The 31. Wacken Open Air is in the books. At the world’s biggest metal festival, 83.400 fans witnessed spectacular shows by Judas Priest, Slipknot and Powerwolf. In total, more than 200 bands rocked nine stages, Sweden’s Amon Amarth even played an unannounced secret concert right underneath the famous Wacken skull. 

     The joy of finally being able to experience live music and a multi-faceted open air event with like-minded people from all over the world could be felt everywhere. Festival promoters Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen commented: "The Wacken Open Air is back – finally! We missed the festival as much as the fans did. Now we’re very much looking forward to next year’s edition, which will offer four full days of live concerts for the first time. Tickets go on sale this Sunday evening.“


     At a press conference held during the afternoon, police, fire department and emergency medical services as well as the local regulatory authority looked back on an exceptionally peaceful and trouble-free event. The number of occurrences in their respective fields all stayed below of those from 2019. For example, the number of times the fire brigade had to jump into action only was in the lower double digits, the number of cases for the police dropped by 60 percent.


Bands confirmed for 2023, four days of live music for the first time. A first glimpse of next year’s billing was announced on the main stages during the night. W:O:A 2023 will take place Aug 2-5, making it the first time the festival officially boasts four days of live music.

     Headlining the event will be the mighty Iron Maiden: There is not a single metalhead that doesn’t know them. And it’s hard to think of a band that has defined classic heavy metal as much as they have. So consequently, there might very well be no band that is a better fit for the "holy ground of metal“. So in 2023, Iron Maiden will return to headline at the Wacken Open Air for the fourth time! So get ready for impressive production, a passionate performance, amazing music and of course Eddie! It has been seven long years since those iconic words have been heard: "Scream for me, Wacken!“


     Also announced have been Megadeth from the USA, who are considered worldwide as originators of Thrash Metal and being part of the "Big 4“ of the genre. Also playing will be Irish-American folk-punks Dropkick Murphys and Jinjer from the Ukraine, one of the hottest bands in modern metal today. Two Steps From Hell, a duo from Los Angeles, have amassed millions of followers with their brand of „Epic Music“, used in thousands of movies, trailers, series, spots and games, turning them into the biggest in their field. At the W:O:A, their first festival ever and only festival in Europe in 2023, they will perform a special and unique Wacken set. Fans can look forward to doom pioneers Pentagram and their „50th Anniversary Show“, while death metallers  Deicide will celebrate their genre shaping sophomore album "Legion“ with a special show as well. More announcements are: Wardruna (atmospheric Nordic folk), Beartooth (hardcore), Ensiferum  (Viking metal), Nervosa (thrash), and Burning Witches (heavy metal). More bands to be follow.


     In 2023, there will be once again a theme running through the whole festival: vikings and their culture. This will manifest itself in the overall appearance of the W:O:A as well performances and additional content all over the festival site.


Pre-sale has begun,

Tickets for Wacken Open Air 2023 are now on sale at metaltix.com. Fast-Tickets are sold with an exclusive special shirt, but are limited to 10.000 units. As soon as they are gone, Hard-Tickets go on sale. Pre-sale details can be found at metaltix.com and, starting Sunday, at wacken.com.

     Metalheads that move fast could even get their hands on a real Harley Davidson motorcycle! Everybody purchasing a W:O:A ticket within the first 24 hours of the pre-sale starting is automatically entered eligible to win the this totally unique bike which has been customized with a high-class W:O:A paint job.


See you in Wacken. Rain or shine.
www.wacken.com

Canadian folk metal group Mongol head all the way over to East European for 13 dates across Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Latvia throughout May and June 1st. The band have been riding high since the release and critical success of their last album The Return which has turned into quite the sleeper hit for Sliptrick. Expect a high energy, gonzoid show from the boys full of theatre and rabble rousing tunes.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

15.05 | Old Pub | Zaporizhzhya, UKR
16.05 | Madisan | Kryvyi Rih, UKR
17.05 | Art Café Étage | Zhovti Vody, UKR
18.05 | Rocker Pub | Kremenchug, UKR
19.05 | Volume Club | Kyiv, UKR
22.05 | Hertz | Orel, RUS
23.05 | A Club | Smolensk, RUS
24.05 | Alibi | Moscow, RUS
25.05 | Irris | Vologda, RUS
26.05 | Music Box | Tver, RUS
30.05 | MCB | Jelgava, LV
31.05 | Black Pub Komin | Suwalki, PL
01.06 | Fontaine Palace | Liepaja, LV

The Return, the new album from Canadian folk metal group Mongol, is a concept album written about a Mongolian Prophecy that states that Genghis Khan will return from the grave to complete his conquest of the world. Intertwined within the tracks, you’ll find melodic harmonies that conjure imagery of the vast glory of a great united Empire, and the raw beauty of her homeland; but you will also hear ruthless thundering rhythms that recall the reckless unbridled violence of battle. R

Buy now from: Shop Sliptrick | iTunes | & other major stores
Listen to The Return on: Spotify

Mongol are:

Tev Tengri – Vocals
Zev – Guitar
Zelme – Guitar
Bourchi – Drums
Sorkhan Sharr – Bass
Sche-Khe – Keyboard/Folk Instruments

Facebook | Youtube | Twitter | Reverbnation | On Sliptrick

On March 8th, the Faroe Islands' Tyr will release their eighth full-length, "HEL", via Metal Blade Records. Hel is a collection of ruthlessly melodic and irresistibly compelling progressive folk metal that will immediately resonate with any who have followed the band at any point over the two decades of their storied career.

To celebrate the new album Tyr are about to hit the road across Europe alongside Dutch Folk Metallers Heidevolk and Hungarian Folk Metallers Dalriada. They'll be joined on stage by Attila Vörös (Nevermore, Satyricion and many more) again as the honorary fourth member of the new line-up. Previously Tyr has been reinforced by Tadeusz Rieckmann (known from Dalriada) on drums.

    “It's been way too long since we were on a headliner tour in Europe, and we are very excited to get back on the European roads - with our good Dutch friends, Heidevolk, and with Dalriada from Hungary - to play some of our new songs to you, as well as some of our old headbangers.”

A new song also has been launched, Fire and Flame can be listened below.

Týr "Fire and Flame" - www.youtube.com/watch?v=52GhQD0fW8s

After a successful tour with Korpiklaani and Arkona, Heidevolk is ready to embark on another European quest. As a co-headliner they will take you through ancient battlefields and mead-filled drinking halls in honor of "Vuur Van Verzet" their most varried release to date.

Heidevolk - Ontwaakt - www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhCnHJGk4TU

To make this nice power / pagan package complete Dalriada will join the party for their first ever mainland Europe tour with the latest album "NYÁRUTÓ"

DALRIADA - Búsirató - www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAeR3u9dHIc


TOUR DATES:

5-Apr-2019 Baroeg Rotterdam Netherlands
6-Apr-2019 Cafe Cental Weinheim Germany
7-Apr-2019 La Machine Paris France
8-Apr-2019 Le Rex Toulouse France
9-Apr-2019 Sala Salamandra Barcelona Spain
10-Apr-2019 Jas'Rod Marseille France
11-Apr-2019 Les Docks Lausanne Switzerland

12-Apr-2019 Musiczentrum Hannover Germany
13-Apr-2019 Durbuy Rock Bomal Belgium
14-Apr-2019 Z7 Pratteln Switzerland
15-Apr-2019 CCO Lyon France
16-Apr-2019 Le Grillen Colmar France
17-Apr-2019 Turock Essen Germany
18-Apr-2019 East Club Bischofswerda Germany

19-Apr-2019 Tartaros Banska Bystrica Slovakia
20-Apr-2019 Masters Of Rock Cafe Zlin Czech Republic
21-Apr-2019 Barba Negra Budapest Hungary
22-Apr-2019 Viper Room Wien Austria
23-Apr-2019 Backstage - Werk München Germany
24-Apr-2019 Doornrosje Nijmegen Netherlands
25-Apr-2019 Kaiserkeller Hamburg Germany
26-Apr-2019 Hellraiser Leipzig Germany
27-Apr-2019 Ragnarök Festival Lichtenfels Germany

www.facebook.com/tyrband
www.facebook.com/heidevolkofficial
www.facebook.com/Dalriadahu

Russian Folk/Black Metal pioneers Satarial are going to Europe in April-June 2018!

The band has recorded a video invitation!

30.03. - Bar Garage / Kaluga / RU
31.03. - Concert Hall Hertz / Oryol / RU
1.04. - Clubhouse / Bryansk / RU
5.04. - Ozi Pub/ Zory/ PL
6.04. - Zet Pe Te club/ Krakow/ PL
7.04. - Klub Kolečko/ Zilina/ SK
8.04. - Tartaros/ Banska Bistrica/ SK

13.04. - Elektrownia klub/ Zagan/ PL
14.04. - Farářova sluj/ Mlada Boleslav/ CZ
15.04. - CZ - TBA
19.04. - TBA
20.04. - Beteigeuze/ Ulm/ DE
21.04. - TBA
22.04. - TBA

25.04. - Erbrietas/ Zurich/ CH
27.04. - B52 club/ Eernegem/ BE
28.04. - Rockclub the Cave/ Amsterdam/ NL
1.05. - The Black Heart/ London/ UK
2.05. - The Peer Hat/ Manchester/ UK
3.05. - Glasgow / UK
11.05. - The One Metal Live/ Milan/ IT

12.05. - TBA
18.05. - Route 66 Barati Klub/ Budapest/ HU
19.05. - TBA
20.05. - TBA
25.05. - Live&Load/ Sofia/ BG

Tokyo based “Samurais from Hell”, Survive, will join Venom Inc + Suffocation on "Blood Stained Earth Tour 2018" in Europe, kicking off on March 9th in Bristol (UK). Other support will come from Brazilian thrashers Nervosa and Canadian ethnic symphonic metallers Aeternam. Further details can be found below.

BLOOD STAINED EARTH TOUR 2018
VENOM INC + SUFFOCATION + NERVOSA + AETERNAM + SURVIVE

3.9.Fri - Bristol (UK) “Bierkeller”
3.10.Sat- Manchester (UK) “Rebellion”
3.11.Sun - Glasgow (UK) “Audio”
3.12.Mon - Birmingham (UK) “Asylum” -
3.13.Tue - London (UK) “Islington Academy”
3.14.Wed - Opwijk (BEL) “Nosta”
3.15Thu - Paris (FRA) “Petit Bain”

3.16Fri - Eindhoven (NLD) “Dynamo”
3.17.Sat - Hamburg (GER) “Kultur Palast”
3.18.Sun - Aarhus (DEN) “Voxhall”
3.19.Mon - Copenhagen (DEN) “Pumpehuset”
3.20.Tue - Mannheim (GER) “MS Connexion”
3.21.Wed - Ingolstadt (GER) “Eventhalle Westpark”
3.22.Thu - Brescia (ITA) “Circolo Colony”

3.23.Fri - Bologna (ITA) “Zona Roveri”
3.24.Sat - Graz (AUT) “Xplosiv”
3.25.Sun - Budapest (HUN) “Barba Negra”
3.26.Mon - Cluj Napoca (ROM) “Form Space”
3.27.Tue - Vienna (AUT) “Viper Room”
3.28.Wed - Kosice (SVK) “Collosseum”
3.29Thu - Prague (CZE) “Futurum”
3.30.Fri - Dresden (Ger) “Eventwerk”
3.31.Sat - Katowice (Pol) “MegaClub”

http://www.rebel-survive.com – https://www.facebook.com/survive333
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlphaOmegaManagement

Marko Cipaktli (Drums / Harsh vocals)
Pat Cuikani (Vocals / Ocarinas)
Paul Belmar (Guitar)
Nakuset Gould (Bass)
Alex Navarro (Guitar)

Mexican symphonic folk metallers Cabrakaän will be hitting the road with Quebec's Valfreya and Alberta's Forsaken Rite for this year's "March Of The Frozen Western Canadian Tour". The tour will see the Mexican transplants whom now call Canada home and residing in Calgary, AB perform in three provinces during the month of February. During the tour, Cabrakaän will showcase new tracks from their upcoming 2018 full length "Cem Anahuac" due out in spring 2018 to follow their 2014 debut EP "Songs From Anahuac". 

Staying true to their roots, Cabrakaän's music combines elements of metal orchestrated with Mexican folklore along with a wide variety of instruments such as strings, acoustic guitars, Jarocha harp, marimba, ocarinas, Huehuetl, and Teponaztle. Their lyrics are in English, Spanish, Zapoteco, Nahuatl and other ancient Mexican languages. The band's name is based on a character from the Mayan sacred book known as the Popol Vuh, where Cabrakaän was the god of mountains and earthquakes. 

     "We are proud our roots and our culture and we want to share it with the world through our music. When we are on stage, we try to give our fans a great experience by creating an atmosphere from the time of the Aztecs, using costumes and make up. The purpose of our sets too is to give fans more of our culture visually and musically so they can connect with us and enjoy the performance even more." says drummer Marko Cipaktli.

Tour Dates:

Feb 15 - Kelowna, BC - Muninn's Post - info
Feb 16 - Calgary, AB - Distortion - info
Feb 17 - Edmonton, AB - The Forge On Whyte - info
Feb 18 - Regina, SK - Cloud 9 - info

Cabrakaän was formed in Toluca, Mexico in 2012 and have been calling Canada home since first performing in the country at the 2017 Metalocalypstick fest in Lone Butte, BC where the beauty of the North won them over and encouraged them make the grand decision to relocate.Their debut EP "Songs From Anahuac" was unleashed in 2014 and displayed a mix of death, folk, and symphonic European influences with Prehispanic instruments along with storytelling of Mesoamerican mythologies (Aztec, Mayan, Tlaxcaltecan, Olmecan) plus Mexican folklore such as La llorona, La Bruja, Day of The Dead.

Wasting no time in Canada, Cabrakaän are currently completing production on their follow up full length album entitled "Cem Anahuac" set for release in spring 2018. The album will be an expression of pride for their roots, history and traditions along with their love for metal and traditional music from their home country of Mexico.

http://www.facebook.com/cabrakaan  
http://www.twitter.com/cabrakaan 
http://www.youtube.com/cabrakaan  

Cellar Darling, the much-hyped new band formed by ex-Eluveitie members Anna Murphy, Merlin Sutter and Ivo Henzi, will release their first studio album on June 30th. Together they will lead you away into their world of apocalyptic tales and heavy riffs, to awaken your imagination and stretch your musical tastes. This highly anticipated debut album with astounding 14 brand new tracks is entitled ‘This Is The Sound’.

     “In less than a year we’ve formed a new band, written an album and come up with what we believe is our sound. This is who we are and we’re looking forward to what happens with it!” - Anna Murphy

     "This is it: this is the result of nearly one year of incredibly intense creativity, of ups and downs, of loss and gain. This is the most personal work of our lives. This Is The Sound.” - Merlin Sutter

The band showcased their freshly recorded songs two weeks ago for the very first time:

     "We’ve had the best time at our show in Lucerne earlier this month!", the band states. "For the first time, we got to play our brand new and freshly recorded songs live for you. We only wish that all of you who couldn’t make it, but who showed us such amazing support in the last year, could have been there with us. It was a magical and unique experience and we can’t wait for more.”

This was Cellar Darling’s very first performance after producing their debut album at New Sound Studio, under the watchful ear of the legendary producer and guitarist Tommy Vetterli (Coroner, Eluveitie). After an incredibly successful first show, the band will bring their new material, exclusively pre-release, to a few select clubs in Europe at the beginning of May. This is a unique chance to catch these intimate first shows before the release:

29th April – NL, Haarzuilens, Elfia Festival
5th May – SLO, Ljubljana, Orto Bar
6th May – I , Mantua,  Milady Metal Fest
7th May – D, Munich,  Backstage
14th July – CH, Bôle,  ParaBôle Festival
16th-19th Aug – D, Dinkelsbühl,  Summer Breeze
 
And in autumn, the travellers will embark on a journey together with symphonic metallers Delain
and Serenity:
 
26th Oct – F, Paris,  Alhambra
27th Oct – CH, Pratteln, Z7
28th Oct – D, Bochum, Zeche
29th Oct – D, Munich,  Backstage
31st Oct – NL, Utrecht, Tivoli Vredenburg
1st Nov – UK, London, Koko - http://www.koko.uk.com/listings/delain-01-11-2017

www.cellardarling.com | www.facebook.com/cellardarlingofficial

Ithilien announced a series of Belgian performances to present their forthcoming album "Shaping the Soul" which will be released on the 17th February worldwide via Wormholedeath/The Orchard and Aural Music!
 
Tour Dates

17.02 : Release Party @Vitamine Z (Wavre, Belgium)
25.02 : Release Party @StormFest (Ostend, Belgium)
15.04 : Trolls & Legendes w/ Korpiklaani (Mons, Belgium)
29.04 : Atelier Rock (Huy, Belgium)
05.05 : Chez Zelle (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

www.ithilien.be
www.facebook.com/Ithilien.Music
soundcloud.com/ithilien-folkmetal
twitter.com/ithilienmetal
www.youtube.com/user/Ithilienmusic
www.instagram.com/ithilien.folkcore.metal

Nail Records are happy to announce that Dalriada joins 70000 tons of Metal - the biggest metal cruise ship in the world - this February! Anthrax, Testament, Gojira, Therion, Death Angel, Arch Enemy, Testament, Moonsorrow, Pain, DevilDriver,  - just to mention some of the 60 bands playing.

Official statement from 70000 tons of Metal:

“We've got three more solid contenders for the Cripper Award for you Sailors! Throw your horns up for Dalriada from Hungary, Striker from Canada, and Witchtrap from Colombia! They will join you and 2,999 other die hard #Headbangers on board 70000 tons OF METAL, The Original, The World’s Biggest Heavy #MetalCruise! That brings the count to 59... which means there's only one more. Who will it be? You will know... SOON!”

Dalriada about the news:

"70000 Tons of Metal is definitely a huge step up for us. Cruising in the Caribbean, hanging out at the pool, slurping ridiculous cocktails while literally TONS of metal are shaking the boat! We didn’t even dream about a scenario, where one day WE, a bunch of drunk guys from Bumfuck Nebrahoma :) are gonna play at one of the most prestigious and exclusive metal festivals of the planet. Well, I guess there’s still a lot more to come. "

So get ready to check the leading folk metal band of Hungary! Historical themes, folk instruments, unique style. Ravishing melodies intertwined with the vast heritage of ancient Hungarian songs, thrilling legends and sagas which will make you weep and cherish life at the same time.

www.facebook.com/70000tons
www.facebook.com/Dalriadahu

Italian Gothic Metallers Lightless Moor are confirmed to support the Finnish Folk Metal Lords Korpiklaani and Iceland's Metallers Skalmöld on their shows in Tallinn and Riga, see the details below.

October 22nd
at Rockclub Tapper - Tallinn, Estonia
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/892860097485784/

October 23rd
at Melna Piektdiena - Riga
Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1148740015198418/

Lightless Moor's new album “Hymn for the Fallen” is out via Wormholedeath / Aural Music Group through worldwide digital market and CD. Watch “Qualcosa Vive Attraverso” official lyric video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqGvULr4GaU

http://www.lightlessmoor.com
https://www.facebook.com/LightlessMoor
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlphaOmegaManagement

https://www.facebook.com/korpiklaani
https://www.facebook.com/skalmold