So I was having a quick Google to see if any metal gigs were coming up while we are visiting Krakow, Poland. Came up with a few entries, all either just before or after we leave. I was about to go do something else (attention span of a gnat), when I clicked a few more links, and HOLY SHIT. Gojira (one of our favourite bands) are playing a club gig in Krakow a few days after we arrive. After sprinting to tell goatlady with much excitement, I read further, and not only that – but Lost Soul, a band I just got into and who are totally, ass kickingly awesome – are the support act. Cue more sprinting to tell the sleepy goatlady, and trying to work out how to book tickets.

What is even more amazing is that this gig costs … $24 Aussie dollars. That is a crazy price!

The metal stars align is a post from: hell bent for metal

First up, let’s see what I consider as an absolute MUST SEE at Wacken. I would crawl through the mud, broken glass and possibly the piss ditches to see these bands. As long as I didn’t spill my beer. There are 96 bands on the bill at the moment, which is just mind blowing. There are also quite a few headliners this year, so unlike previous festivals where the headline acts played on a particular night, we now how big shows over all 3 evenings.

• 1349 
• Arch Enemy
• Alice Cooper
• Candlemass
• Cannibal Corpse – interestingly, CC have been to Perth twice, and on both occasions we have missed them due to a scheduling conflict with another band… In Perth?! I don’t know how that happens either.
• Despised Icon – they’ve recently announced their breakup, so this will be the last chance to see them.
• Endstille – totally kicked my ass at Wacken ‘09, so I will definitely not miss them again. Hopefully they don’t get a midday show again thought, that shit aint right.
• Fear Factory – really can’t wait for this, especially as it’s a night show.
• Frei Wild – this is an odd choice, but any band with antlers in their logo makes me interested.
• Gojira – oh yeah, this will probably be the standout act for me this year. Strangely they are playing the tiny WET stage, but who knows, it might just work.
• Grave Digger
• Immortal – anything can be made better with Immortal
• Mötley Crüe – they’re old and saggy, but it should still be a good fun show.
• Rotting Christ
• Slayer – I’m predicting violence from the hardcore Slayer fans on this one. Slayer fans scare me.
• Soulfly
• The Devil’s Blood
• Tiamat
• UDO
• Varg

Yeah I know – that’s only 20 bands – leaving another 76, but I had to cull the list down to what I consider an essential watch, and anything else is just gravy (on the delicious €3.50 steak sandwich from the Wacken Nacken meat tent). There are bound to be overlaps and scheduling conflicts, but tough decisions always have to be made – beer makes decision making much easier. \m/

Wacken 2010 band shortlist is a post from: hell bent for metal

I seem to be having a good run with this festival band thing. Just a few weeks ago I said in this blog post:

So first Gojira, now Fear Fac­tory… would it be cheeky to sug­gest a third must-see band, Trip­tykon? They’ll be tour­ing in Europe at the time, surely it wouldn’t be too much a stretch. Wacken, Party.San, Sum­mer Breeze? Anyone?)

Well, Summer Breeze have kindly stepped up to the plate and added Triptykon (as well as Skeletonwitch which I know is making some other people very happy). My life is now complete. I have no more suggestions.

It’s now time to compile a list of bands that are “must see” and hope like hell the schedules don’t have too many awful conflicts. Wacken said they would be releasing their preliminary schedule on the 22nd of March but a week later we have yet to see anything. Still, I don’t imagine it will be long now…

Triptykon added to Summer Breeze is a post from: hell bent for metal

Fear Factory have been announced for Wacken. I’d be doing a little happy dance right now, except that wouldn’t be very metal. Metalbeast can confirm that I ripped off my headset and threw the horns before I could even vocalise the news.

So first Gojira, now Fear Factory… would it be cheeky to suggest a third must-see band, Triptykon? They’ll be touring in Europe at the time, surely it wouldn’t be too much a stretch. Wacken, Party.San, Summer Breeze? Anyone?

I did my very first video interview in January, with Burton and Dino from Fear Factory. You can laugh at me here: Soul of an old machine.

You just try and wipe this smile off my face is a post from: hell bent for metal

Last year, the all-new Fear Factory lineup announced headlining club dates in Hamburg (the day after we left) and Australia including Perth (two days after we arrived back home). But then those dates were cancelled due to their ongoing legal issues and the band went and recorded a new album instead.

They were then added to the Big Day Out festival in Australia, but after most of the dates had already sold out and we weren’t about to pay to go when there was only one band we wanted to see on the bill anyway. So our chances of seeing them live were snatched away again.

Now the new album, Mechanize, is out (it’s a ripper) and a set list from a recent show in Amsterdam has a few of the new songs in it. Fear Factory have been announced for the following European festival dates:

• Hellfest (France), June 18–20
• Graspop Metal Meeting (Belgium), June 25–27
• With Full Force (Germany), July 2–4
• FortaRock (Holland), July 3
• Sonisphere (United Kingdom), July 31
• Brutal Assault (Czech Republic), August 12–14

Now, to me that looks like there’s some big gaps in there, particularly in July and the beginning of August. My bet is that there will be some more Festival gigs announced and maybe even some sideshows. Party.San is on at the same time as Brutal Assault so that’s probably out, but Wacken at the beginning of August and Summer Breeze on August 19–21 leave me with hope.

I’ll be keeping a keen eye out! Wacken organisers, you finally listened to me a booked Gojira… here’s another tip for you!

Wanted: Festival Factory is a post from: hell bent for metal

Either the Wacken organisers started listening to what I’ve been saying for the last three years, or they got sick of my whining – either way, I’m pleased to note that my favourite French environmentalists Gojira were added to the lineup in January. (The thought that I had nothing to do with this announcement has, of course, not crossed my mind).

I’ve been a huge fan of this band for a couple of years now, and while I have all their releases (including the ridiculously hard to find debut, Terra Incognita), my favourite by far is their second album, The Link, partly because of the amazing percussion (including mallet percussion) parts. I’m fairly sure that these days we won’t be hearing many (if any) tracks off The Link but never mind, it’s all killer stuff.

I’m also a bit of a sucker for accents, and once listened to the beginning of an interview where the Gojira frontman said “’ello, my name is Jo-seeeeph Du-plant-i-aaaaaair” about 20 times in a row. So cute. Ahem.

Success: Gojira added to Wacken is a post from: hell bent for metal

In the leadup to Christmas, both Wacken and Summer Breeze announced one band every day – in the case of Summer Breeze, sometimes more than one – so their lineups, while not complete, are pretty well padded. Party.San didn’t get in on the advent trend, but they’ve made a few announcements in recent weeks that make us very happy metalheads indeed.

The biggest one for me is Sarke. This Norwegian black metal collaboration between Sarke himself and Darthrone’s Nocturno Culto played Wacken last year and I made sure I saw it because Tom G Warrior was making a guest appearance for a Celtic Frost cover. While I was expecting that to be awesome – and fuck, it really was – what I wasn’t expecting was to be blown away by the rest of their set. But they were great, and I’ve got the album now, and I think it’s going to be really fun to see them play at Party.San especially because it’s going to  be a much smaller and more intimate festival.

Other announcements that are pretty cool include Suffocation, Milkingthegoatmachine (check em out, hilarious stuff) and Dying Fetus. The full lineup so far is:

AURA NOIR
CANNIBAL CORPSE
DEMONICAL
DEVOURMENT
DYING FETUS
KETZER
MÅNEGARM
MERRIMACK
MILKING THE GOATMACHINE
MONSTROSITY
NECROPHAGIST
OFERMOD
SARKE
SUFFOCATION
SUICIDAL ANGELS
THE CROWN
THE DEVIL’S BLOOD
TRIBULATION
UNDER THAT SPELL
VARG
WATAIN

Party.San heating up is a post from: hell bent for metal

Well, we decided to harden the fuck up and our 2010 metal extravaganza tour will now have three stops: Wacken, Party.San and Summer Breeze.

Co-incidentally, this is the same route that Soundworks Metal Festival Travel will be taking – but we’re not going with them (although it’s a good deal they’re offering) as we have our own plans before and after.

In the lead up to Anti-Christmas this year, both Wacken and Summer Breeze have been announcing a new band every day (in the case of Summer Breeze, quite often two bands are announced). It’s a far cry from last year where Wacken didn’t announce anything at all for bloody ages and disappointed the hell out of everyone.

We now have an absolutely insane list of bands that we could potentially see. Several of then we will have the opportunity to see multiple times. It’s absolutely brutal.

Wacken

• 1349
• Arch Enemy
• Cannibal Corpse
• Crucified Barbara
• Despised Icon
• Endstille
• Grave Digger
• Immortal
• Motley Crue
• Slayer
• U.D.O.

And also Alice Cooper, Amorphis, Caliban, Corvus Corax, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Edguy, Ektomorf, Ghost Brigade, Iron Maiden, Kampfar, Lake of Tears, Orden Ogan, Primal Fear, Stratovarius, The Devil’s Blood, Torfrock, W.A.S.P.

Party.San

• Cannibal Corpse
• Suffocation
• Watain

And also The Devil’s Blood, Demonical, Aura Noir, Manegarm, Tribulation.

Summer Breeze

• 1349
• Ahab
• Behemoth
• Cannibal Corpse
• Dark Tranquillity
• Despised Icon
• Gorgoroth
• Hypocrisy
• Kylesa
• My Dying Bride
• Obituary
• Origin
• Sepultura
• War From a Harlot’s Mouth

And also Anathema, Asphyx, Barren Earth, Callisto, Cumulo Nimbus, Dark Funeral, Die Apokalyptischen Reiter, Dying Fetus, Eisbrecher, Eisregen, Ensiferum, Feuerschwanz, Fiddler’s Green, Freiwild, Gwar, Hail of Bullets, Ill Nino, Insomnium, Korpiklaani, Leaves Eyes, Letzte Instanz, Long Distance Calling, Maroon, Mono Inc, Necrophagist, Orphaned Land, Pantheon I, Poisonblack, Rebellion, Solstafir, Subway to Sally, Swallow the Sun, The Crown, The Devils Blood, Tracedawn, We Butter The Bread With Butter.

Tooo… much… metal!

New plans: three festivals is a post from: hell bent for metal

As a warm up for everyone, tonight’s clue was pretty simple – which artists current album is called Dominator. And the survey says – UDO, the awesomely angry little man (of Accept fame) with a kick ass voice. What a great start to proceedings!

Balls to the Wall is a post from: hell bent for metal

Dave and I were fortunate enough to win “meet and greet” passes with Arch Enemy at their show in Perth last week… which was heaps of fun! We got to meet most of the band but the person who was really cool to talk to was Sharlee D’Angelo, their bass player. Sharlee mentioned that while it wasn’t 100% final yet, the band were in negotiations to play Wacken 2010. Cool!

While there haven’t been any more official announcements for Wacken, Party.San, frontrunner for “additional festival in 2010” has had Cannibal Corpse, The Devil’s Blood and Demonical added to their existing list which includes Aura Noir, Manegarm, Suffocation, Tribulation and Watain. We missed CC due to a date clash when they played Perth last, so it would be awesome to see them – and even more so in a festival setting.

Summer Breeze has also had some announcements, including my favourite band Obituary. That one is the week after Party.San – so when we were planning to be in Poland — but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Anyone else making early plans for the 2010 European festival circuit?

More 2010 festival announcements is a post from: hell bent for metal