Hot and Hotter: Methuselian Live @ Tmuna Theatre, TLV, 31.7.2026

End of July in Tel Aviv, Israel. A small, dark theatre, crushing heat, and Methuselian playing even heavier than the weather. The Israeli trio mix stoner doom and sludge with Tuvan throat singing, slow repetition, and sudden bursts of speed. Their first full-length album, …And the Monks Played Rock & Roll, came out in 2025 (quicky becoming a favorite here at Doomnation Radio) three years after their debut EP, Beyond Human.

The room felt like a psychedelic, doom-soaked vision of Tibet: flags hanging overhead, plants surrounding the band, weed in the air, and Beker’s Tuvan throat singing vibrating through the walls. Eastern instruments appeared and disappeared throughout the set as different guests joined the band onstage.

The heaviness came with punk energy, crowd surfing, movement, and a burst of pure, uncomplicated happiness. The room was colorful, wild, sweaty, and completely alive.

Behind the trio, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain ran throughout the set. The 1973 cult film follows a thief climbing toward enlightenment through a world of alchemists, planets, and false messiahs. Doom claimed that film long ago. Sleep released Sleep’s Holy Mountain in 1992, and with Beker’s throat singing rolling beneath Jodorowsky’s strange, burning images, the connection felt completely natural.

When Methuselian played Stonerfest in Haifa two years ago, they gave a full-on Sleep worship vibe. Last night, they went one layer deeper, toward the ground Sleep itself grew from. Black Sabbath played over the PA before the set and returned after it. From the stage, the band spoke Ozzy Osbourne’s name, a year after his death, before launching into “Snowblind,” the cocaine hymn from Vol. 4. The Holy Mountain kept burning behind them, and the packed hall stayed loud, sweaty, and joyful until the end.

A much needed and awesome leap somewhere far away, for these not-so-awesome times.

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