Live Review: Desertfest – Saturday
16th May 2026Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Jessi Lotti
Day two of Desertfest began with a few weary heads stood outside The Underworld waiting patiently for the doors to open, but full of excitement for the day ahead. First up were London trio Instar Sling who I’d only seen clips of via YouTube, but I was suitably impressed. There’s lots of feedback as they stand still, poised to make their crushing assault on our unsuspecting senses. And wow, what a racket they make. The cascading crushing drum sound signals for the bass to rip your head off as their slow, menacing doom works superbly with the low growling vocals. There’s no variant from this relentless wall of noise throughout their set, and there are ripples of warm and appreciative applause from the people gathered inside and they’ve set the tone for the day.
One of the bands who had some hype around them today were Molten Slag. The Black Heart was packed in just for their soundcheck and led by Laura Norman, they kick off their set with the excellent “Sickening Crunch”. The drums are high in the mix, with a booming bass and the soothing, echoed voice carries into “Bloodspear”. “We’ve come from Southeast London today and this is our first single from our debut album, it’s called Hot Metal” and the slow intro increases in tempo and volume, as they raise the energy in the room.
There’s a flowing rhythm and great guitar solo during “Bitchfight” and with a Persian sounding intro they ease into “Queen of the Heap” as the vocal slips a bit during the song, but with axe in hand, “Snake Slicer” sees a return to normality as the crowd get moving along to more excellent bass lines. They finish triumphantly with “Whisper my Name” as they push their limits further, with a twiddly guitar solo for the crowd to enjoy and the packed venue leaves fulfilled.
Plenty of people stayed in the room, as they waited for another London band to make their way to the stage. It must be odd doing a soundcheck in front of an expectant crowd, but that’s exactly what happened for Okay You Win. There’s a big drum intro, nice riffs and clean vocals from Dave Kirk as they start with “Smoke” and “Red Flag” from their upcoming album. They have raucous high intense moments as the singer is expressive and animated, and the riffs they play have got the crowd gripped as the slow and low “Ten Year Trip” rips through us.
Kirk epitomises was it means for these type of bands to play festivals like this, and they can’t quite believe how packed it is for them at 4.20pm on a Saturday afternoon. Armed with a repertoire of superb songs like “The Greatest Lie” and “This Damned Place”, it’s no wonder they have the place rocking, as the singer proudly gives a shout out to the marvellous Psychlona, whose t-shirt he is wearing. Before more crushing riffs are delivered, a beaming Kirk says “it’s been a privilege to be here” as they launch into “End of Days” which gets a crowd clap along as they end with the excellent “Beat Me Down” which has the venue bouncing from side to side.
Another of the “must-see” bands of the weekend for me was heavy, droning post rockers Ian, whose 2025 released album was in my top five of the year. Unfortunately for me, most of Desertfest seemed to agree with me, as The Dev was rammed for their performance. With viewing space at a premium, I was solely reliant on listening rather than watching them and in a way that’s more than enough as they begin with “Building Pyramids”. Their compositions are so impressive that the music flows effortlessly from moody and menacing to full on melancholy. With slow processions, huge noises erupt, juxtaposed with softer, calming tones, the cello is hauntingly beautiful and fits seamlessly into this setting.
“Manuel” sees the lighting altering the mood and textures, as they bring elements of calmness with their serene music but like a budding flower, they burst into life at a moment’s notice and create such drama with their expressive arrangements. More elegance emerges with “Selma” ahead of them reminding us all about respecting everyone and fuck fascists before unleashing yet more powerful and potent music, which concludes with “Fennel” as the crowd stand mesmerised and fully immersed in one of the performances of the weekend.
After this, I needed something different and Birmingham based duo Khost, certainly bring something different. Armed with one guitarist and one bassist, they start the intro with a live bugle before bludgeoning everyone inside The Underworld. “Incinerator” is a huge, crushing industrial wall of noise with the 5-string bass feeling like the Pied Piper, leading all inside towards impending doom. It is phenomenal what these two create, with a range of impressive sounds being summoned from the pedal boards.
The slide guitar intro for the mighty “Coven” fills the venue with an eeriness, as sadistic nightmarish laughing builds up their intensity levels further. The bass is rattling and with smoother vocals it’s like a haunting softness that breaks the ear-splitting music. Their pure destructive force comes out further during “14 Daggers” as a hooded Andy Swan delivers more outstanding industrial noise. They up the spookiness with “Many Things Afflict Us, Few Things Console Us” with a pounding drum effect coming through before they end.
Another “must-see” band was Abrams, over in the UK for the first time, but sadly I couldn’t get into the Black Heart as the queue was down the stairs, so I hope that they had a great time playing to a packed crowd. With that, I headed up to The Roundhouse to catch a bit of “with a combined weight of 834lbs, the reigning, undefeated heavyweight champions of the world, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs”. In frontman Matt Baty, they have an energetic and enigmatic singer who works the crowd well, as they churn out “The Wyrm” and “Ultimate Hammer”.
They have a great mix of progressive, stoner sounds combined with elements of psychedelia, and lots of crowd surfers emerge during “Carousel” and “Stitches”. We get told about them playing Desertfest 14 years ago, and watching Sleep from the balcony, hoping one day to play that very stage, and here they are. After thanking headliners Green Lung for inviting them to play, they end with more monstrous songs, “Blockage” and “Toecurler” to wrap up their performance.
Some fifteen months after witnessing one of their biggest headline shows to date at Manchester’s O2 Ritz, Green Lung returned to the stage for their largest festival show. Saturday night at Desertfest, some 10 years after a few of them walked out of the venue and decided to form a band, is a massive leap for the group. After being locked away for several months recording new music, they released their latest single in the week leading up to the show, whetting the appetite for their return.
With the expectant crowd waiting, singer Tom Templar stands on the barricade and begins “The Harrowing”, as the audience gets their first glimpse of the band. With a gigantic Dorset Ooser taking centre stage “Old Gods” is greeted with rapturous enthusiasm from all within the packed Roundhouse, as Templar introduces the band in his usual manner with lots of words including “old English, mushroom eating heavy fucking metal” as they pick up the pace with new track “Evil in the House”. The bass sound from Joseph Ghast is high up in the mix, and it signals a new direction for their music, leaving the masses wanting more.
Frontman Templer is clearly revelling in his rock star persona, as he prowls every inch of the stage and platform to get a full perspective of just how rammed the place is for them. “Templar Dawn” and “Call of the Coven” add mystique and groove to proceedings before he dedicates the marvellous “Maxine “Witch Queen” to “all the witches out there” as the band go up several levels’ performance wise.
It’s almost as if the band were made for this moment, they seem polished after so long away, yet you know you are witnessing a band who are destined for arenas and bigger headline festival slots. They are armed with hit after hit, “Hunter in the Sky” was incredible, but never forget what they are all about, so it was great to hear “Song of the Stones” once again. They have that wonderous mystique, mixed with electrifying power as “Graveyard Sun” and “The Forest Church” clearly highlight.
With Templar stood high up in between the keyboards and drums, the emotional sense resonating across the room is palpable as they return to the “Woodland Rites” album and play “The Ritual Tree” with a stunning keyboard sound. “We haven’t played this next song live since 2019” as the bass heavy of “Into The Wild” echoes around the pillars but the rock energy returns during the monstrous “Mountain Throne” with the security working overtime as crowd surfers reign down on them.
The evil, eeriness of their music comes to life as “One for Sorrow” rings out, with that mid-section riff beautifully done before we are introduced to original bass player Andrew Cave, returning to join them for the grand finale of “Let The Devil In”, as Ghast plays sax. With their own Manotour style mascot returning to the stage for one final appearance, Green Lung are back and with their new album due in September, full European tour scheduled for December, the world is their oyster and now is the time for them to take the next steps to fully fledged rock gods.
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