It’s more than sharing music, it’s sharing an experience.
Black Willows are wrapped in mystery. Theirs was one of the slowest burn performances at Desertfest London 2025, playing an immense heartfelt set for the Dev crowd, of their own particular blend of shamanic doom metal. That Sunday, they had only just stepped off their European tour with the mighty Amenra.
Aleister: lt was a huge honor to open for Amenra. We have a lot of respect for their artistic path, their intensity, their sincerity. We probably owe this opportunity to our consistency, to years of building something coherent and genuine. Sharing the stage with them was powerful. Their audience is attentive, open to deep experiences, and we felt a real connection. There was a kind of mutual recognition, as if our worlds spoke a common language, even with their differences.
Maxime: We really enjoyed sharing the stage with them. We are big fans of Amenra, so it was an achievement for us.
Black Willows themselves are the result of resonating affinities, with Maxime on bass being the latest addition to the lineup.
Maxime: I know these guys from Lausanne, I was following them for a few years and we had the opportunity to play in the same place. They were looking for a bass player, and I joined them, and I think we shared the same vision of music, something really deep and spiritual.
Aleister: The band came together quite organically, born from strong human and musical connections. What brought us together was a shared vision: to create immersive, powerful, almost ritualistic music. Performing live was a natural evolution for us, the stage became a living extension of our universe, a space for communion where our sound can truly reach its full dimension.
The Swiss music scene has also changed dramatically.
Aleister: Maybe 10 years ago, it was mostly a metal scene. It’s evolved since, more prog, more rock’n’roll, more bands and venues coming together. But it’s quite difficult to play music, bands need to have a legal status to exist, you have to create an association [like a business entity], so a lot of bands get discouraged. But we’re lucky, we have a structure that’s helped us for a few years and we’re very grateful.
There is an inherent poetry to their music (their name was inspired by Black Sabbath and the symbolism of the willow tree). It’s dark and patient, essential components of shamanic doom. An underrepresented subgenre, it requires true commitment to the magical spiritual travelling aspect of it. As with much of the Nordic “atmospheric” music, it’s an easy genre to do badly, superficially. Black Willows succeeds because they commit. Their music speaks directly to the audience willing to listen.
Aleister: We don’t follow any specific religion, but there’s definitely a spiritual, even metaphysical, dimension to our approach. It’s more about vibration, emotion. For us, music is a form of ritual, a way to connect with something greater, to enter an altered state of consciousness, to cross invisible thresholds.
Maxime: We dissolve in it.
Aleister: Our sound developed slowly, as an echo of what each of us carries within: a quest for depth, tension, and release. We didn’t set out to fit into a specific genre, instead, we aimed to translate sensations, states of consciousness, even visions, into sound.
How do you even begin to create an album of such ambitious scope?
Aleister: Writing is a very organic and collective process. It can be very fast: I wrote the first album in two weeks. Often, I bring the main riffs, the initial mood and atmosphere, lay down an emotional, almost visual foundation, and from there we work on the piece together in rehearsal. We play, we listen, we feel, and above all, we observe: is something happening? Are we touching a truth, a tension, an opening? If yes, we dig deeper. If not, we set it aside or transform it. It’s a kind of alchemy. Everyone then adds their own texture, their interpretation, until the music comes to life. It’s very instinctive. Does the music speak to us, does it reach inside our soul?
For an audience too, that connection can be invaluable, as the music helps them travel through whatever they need to.
Aleister: We often explore dark but essential territories: death, memory, loss, dreams, love, inner transformation. But there’s also an underlying light, a search for meaning, liberation, or communion with something beyond us. Each album is like a passage, a cycle, a ritual.
They describe playing live as “martial arts”, each musical decision of absolute precision, and this was clear at the Dev, where not a cymbal hit or bass drop was wasted. Everything built and built.
After their third album had a tumultuous conception in the midst of Covid, there is hope the next one will be a smoother ride.
Aleister: We’re planning to head back into the studio this summer. We’re currently working on new material, with the intention of releasing something next year. It feels like a new cycle is beginning. The sound will probably be heavier, maybe darker too, not to descend into darkness, but rather to reveal a certain light, the kind that can only emerge through the dark.
Don’t forget to meditate and destroy.
Listen to our full conversation recorded in front of the Black Heart at Desertfest London 2025 at the link below. Enjoy!