Okay, okay, I know I just wrote a post, but I was looking through the band list and noticed there was one more logo than usual(last time I checked the columns were even). After working from the bottom of the list back up, I finally for to the top and saw that Airbourne have been announced. For those not familiar, these boys are the closest thing to pub rock we have left. They had toured with my liege, Lemmy Kilmister and Motorhead but went back to do US shows and didn’t make the Perth gig, which I was pretty annoyed at. Their debut album Runnin Wild was released in Oz last year and after hearing 1 song(I have no idea where) I grabbed a copy. It has gotten kickass reviews everywhere I have looked and I’m unbelievably excited not only that an Australian band will be there on a big stage, and that it’s not Powderfinger or Silverchair.

In the past year, Perth has had a pretty lucky run with international metal acts coming over for a beer and a lamington. We were visited by bands the likes of Motorhead, Heaven and Hell(Black Sabbath), Megadeth, Static X, Trivium, MachineHead, Amon Amarth(I could go on, but there is only a limited amount of merch in my line of sight).

With lots more metal coming up for the year there are a few chances for Wacken-bound Aussies to double up and see bands in our homeground for small shows and again in the massive crowd where the experience will by completely different. So far, within the last year(give or take a month) punters could have seen Hatebreed, Killswitch Engage, Iron Maiden and Obituary. We can also watch the melodic awesomeness of Soilwork and the epic riffs of Children of Bodom before ‘W Day’. Where some people might think doubling up is a bad thing, these bands all rock. Seeing them go nuts in a smaller crowd, then a full stage show with tens of thousands of metalheads from all over the world are both awesome ways to see bands you love. How do I know? Well, I don’t really, but I will let you know in August.

One of the bands I’m most looking forward to seeing is Obituary.

I got my first real introduction to the band shortly before seeing them live last year. I was tasked with writing a review for FasterLouder and figured I’d better get up to speed quick. After a bit of research and then a kick-arse live set, I was sold: old-school Florida death metal for the win!

FasterLouder Live Review: Obituary rips up Club Capitol, Perth

Luckily for me, all the Obituary albums have been re-released recently so I was able to stock up quite easily. And I was pretty excited to hear about their newest effort, Xecutioner’s Return, which is meant to be more in line with the older Obituary stuff. MetalUnderground just posted my review of that album (and here’s a hint: I really really liked it):

MetalUnderground CD Review: Obituary - Xecutioner’s Return

So I suspect that Obituary might be one of my Wacken highlights. I’m a particularly huge fan of both Donald Tardy’s drumming and John Tardy’s hair.

Their MySpace page says they’re the heaviest band in the world, and I think I actually believe that.

I haven’t really mentioned that the headline act is Iron Maiden. I’m not particularly overjoyed, or annoyed, but happy enough to be able to see them play. They did manage to come to Perth earlier this year, but I chose to ditch this gig in favour for seeing them with 60,000 other metalheads from all over the world rocking out in a massive rockin’ mosh pit. We all know where the goatlady stands with Maiden, but I will admit, even with the stupid clothes, even with the pants of Bruce Dickinson, yes, THE Bruce Dickinson, I still think they are pretty awse.

The Trooper is still one of my favourite songs of all time, and I have been trying to learn how to play it on and off for a few months, but, I’m quite lazy. In the clip you can hear the awesome tunes, you can see the funny outfits and you can… well.. make up your own mind. I don’t actually own a single Maiden cd, but I’m familiar with all the ‘hits’, so I guess, yeah, I am looking forward to seeing them. The only drawback is that Iron Maiden are such epic a band, there is a good chance there won’t be another band with the same mighty influence appearing on the list. Not that I don’t love the line up already, but hey, with a lot of other great bands in the area there might be a few surprises still to come.

Speaking of epic:

Based on the Wacken forums, there will be approximately 64,997 crazy metalheads joining us for the festival. Nice of all those people to make the trip out just for us, really.

One of the most important parts of the planning will be working out our base camp. A big ass Aussie flag is definately in order, but we probably also need the Jolly Roger too, just like the one hanging in our lounge room. It’s a pirate thing… it’s… ahh… too hard to explain right now.

Further to reporting that 60,000 tickets to WOA 08 had been sold… it’s now completely sold out. According to the site, "campsite maps, running orders and volumes of the full metal bag" will be released in the next few weeks.

Running orders - that’s when the real planning begins. With 60 bands announced so far and only three days… well, you do the math.

What they don’t tell you is exactly how many tickets that is. What’s capacity, 65,000? 70,000? More?

So the inquisition has started. I have swallowed my pride and checked out a few myspace pages, and after the pages constantly screwing up and not playing anything, I was able to check out:

• Warbringer
• Powerwolf
• Cantus Buranus
• Lordi
• Destructor

I may have gotten really lucky here, because I’m actually not that huge a fan of doom metal or technical brutal’ death metal this festival could have turned out pretty average for me. Luckily the above bands surprised me with some really kickass demos. In addition to the bands I am already familiar with, this is shaping up to be a ridiculously awesome show.

The Good(power and symphony)

I would describe Powerwolf and Cantus Buranus as epic, its as simple as that. Powerwolf are a band that play big chords, use somewhat symphonic vocals and just have a huge melodic sound. Im actually willing to look past the fact that their page crashed my browser twice because when the demos actually did load I was in a world of rockin’ tunes. When I listened to Cantus Buranus it took me quite a while to realise they there werent actually any words. They are a symphonic/operatic metal band and from what I hear, it almost sounds like a heavy metal choir performance. These would be bands to see sober and really appreciate. However, I don’t really intend on seeing too many bands without a tasty hop-laden beverage.

The Badass(shredders)

Destructor sound like an awesome old school thrash band, which is really where my heart lies. Speedy guitars and 80s thrash inspired vocals are FTW. Warbringer are another band out of the US that rock and rock hard. They are fast and freakin loud and the vocals have a Tom Araya feel to them. I just love seeing these kinds of bands live, these are usually the bands that have slugged it out in pubs and throw around the fastest, rockinest riffs with the ease that only comes from years upon years of constant shredding. These are bands I would love to see after a few drinks and when I’m at my rowdiest.

The Ugly(they’re just damn ugly)

I’ve seen quite a few pics of masked/face painted death metallers, but Lordi are just in their own league. I had kind of seen rough pictures but nothing that wasn’t slightly blurred or pixelated. After hearing about them only after the Eurovision win I wasn’t really going to look them up either. However, Dave showed me and I must say, I am damn impressed. They will definately be entertaining with what I can safely assume will be a huge stage show, complete with ugly costumes, fire and awesome tunes.

Stay tuned for more Metal Inquisition \m/

According to Blabbermouth, 60,000 tickets have been sold for Wacken 2008 so far. We have three of ‘em right here, numbered in the low 16,000’s - yeah, we didn’t mess around (too much).

All I can think is that’s a LOT of people crammed into a 1km square paddock.

So Kay kinda spoiled it all by giving away the plot line… hrumph. Visiting Poland will certainly be interesting, I have not been back since I was 8, which was… a long time ago, no more needs to be said. 6 days is nowhere near enough to go and explore everything, but it’s a start for now.

I really hope we can catch some death metal there. Behemoth would be excellent - their Perth show this year was mind blowing, and they are one of my favourite bands. Vader would likewise be an experience, we have not had a chance to see them live yet.

I would really like to see Decapitated again (after their amazing show here in Perth last year), but since the band is on hiatus this will not happen. For those not in the know, their tour bus crashed in Russia late last year, and Witek (their drummer) died from his injuries. Covan (lead singer) was badly hurt but is recovering. It was a helluva shock when I read the news, it really hits you in the gut to find out that someone who was so young and had so much talent will not be around anymore - RIP Witek 1984-2007.

Visiting my friend in Slovenia will certainly be an experience. We’ve never met before, but we have done work for the company he works for, so we get to talk quite often. When I asked the question “how about we drop in for a beer in July?”, his first reponse was “omg, I need to stock up on supplied”. So that will DEFINATELY be an experience in liver punishment… but we all know, the liver is evil and must be punished.

The Wacken Open Air festival itself is from July 31 to August 2… but we’d be nuts to fly halfway across the planet and not visit anywhere else. Plus Dave isn’t allowed to set foot inside the continent of Europe without visiting his relatives in Poland. I don’t even want to think what the consequences of that would be.

So, the plan of action is thus:

Monday 14th July: leave Perth at around 4pm. 2 hour stopover in Singapore (just enough time to stock up on extra memory cards and various other electronic necessities)

Tuesday 15th July: arrive in Frankfurt at an ungodly hour of the morning. Hang out in the airport for 3 hours and then board plane to Krakow. Arrive Krakow at 10am, refreshed, rested and ready for our holiday (yeah right).

We’re spending 6 nights in Krakow. Apparently this place has more pubs per square metre than anywhere else in the world. As well as giving Dave some time to catch up with his relatives, we hope to visit some of the local attractions (like these insane salt mines), eat much of the local food (pierogi anyone) and hopefully catch some authentic Polish death metal. So if anyone is reading this and knows where to find out about upcoming gigs please let us know!

Monday 21st July: fly from Krakow to Munich to catch connecting flight to Ljubljana, Slovenia. From here a friend of Dave’s is gonna pick us up and drive us to his home town of Jesenice, where we will drink volumes of the local beer which I’ve heard is excellent. We may even have time to look around at what life in a small town in Slovenia is like.

Wednesday 23rd July: fly from Ljubljana in the early afternoon to Vienna then onto Rome that evening.

We’re spending 5 nights in Rome. We’re essentially going to walk around looking at old stuff and eating. Saturday is Al’s birthday so I imagine there’ll be drinking as well. Also if there’s any metal to be found, we’ll be onto it.

Monday 28th July: An afternoon of flying, from Rome directly to Hamburg.

Hamburg is our last stop before Wacken, so we’ll be mentally preparing, doing some liver conditioning, and stocking up on things we may need (sleeping bags, booze, snacks etc). Then on Wednesday we’re hiring a car and driving the hour-odd to Wacken, a tiny village of (normally) around 1800 people. Approximately 65,000 other people will have the same plan, so it should be fun.

The festival starts on Thursday 31st July and goes til Saturday 2nd August, so we’ll be camping four nights from Wednesday for whatever sleep we may need (probably not much). We’re going to bring a big-arse Aussie flag to attach to the car somehow so we won’t get too lost (hopefully).

Then on Sunday 3rd August in the morning we’re packing up and driving back to Hamburg to stay the night, where we will need to shower several times each I’m sure. Another day in Hamburg, then Monday night we fly back to Perth with another 3 hour stopover in Singapore (it’ll be Tuesday 5th August and very late at night when we get in). I imagine we’ll be too broke to buy anything by then.