Shortly after the pandemic ended, people were hungry for live music and events. And out of that you could see some new organizers and events popping up to satisfy that need. We were back in 2022 highly impressed with the first edition of Desert Hel in the middle of Helsinki center, gathering bands of certain genres under one roof for two long nights that hadn’t really been seen before in Finland. Think of the infamous and massive Desertfest festivals that take place in several European countries every year, but on a smaller scale and a focus on mostly the fuzz-laden, stoner, and desert rock sound, with here and there a little sidestep into doom or even metal. The formula of a very solid Finnish line-up topped with a killer name from outside the country seems to be one that works really well, and for their 3rd edition they did exactly that again. This time in the Tiivistämö building on the Suvilahti area a bit outside Helsinki center, on the first day they brought together from Finland the stoner rockers of Heezer, doom metal from Orbiter, and proggy, psychedelic rock from Polymoon and Kairon; IRSE! with the captivating Italian doomsters of Messa topping the bill!