It’s getting hot and heavy as Doom in June festival returns

The heaviest naturally occurring metal on Earth is osmium.

At least that’s what those pointy-headed scientists will tell you.

But true metal authorities — i.e., dudes who own at least one denim jacket with either the sleeves removed or a sweet Kreator patch sewn to the back — know otherwise.

As they will tell you, the heaviest metal, is in fact, doom metal.

No, it’s not the fastest — in fact, it may be the slowest — nor is it the most sonically extreme or punishingly brutal.

But in terms of sheer, crushing power, gargantuan riffs and seismic grooves capable of opening holes in the earth, doom has no peers.

And so when the Doom in June festival returns to Las Vegas for its fourth run this weekend, it will be felt as much as heard.

Despite the festival’s handle, it actually caters to a wide range of bottom-heavy sounds that loosely fall under the doom umbrella.

There’s the Lucifer-high-fivin’ power-metal-meets-thrash of Satan’s Host, the retro psych-prog of Big Elf, the bilious doom death of Acid Witch, Novembers Doom and Vegas’ Spun in Darkness, the misanthropic, carcinogenic sludge metal of Godhunter and lots more spread over two days.

What unites them all?

Lots of sore necks, namely.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow on Twitter @JasonBracelin.