Portugal-based music festival Sonic Blast has announced seven new acts for its forthcoming 2022 event: The Black Wizards, Conan, Deathchant, El Altar De Holocausto, Mdou Moctar, Slomosa and Orange Goblin. Sonic Blast Festival will take place on the 11th, 12th and 13th of August in Âncora, Portugal. Ticket information can be found here.
Sonic Blast Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is an event that has, since its inception, played host to the stoner and doom metal genres’ finest roster of groups, and this upcoming 2022 event is no different. Performing at the festival this year-as announced in October of 2021-are legendary Dorset fuzz-pedal connoisseurs Electric Wizard, Nashville stoner/psychedelic rockers All Them Witches, Greek stoner metal band 1000mods, long-running North Carolina doom metal outfit Weedeater, and most recently, London heavy metal band Orange Goblin. After the 2021 festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, as was the case with many a festival around the world, Sonic Blast 2022 looks to be a great one indeed.
Orange Goblin, one of the most exciting recent additions to the line-up, have been at it since 1995, and since then, have put out a steady stream of records, commencing with 1997’s Frequencies from Planet Ten. The band’s latest album was 2018’s The Wolf Bites Back, a record which was well-received by critics and fans alike. Distorted Sound Magazine praised the group on their consistency and staying true to their sound, saying: “The Wolf Bites Back is potentially the most outstanding effort from the band in truly showing what they have got to offer. It’s nothing fancy, there’s nothing on there that makes it a one-trick pony, it is plain and simply an ORANGE GOBLIN album that has been amped up to 11.”
Orange Goblin has also been teasing some new music as of late, posting a picture of guitarist Joe Hoare on Instagram, accompanied by the caption: “Two weeks running in the rehearsal studio! That hasn’t happened for about 10 years but we have the best part of 4/5 new songs in the pipeline and we’re excited for the world to hear what we are cooking up!”
The band has a busy schedule ahead of them for 2022, with a whole host of tour dates and festival appearances, including Desertfest in London, New York and Berlin, Into The Grave Festival in the Netherlands, Barcelona Rock Fest in Spain and Steelhouse Festival in Wales. Full information for the group’s show schedule can be viewed here.
