grander stage, possibly one more rounder and house-ier.

LORQUIN’S ADMIRAL

Somewhat lesser known are LORQUIN’S ADMIRAL, the project of HERMANO bassist Dandy Brown and his wonderful wife Dawn Brown, as well as having members of AFGHAN WHIGS, YAWNING SONS, SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI and LUNA SOL. Sure, unless you’re enamoured with the scene, you probably won’t know some of these names, but trust us, this is a damn good lineup. They have one album out, and it absolutely rocks, so hopes were high. Turns out that before they were standing before us at the Underworld, their flights to the UK from the USA got cancelled - but they made it anyway, and the show must go on, as they say. So not only is this their first show together, it's their first ever rehearsal together.

Many other bands would cancel given the short notice, but not Lorquins; they put on a good show regardless of the circumstances. Sure, they were reading off a lyric sheet, and their microphones were barely audible at times, and certain sections of songs were met with confusion by the guitarists who appeared utterly confounded - especially for their last song, Inexplicable Things. But above all that, the ethos of the band shone through, and Dandy seemed to be having loads of fun onstage with his wife, so what’s there not to like? It’s cute, and we like cute. They deserved better for sure, hopefully, once they return, LORQUIN’S ADMIRAL can truly spread its wings.

CWFEN

Glasgow’s CWFEN are a truly transformative band, as evidenced by their interview with OOR last year; a band with about a million influences that transmutates each of them into their own sound - the very essence of solemnity. On-stage, they’re a bit like a neutron star, with the gravitational pull of their supermassive sound pulling everyone away from the bar and into the crowd at the Underworld.

One thing is certain: this is not the same band that played with FAETOOTH at the Black Heart last year. They’ve been refined like tempered steel from their tours with PARADISE LOST, sharper and heavier. Hell, they were great before. Now they’re on another level. They uphold their dour tone through heavy use of reverb and a substantial gothic influence to bathe everyone in their trademark tenebrous atmosphere. Vocalist Agnes Alder careens around the stage in dreamlike motions, occasionally leaping out at any unsuspecting filming phones whilst Guy De Nuit strums dark riffs that won them their accolades in the metal press last year. It all feels very involved and is a surefire highlight of the weekend. Long live CWFEN!

HÄLLAS

Hopes were high for HÄLLAS before they even set foot on the stage. Their new album, Panorama, is a brilliant piece of music, with it making some people’s Album of the Year lists already (blimey!). They came, wielding some beautiful instruments with capes on their backs and delivered the goods. “Eight years since we last played the UK!” yells Tommy Alexandersson, singer and bassist, wielding the most beautiful Rickenbacker bass you’ve ever seen, as they careen into their feel-good setlist. One qualm would be with the sound in the Underworld itself. On the record, they sound large, as they use actual equipment from the 70s, but they can’t help but sound a little subdued in the room they were playing in. Face of an Angel felt more like it was being played in a pub than the large arena sound it deserves. Perhaps that’s a bit of a large ask for them, but they still manage to get the whole joint singing and dancing along. Overall, the Swedish boys put on a real corker of a performance that leaves the whole crowd satisfied and hungry for what the future brings.

INHUMAN NATURE

Ok, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way; they ain’t doom. There’s nothing desert about them either. INHUMAN NATURE is a straight thrash metal band, and the first band to play the Roundhouse this weekend. Do we care? Do we ‘eck. These guys are the real article.

Desertfest isn’t a stranger to bands from outside of the genre, and these guys still deliver some metal thrashin’ madness. But… (and that’s a big but), it is pretty early on in the day for most, and they bring their guitars screaming for succour in front of a doom-fed crowd that can’t manage to do anything aside from politely nod along. As the show unfolds, people appear to be waking up, and some miniature mosh pits begin to form. But nothing that this band deserves, like people throwing themselves towards the barriers and crowd surfing, it’s far too early on for that. Nevertheless, they put on a hell of a show, and hopefully next time they play to a thrash crowd with little regard for their own well-being.

WYTCH HAZEL

The Christian cavalcade has come dressed in all-white to tell us how much they think Lucifer sucks, and they have a hell of a way of displaying it. With more crosses here than a graveyard, some even rendered on their guitars with Gorilla Tape as a cute DIY touch, they deliver their own brand of noblebright lawful-good metal with soaring vocals and cinematic instrumentals. They get the people boppin’ and the unbelievers droppin’. Seriously, there are SO many crosses onstage.

ELEPHANT TREE

You’ve got to love London’s own ELEPHANT TREE for stepping in for CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL of all bands. The first actual slow doom metal band that day at the Roundhouse, their luscious and weighty riffs pack the venue airtight, and by God, it's beautiful. There’s no extravagant stage set-up, no set-pieces, no flashy lighting and certainly no crosses, nope, just the guys, their equipment, and their big-ass logo being projected behind them. They certainly appeared unsure of themselves, too, with frequent banter alleviating the mood. Very much a jam band, like SOLACE, it feels like a couple’a dudes having a good ol’ time onstage, and that’s a-OK in our book. Kudos, gentlemen.

PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS

The hand-picked penultimate band of the Roundhouse are none other than PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS, whose set feels less like a performance and more like a test of endurance. People go absolutely bananas for these guys, and we’re not sure what it was. Was it the humongous sound, brutal riffs, epileptic lighting, or guitar tone so monstrous that people around us were complaining that they nearly crapped themselves? It could be anyone. Their energy is magnetic, and whilst the crowd is all sweating in one writhing, cavorting mass to the thrumming of their pandemonious sound, you can’t help but notice your chest rumbling. Their set is a damn good time, and for a time, it can be said that the Roundhouse truly experienced perdition - and we’re all eating from the trough. Oink oink.

GREEN LUNG

Here it is, the main event. The central vehicle with which this particular Desertfest was promoted, proudly advertised with “hey look, guys, we have GREEN LUNG headlining!” And that’s seriously all it takes. These guys are the darlings of the scene, the ones that got away. That made it big and signed with the largest label in metal, their meteoric rise has been such that we may never see its like again. They’ve also got a new album coming out in September, Necropolitan, of which they only played one song, the new single Evil in this House. No new tracks, but this is a celebration of 10 years of the Lung.

Beginning on the bombastic “Old Gods”, the band very quickly establish why they’ve made it so far; with an unassailable energy and a panache for the theatric, with the band getting their legendary roadie Metal Joe to don a giant caprine monster costume for one song (which feels like something out of Spın̈al Tap). They crack open some deep cuts and songs less play’d, Woodland Rites, One For Sorrow, Song of the Stones, and the classic Into The Wild (though to us, it will always be known as Freak on a Peak). Drummer Matt Wiseman pounds along a heavy rhythm whilst Scott Black channels his guitar god mode with an energy siphoned from Brian May himself. Everyone gets their moment in the sun, even original bassist Andrew Cave returns for their hit Let the Devil In whilst current bassist Joseph Ghast breaks out the sax. It’s a triumphant return and the crowd are churning in the mosh-pit like butter. For those that can’t get enough, they only have to wait until December when the Lung returns to the Roundhouse with HIGH ON FIRE and GNOME in tow. Excelsior!

MIDHAVEN

Many stumble in heavy-headed into the Underworld for MIDHAVEN in their Desertfest debut. All the way from Mumbai, it’s clear that they’re here for a good time and to rock the house down. They sound like an Indian HIGH ON FIRE with their larger-than-life sound and haughtily thick riffs. And they’re having an absolute blast whilst they do it. One of the members even admits to breaking into a Desertfest as a broke college student years ago in search of some of that doom goodness, and now here he is sporting a triple-A badge. Funny how things work out. For sure, they are one of the bands that people who missed them think “dammit, I should have been there!”, and all are in love with ‘em by the end of their set. Magnificent stuff, lads, please come back soon!

TRUCKFIGHTERS

There may not be much energy to go around on Sunday, but it seems that the real place to blow any energy reserves you may have left is TRUCKFIGHTERS. Hot from releasing their new album, Masterflow, they’re back in the big smoke to cover the Roundhouse in more fuzz than that sandwich you forgot about at the back of your fridge. Between ‘Ozo’ on bass n’ vocal duties and ‘Jolo’ banging out the driving four-on-the-floor drum lines, you have shirtless guitarist ‘Dango’ jumping and sprinting around the stage whilst simultaneously cranking out riffs in a thunderous purr. Many in the crowd struggle to film him as he sprints hither and thither, and all video footage ends up making him look like a cryptid. But the energy in the room is static lightning, by the time they get to all-time bona fide desert metal classic Desert Cruiser, the whole room is bouncing along. And to be fair, if you don’t bounce along to Desert Cruiser, you might actually be legally dead. Fun is the name, and fun is definitely the game here too, and by the end, we’ve all but run out of fuel (Oh yeah! Oh yeah!).

EARTHLESS

We were warned pre-EARTHLESS that their set is actually “one long guitar solo” and told in conversation by Scott Black of GREEN LUNG that guitarist Isaiah Mitchell “is one of the greatest living guitarists”. To say that’s high praise is a bit of an understatement, and hopes were indeed high. What was witnessed afterwards was immaculate. Desolate, huge, spacey riffs cut through with Floydian guitar solos and hardly any beginnings and endings to speak of. Indeed, all the songs they play flow into each other, and there’s no time for the frivolities of stage banter and other pleasantries. The synergy of the group is absolutely flawless, the soloing seems to go on for ages, and just when you think it can’t get any more impressive, it does. Until there’s a song break towards the end and some actual vocals, it all felt like one extremely long and fantastic instrumental. The Roundhouse may never see shredding like this ever again. Phenomenal. There are a few bands that can follow that up!

THE SWORD

Although Texans THE SWORD are one of those bands. Coming onstage to a rap number for some reason, they waste no time and launch into their set for the hungry crowd, and you can really tell that people have been waiting eagerly for them, as there are some bodies half-hanging off the barriers in anticipation. They take a few songs to get going, but by the time they break out the bangers like Tres Brujas, Maiden, Mother, & Crone and Freya, the party has well and truly started. Their retro sound and slow chugs get people jumping about and flinging themselves into crowd surfs and other such mosh-isms like a medieval brawl. And by the time they’re finished, they have everyone eating from the palm of their hand.

CLUTCH

And now we have the finisher, our last band of the festival, the mighty stoner metal mainstays CLUTCH. Flushed in red light, they emerge and waste no time getting into it as frontman Neil Fallon careens into his mad southernisms, it almost feels as if he is the head pastor at some insane megachurch that’s warning people about psychic attacks on their mind and assuring us, You better believe it, brother! They’re aware that everyone seems a bit exhausted, with Neil quipping, “I hope you’re not thinking about Monday…” and just like that, we’re all thinking about Monday. Psychic warfare at work. Their set is a good mix of older and newer numbers to showcase the history of this band that’s been a part of this scene for so long, and people are loving it. They deliver the goods, and after a quick encore, their bizarro-awesome set, and the festival itself, is over.

Well, that’s Desertfest 2026 complete. And compared to other years, this one seemed to be more rounded out and complete. There were far fewer left-field bands that divided the regular attendees, and it appears they really emphasised the desert scene this year. And as the last pints and being pulled and the amps are packed away for another year, one thing is for sure. In terms of camaraderie, professionalism, and vibe, Desertfest might be the best damn festival in the whole country. It proves that the scene is alive and well, and that London remains the home of grassroots doom metal in the UK and possibly even Europe as a whole. Roll on next year!

Words: Kia Golshani

Photos: Oz Davies