Black magic in the Alice

MELBOURNE bands Desecrator and Whoretopsy are the headline acts for this year’s Blacken Open Air festival, but with 12 Northern Territory bands also on the line up, there is a distinctly local flavour

MELBOURNE bands Desecrator and Whoretopsy are the headline acts for this year’s Blacken Open Air festival, but with 12 Northern Territory bands also on the line up, there is a distinctly local flavour.

Festival founder Pirate said there was more than just metal on the menu.

“We’ve got all the usual stuff like thrash, death and grind, tech death and black metal.

“This year we’ve also got a psychedelic rock n roll band, a local pop punk band, hard rock and a grunge hip hop band playing.”

Among the names already familiar to Alice Springs music fans are Miazma, SNAKES, Southeast Desert Metal, The Holy Dimes and Stellar Sea.

Pirate, the founder of the Black Wreath record label, and driving force behind the Blacken Open Air festival in Alice Springs, as well as being frontman for SNAKES. Picture: RHETT HAMMERTON

Pirate said the festival was becoming very much a national event, with performers and punters coming from just about everywhere in Australia. But he’s particularly keen to see what Alice Springs band Badmouths have got to offer.

“They’re a newer band who’ve been working really hard,” Pirate said.

“They’ve just done their first bunch of shows and already recorded an EP. They’re just getting out there a lot and offering a different sound.”

Meanwhile, Miazma drummer Malcolm McDonald said he was looking forward to checking out a band called Eternal Rest.

“Miazma just got booked for some Victorian shows in June, that band are going to be touring with us,” he said.

“They’re a technical death metal band, so their musicianship is out of this world.

“Another band to watch out for is Agonhymn,” he said. “They’re a two-piece band that do these 40 minute-long jazz-influenced interesting metal stuff, it’s just a drummer and a bass player.”

The names on the line-up are alone enough to inspire your thoughts into the “heavy metal world” the organisers hope punters will enjoy through this weekend, with Beyond Mortal Dreams, Flaming Wreckage, and Atomic Death Squad among the 30-strong list.

“Even if you’re not a fan of heavy metal, everyone is heaps accepting of everybody,” McDonald said. “You’ll go there and see live music you might not ever see in Alice Springs again. And you might like it!”

■ Blacken Open Air 2017 at Gap View Hotel on Saturday and Sunday.