Brisbane’s premier heavy music and dark arts event, the Dead of Winter Festival, is officially rising from the ashes. Dubbed The Resurrection, the festival is locked in for Saturday, 27 June 2026, marking its first return since 2019. Originally launched in 2009, the iconic gathering was forced into a multi-year hiatus following the pandemic.
For its grand comeback, the festival is shifting away from its former home at the Jubilee Hotel to a brand-new venue: the Mansfield Tavern in Brisbane’s southern suburbs. The highly anticipated 2026 edition promises a massive celebration of alternative culture, packing 34 live acts across multiple stages alongside performance art, horror cosplay, visual installations, and dark market stalls. Organisers have unleashed a diverse, genre-spanning lineup headlined by dance-punk and noise-rock heroes DZ Deathrays, alongside heavy hitters like Mammal, Toe To Toe, Beanflipper, and Slim Krusty. Tickets are available now via Oztix and the official Dead of Winter Festival Website.
With the festival fast approaching, HEAVY sent out some questions to all of the bands in order to get to know them better. Today, we chat with Black Rheno.
Black Rheno is a powerhouse three-piece sludge, stoner groove, and grindcore metal band from Sydney, Australia.
Formed in 2015, this compact trio—consisting of a vocalist, guitarist, and drummer—is famous for crafting a colossal, boundary-breaking wall of sound that delivers intense, high-energy live performances. They seamlessly fuse the down-tuned, swampy riffs of stoner rock with the blistering, chaotic tempo changes of grindcore and punk.
Black Rheno have toured across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States, including a standout showcase at SXSW. They have shared stages with metal royalty like Pantera, Napalm Death, and Eyehategod.
Q & A
HEAVY: DEAD OF WINTER FESTIVAL returns in 2026 after a seven-year hiatus. Why do you think DOW just HAD to return?
BR: Having played the last couple of Dead of Winter Festivals back in 2017 and 2018, we’ve seen firsthand how special it is. The culture, the community, and the collision of dark arts, rock and roll, heavy metal, punk, and everything unholy just can’t stay buried forever. It’s one of those festivals that means something to people, so it absolutely had to come back.
H: What does it mean to your band to be playing DOW?
BR: It means the world to be asked back again. Some of our favourite shows we’ve ever played were at Dead of Winter. We’ve made insane memories there, shared the stage with so many killer bands and legends of the scene, and every time has just been complete chaos in the best possible way.
H: Have you ever been to DOW as a punter or playing?
BR: Yeah, we’ve played Dead of Winter twice before, but we’ve only ever experienced it as a band being from Sydney.
H: If so, best memories of the day.
BR: One of the standout memories for me was during our set the first year we played there. We were playing our track No Time for Numb Nuts and the place was absolutely packed. There’s a part in the song where the music drops, and I yell a line, “Ah fuck, I stubbed my toe!” and I dropped the mic, and the whole crowd screamed it back at us. That was a pretty wild moment and the first time that happened, and one I’ll never forget.
H: It’s a long day of music. What will you be doing to make sure you will still be standing come your set time?
BR: Honestly, I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I’ll be fully prepped, fully primed, and ready to rip. There’s always an abundance of froth when it comes to Dead of Winter.
H: Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
Party hard
Party harder
Continue to party the harderist
H: Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
BR: Definitely our homies in Astrodeath. Lo! and Hammers are guaranteed mayhem. I’m also super keen to see Toe to Toe rip it up, and I can’t wait to watch Jay and Lindsay kick out some tunes. Plus, somehow I’ve never seen DZ Deathrays live before, so I’m pumped for that too.
H: Run us through your typical live show and what punters can expect.
BR: Pure energy. Big fat riffs, absolute chaos, and a proper heavy metal tornado of a party from start to finish.
H: If you could get one band on the line-up to cover one of your songs who would it be and what song would they cover?
BR: I’d love to hear DZ Deathrays cover our song Vortex. I reckon they could turn it into something completely different and wild, and hearing a band like that tackle one of our heavier tracks would be sick.
H: What’s your latest release?
BR: Our latest release is a single called A Badass Love Song. We’ve also been working hard behind the scenes on a new album, recording video clips, putting together content, and getting everything lined up properly for release.
H: Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2026 into 2027?
BR: Dead of Winter will probably be our main show for the year. We’ve pulled back a bit on touring while we focus on preparing the next album for release and building all the visuals and content around it. The plan is to come out swinging with the new record in the new year. But right now, we’re just completely pumped for Dead of Winter!
