Blacken Festival returns for its fourth incarnation this weekend, as a two-day festival. More than twenty bands from around the country descend on Alice Springs for a weekend of music, camping, and community spirited heavy metal culture.
Since its inception in 2013, Blacken Festival has been bringing some of the biggest and best bands in the country to Central Australia to play alongside the thriving local scene. The Easter weekend event has become a musical icon in the small town, each year leaving local and visiting audiences asking for more. This year event organisers, The Black Wreath, are delivering exactly that!
This year’s line-up features bands from right across the continent and some monsters of Australian metal including King Parrot, Disentomb and Colossvs, who will join local heavyweights The Horror, Miazma and Southeast Desert Metal.
Back home from their second European tour, King Parrot, are the main headline act on the Sunday night. Since their unforgettable performance at the first ever Blacken Festival in 2013, they’ve released a brutal second album, received an ARIA nomination and toured the world relentlessly, sharing stages with some of the biggest names in the genre. Icons such as Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly) and Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down) have taken them under their wing and onto stages around the world.
King Parrot vocalist Matt Young is a big supporter of the event: “Blacken is one of the most unique metal festivals I’ve ever been to. The local community get right behind the event, and I can honestly say they are some of the most passionate supporters of metal in the world.”
Long-time Blacken Festival supporter Lochlan Watt, of Triple J’s The Racket, returns again, this time bringing his epic band Colossvs along for the ride: “Having been to Blacken every year since its formation, I am very excited to see it take the next step. Turning it into a two-day camping event is something the dudes have been talking about ever since I had my mind blown by my first taste of metal in the Territory. I can’t wait to be a part of heralding in this new era and everything else that is still to come.”
The event takes place at a new venue, with a massive outdoor stage being erected at the Gap View Hotel, beneath the stunning MacDonnell ranges. The festival site will host multiple gourmet food-vendors, a fully stocked bar, merchandise and market stalls. There is also a camp-ground with showers and utilities, two swimming pools, a skate ramp, street art demos an open-mic session and lots more in store for attendees.
Blacken Festival Line-Up
King Parrot
Disentomb
Miazma
The Horror
Colossvs
Mason
Southeast Desert Metal
Alkira
Mammoth
Deadspace
SNAKES
Hidden Intent
Iwantja
The Black Scorpions
The Holy Dimes
Nokturnl
My Enemy’s Enemy
Didgeridoomerang
Metalation
Ashmoon
When: 26-27 March 2016
Where: The Gap View Hotel, Alice Springs (Doors 3pm-Lic/AA)
Tickets are available from Rock City Music, Stay True Tattoo and online at blackenfestival.com
