The wait is nearly over. Blacken Open Air – to be held from September 19 to 22 – Australia’s most unique heavy music festival, has dropped its full line-up for 2025, featuring an electrifying mix of international icons, exclusive reunions, and homegrown heavyweights.
This is not a rehashed, derivative or template event; it is a reinvention. We are building on what we’ve done in the past, while reinterpreting the reason for doing it. In 2025, we’ve searched the globe for artists that bring the extreme, the inspiring, the outrageous and the absurd, representing the real diversity of voices in the heavy music space. Not just across Australia and New Zealand, but from America, Europe and Asia as well.
And what better way for you to know what to expect than a personal, up close Q & A session? Today, we get to know Dharma.
BAND NAME: Dharma
BRIEF HISTORY: Founded in 2019, first show opening for Marduk in Taipei in 2020, back-to-back album releases in 2021 and 2022. Tours to India, Thailand, Australia, Hong Kong, and Japan.
LATEST RELEASE: Three Thousand Realms in a Single Thought Moment
GENRE: Buddhist Death Metal
WHY PEOPLE SHOULD CHECK YOU OUT AT BLACKEN OPEN AIR: We bring something a little different to the death metal genre, turning traditional Buddhist sutras and mantras into extreme metal songs.
THREE THINGS PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE BAND:
1 We have an actual nun in the band on backing and lead vocals.
2 All members of the band are Buddhist or Taoist.
3 We’ve been blacklisted from performing in a certain neighbouring country to our immediate west.
BLACKEN OPEN AIR 2025 is approaching fast. Are the nerves kicking in yet?
Nerves? No. Excitement? Definitely! Just to visit the beautiful area alone is an amazing opportunity, but to get the chance to play a show there? It really feels like one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We’re going to cherish every second of it.
What does it mean to you to be playing at BLACKEN?
It’s an honour, really. Looking up and down the roster of bands, to be included in that group is an absolute privilege. We know everyone playing is going to set a high bar, and it gives us something to strive for.
BLACKEN has been called Australia’s most unique music festival. Do you agree?
Most definitely. A festival in the middle of the Outback, in the shadow of Uluru? How much more epic could things possibly get? I get a chill down my spine just thinking about it.
Who are you most looking forward to playing with and why?
That’s a tough one. The Blood Duster reunion is huge. I’m a big fan of Earthless, too, and seeing them in that setting is going to be something special.
It’s a long day of music. What will you be doing to make sure you will still be standing come your set time?
I don’t think we’ll need much motivation or extra precautions to stay standing. Hope to catch as many bands as possible before our set, check out the surroundings a bit, and let the atmosphere and the company carry us through.
Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
1 Stay hydrated. Nothing takes you out faster than dehydration.
2 If you drink, pace yourself. Nothing worse than passing out before the headliner.
3 And if you’re as pale as I am, grab some shade where you can, and don’t forget the sunscreen. Moshing with a sunburn is a little-known but exceptionally devious sublevel of the Buddhist hell realm.
Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
It’s not hard to get up to more mischief than us these days. Gotta save that energy for the stage. That being said, never met them, don’t know them, but my money’s on Gutalax for sure. Say a prayer for the port-a-loos.
What song do you think the crowd would want you to play to finish your set?
I’m guessing the crowd won’t be overly familiar with our music yet, and if they are, the titles to our songs are long and cumbersome, so I’ll just say “Reigning Blood.”
What song are you going to play?
You’ll have to catch our set to find out.
What one song would you tell festival goers to listen to of yours if they haven’t heard you play before?
Go check out our music video for the Great Compassion Dharani on YouTube.
Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2025?
At least one more overseas show in the works, then back to writing and preparing for album three!
