Swedish Metal Festival 'Scorched Tundra' Coming To Chicago This Fall

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on May 27, 2016 7:38PM

Sweden's Monolord is one of Scorched Tundra VI's headliners

Metal festival Scorched Tundra was originally founded Göteborg, Sweden. Since it started in 2011, it's slowly grown into a two-day festival that draws international talent. And this September, for its sixth annual festival, it's jumping across the ocean to Chicago, running for two days at The Empty Bottle (1035 N Western). So what brings a Swedish metal festival here?

The twist is that the festival's founder, Alexi Front, is a Chicagoan. He's the bar manager and beverage director at Chicago brewpub Local Option, and he grew up here. In high school, Front started up the Pivotal Rage webzine, an outlet for him to write about music he felt was overlooked at the time. Front then decided to stop just writing about the bands he loved, and began the label Pivotal Rockordings in 2004. Their first signing was Sonic Syndicate, a death metal outfit from Sweden.

Future Pivotal Rockordings releases focused on the Swedish metal scene. "My connection with Sweden grew very strong," Front told Chicagoist, He began managing and booking tours for "bands on the label and bands I thought were interesting."

A few years later Front decided to celebrate the diversity in the scene in Göteborg, his adopted city, with Scorched Tundra. He started it with the mission statement that "Scorched Tundra is diametrically opposed to other festivals because the objective is NOT to highlight a specific scene or book the usual suspects who play every metal festival. "

Front was initially drawn to Göteborg because it's quite a bit like Chicago, he said. "They are cities that are connected in many ways: both are blue collar cities, second cities and industrial hubs. They both also have great metal scenes that are worth being shared with the world."

Over the years, Front's festival grew into a two-day affair, drawing in acts from both Sweden and Chicago. And anything goes when it comes the the lineups: stoner metal, psych rock, desert metal, progressive metal, post-metal. The only unifying thread is that Front keeps it a DIY affair, focused on what he believes to be quality music.

To celebrate the festival's sixth year, Front decided it was time to make the leap and bring it to Chicago. The Friday, Sept. 2 lineup currently includes Bongripper (Chicago), False (Minneapolis, MN) and Oozing Wound (Chicago). On Sunday, Sept. 3 Monolord (Sweden), The Atlas Moth (Chicago), Beastmaster (Fresno, CA) and Sweatlodge (Austin, TX) will take the stage.

Tickets are on sale and are an affordable $15 a day. That's a pretty good deal for a mix of local, national and international heaviness.