At Somergloom, underground heavy music and a kiss of doom

The summer season will wind down with a celebration of all things melancholic. For music lovers who have searched for a place to explore the feeling of, well, doom, an opportunity to do so in Somerville is returning — in the form of the Somergloom festival. Now in its fourth year, the event promises to give audience members a healthy dose of heavy, underground sounds. Spanning multiple genres, from dark folk to post-metal, Somergloom will take place from Aug. 22-24 at the Center for Arts at the Armory and will evoke blissfully moody vibes.

“Phones down, locked in. People are listening so intently, and they’re so focused. They know the music, and they love the music — or they don’t. It’s really intricate music,” said JJ Gonson, the founder of ONCE, the itinerant music space organizing Somergloom. “This stuff is practically orchestral. You don’t have to love screamo, you don’t have to love punk. People come from so many different places, and I see such a variety of people at our festival and similar shows. It’s a really friendly environment.”

This year’s Somergloom will be the biggest iteration of the festival ever, according to Stephen LoVerme, who came up with the concept and helped it launch in 2021. Seventeen bands and artists will be featured, playing in the Armory’s main performance room, as well as in the venue’s Rooted Café. Groups like Royal Thunder hail from as far away as Atlanta, Georgia, and there will even be an international band, Big Brave from Montreal, Canada, on the program. Performers like Spiritual Poison experiment with cinematic drone to explore different mindsets and worlds, while others like singer-songwriter Kira McSpice visit the beauty that can be realized during dark moments. Almost a dozen vendors will be present, including multidisciplinary artist and designer Ivonne Blanco and Leather Pixie, selling bracelets, guitar straps and more.

Somergloom originated during the pandemic after ONCE’s brick and mortar location in Somerville closed. Gonson was holding a summer festival series, and LoVerme came up with the idea of organizing an event that honored heaviness, taking inspiration from shows in the Netherlands and Vienna. It was first hosted in an empty parking lot, at 0 Windsor Place in Somerville, and over the years, it has continued to grow. The original space abutted train tracks, and passing trains kept the performances lively. LoVerme and Gonson both spoke of the palpable energy of that first festival.

“The atmosphere was electric. At that point, a lot of people hadn’t really been to a show in a long time,” said LoVerme. Gonson added that she felt many believed they would “never see live music again” and that coming together to hear music felt like relief.

Mlny Parsonz is the frontwoman and bass player for Royal Thunder, a hard rock band that takes influences from classic rock and ‘90s grunge, with elements of progressive and psychedelic rock. In June 2023, the band came out with its first album in six years, “Rebuilding the Mountain.” Listeners exploring Royal Thunder’s discography will find songs like “Time Machine” and “April Showers,” featuring Parsonz’ powerful voice and haunting themes, often grappling with painful topics. Parsonz said that when she writes a song with the band, she tries to look for a silver lining in the storm of life experiences.

“You walk through those things,” said Parsonz. “I really do believe that there’s something good in the bad. You take that, and you spread it out, look at it, you break it down, and then you walk away with a nugget of hope, a lesson learned, change for the better — I believe in that. When you tell your story, that’s someone else’s story somewhere. There’s something freeing in hearing someone tell your story.”

The Infinity Ring is a Boston-based band that meditates on dark folk, with elements of drone and noise. Spirituality and mysticism figure into the group’s music, while core songwriter and singer Cameron Moretti’s voice has been compared to Leonard Cohen’s. Moretti said that he draws inspiration in part from Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash albums that he listened to growing up.

“It’s almost like when I revisit the songs, even at their simplest, I hear different elements, different overtones,” said Moretti. “I think the inclination to create something that has this timeless feeling to it…that’s something that resonates with me, music that I can’t necessarily pinpoint when it was made.”

LoVerme said that he hopes Somergloom will give audience members an understanding that it’s alright to experience heavier feelings and offer a place to sit with them. The festival aims to be inclusive and welcoming, supporting an appreciation for music that nevertheless brings enjoyment through the melancholy.

“Sadness and dark feelings are legitimate emotions,” said LoVerme. “They’re part of a whole range of human emotion and experience. We’ve had tragedies for thousands of years. You need the dark and the light, and we’re focusing on the dark.”