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 KOH.
BRIEF HISTORY: Formed in Darwin 2024 after about 3 years of staring at waveforms in a bedroom. Have played shows with interstate headliners around Darwin, Blacken will be our first trip out as a band.
LATEST RELEASE: River Mirror – 2025
GENRE: Groovy Metalcore
WHY PEOPLE SHOULD CHECK YOU OUT AT BLACKEN OPEN AIR: We’ve spent heaps of time fine tuning our live show and we think we punch way above our weight live in terms of how long we’ve been together and the fact we’re still a local outfit.
THREE THINGS PEOPLE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE BAND:
Our rhythm guitarist, Lucas, lives in Melbourne full-time even though we’re based in Darwin.
All of our music is mixed, mastered and produced in Darwin, we haven’t outsourced.
Our EP ‘Golden Death’ is coming out right before Blacken (hint hint pls listen)
HEAVY: BLACKEN OPEN AIR 2025 is approaching fast. Are the nerves kicking in yet?
KOH: We’ve been pretty deep in the logistics of things, so not quite yet. Perhaps on stag,e but we know it’s a really friendly and supportive festival environment.
What does it mean to you to be playing at BLACKEN?
We’re just absolutely stoked to have been given the opportunity and have had a chance taken on us. The road trip down from Darwin is going to be heaps of fun, and we’re really excited to turn a few heads.
BLACKEN has been called Australia’s most unique music festival. Do you agree?
Absolutely yes. Having world class metal acts descend on a remote campground in the desert and milling around with the punters is unprecedented.
Who are you most looking forward to playing with and why?
We’ve been really loving Nicolas Cage Fighter lately – lovely metallic hardcore noises.
It’s a long day of music. What will you be doing to make sure you will still be standing come your set time?
There’ll be some fairly strict ground rules put in place (as is the usual standard with our shows) to ensure adequate water consumption and acceptable tin intake prior to our set.
Give me your Top 3 Festival survival tips.
Some people don’t think sculling rum at 9am is as funny as you do
Camp chairs work better if you don’t front flip through them
Sometimes you can charge your phone off a portable speaker
Which band – other than yourself – do you think will get up to the most mischief on the day?
When Slim Krusty played in Darwin last year, he put on an absolute clinic after his set, so probably him.
What song do you think the crowd would want you to play to finish your set?
We’re going to keep our expectations tempered around the crowd, knowing our songs for the moment – but I think we’d say Follow Your Ghost.
What song are you going to play?
River Mirror.
1What one song would you tell festival goers to listen to of yours if they haven’t heard you play before?
Also, River Mirror.
Finally, what plans does your band have for the rest of 2025?
We’ll be finishing a few more singles and looking to touring opportunities interstate.
