There are your standard heavy metal festivals – and there is 70000TONS OF METAL. Just imagine: You’ve just returned from a beautiful island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after spending hours enjoying the sun and white sand on a wonderful Caribbean beach. Feeling the warm wind blowing in your face, you are now sitting in a hot tub on a giant cruise ship, up close to a large stage, headbanging to your favourite band. You are watching from one of six whirlpools with a direct view of the stage on the pool deck, which is the biggest open air stage structure to sail the seas. It’s loud. It’s full of metalheads from all over the world. Sounds perfect? Well, it is ......

It’s been more than a week now since most fans have returned home from a more than successful 70000TONS OF METAL 2018 - round 8, more than a few of them still suffering from a serious case of PCD (post cruise depression) following four incredible days on board the Independence Of The Seas. More than 3,000 metalheads boarded the ship together with 61 bands, each of which was going to perform at least two shows (124 shows on 4 stages in total) during this unique event at sea. Some fans spent the shore day in Turks and Caicos with their favourite band during one of the various artist-led shore excursions. Picture yourself swimming with Meshuggah in the awe inspiring presence of majestic stingrays, or snorkeling with Aborted and Exhumed by your side to make you feel safe. Wolves on a safari? Sure, go on a coast-to-coast island tour with Wolfchant!

On top came the one of a kind All-Star performance “Jamming With Waters in International Waters” featuring members e.g. from Kreator, Sabaton, Cannibal Corpse, Destruction, Sonata Arctica, Meshuggah, Enslaved, Primal Fear, Dark Tranquility, Voivod, Seven Spires and many more, playing all time heavy metal and hard rock classics together on stage for the first time ever.

And there was another premiere, a record rather, that no one expected to be broken after last year’s peak of 74 different nationalities represented on board: 2018 beat 2017 by one more nation and proved once again that 70000TONS OF METAL is the most global cruise, uniting 75 nations on board this year. Germany, USA and Canada were among the top five of the most represented nations aboard. The youngest sailor was only 1 year old, the oldest turned 79 on the ship.

Coming up: Round 9

So watch out, Sailors: After the cruise is before the cruise. Fans can already look forward to round 9 of 70000TONS OF METAL, THE original, The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise sailing from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale to Labadee, Haiti and back, January 31 – February 4, 2019.

In just one week, Benighted will embark on a great adventure by touring parts of Asia and India. The French death grind maniacs will perform in Dubai, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Vocalist Julien Truchan comments on behalf of the band: "Hey fellows! It's time for Benighted to bring the 'Necrobreed' madness to the East! We are stoked to announce our very first tour in Asia and India to be starting soon this November! We can hardly wait to see you all at our shows and discover how crazy your mosh-pits are in India, Dubaï, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam... stay sick and see you on tour!"

Benighted will be touring in support of their latest album 'Necrobreed', which was released on February 17th.

www.facebook.com/brutalbenighted

Singaporean Grindcore trio Wormrot have announced dates for a 2017 European headlining tour.

After a five-year hiatus, Wormrot are finally back, and will be touring in support of their eagerly-anticipated new album, 'Voices', which is due to be released worldwide on October 14th. The 'Voices' EU / UK tour kicks off on February 22nd in Antwerp, Belgium, marking the band's long-awaited return to the continent.

Wormrot guitarist Rasyid comments:

          "We're excited for our first tour in years and it feels like returning to where it all started. We'll be playing most of 'Voices' and some old ones, and we hope to see the same crazy crowd as before."

To celebrate the tour announcement, the band have also released a brand new song. "'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Grind' is one of the earlier songs we wrote which signalled a subtle change in our direction for 'Voices'," adds Rasyid. "It encapsulates the feel of the whole album nicely."
Check out "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Grind" now by clicking here 


Voices EU / UK Tour 2017

Feb. 22 - Antwerp, Belgium - Het Bos
Feb. 23 - London, UK - The Underworld
Feb. 24 - Manchester, UK - Rebellion
Feb. 25 - Leeds, UK - Temple of Boom
Feb. 27 - Hamburg, Germany - Hafenklang
Feb. 28 - Berlin, Germany - Cassiopeia
Mar. 01 - Vienna, Austria - Viper Room
Mar. 03 - Tilburg, Netherlands - Netherlands Death Fest

'Voices' features 20 brand new songs and is available to pre-order now on limited edition signed CD and vinyl, as well as regular CD and vinyl, and merch bundles. Reserve your copy now in Europe at http://webstore.earache.com/wormrot or in North America at http://uswebstore.earache.com/wormrot
The album is also available to pre-order now on iTunes, including instant downloads of "Fallen into Disuse" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Grind", here http://bit.ly/wormrot-voices-itunes

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