FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Day three of this year’s 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise started off at Grand Turk with fun in the sun and continued into the late hours, with live sets from Metal Church, Helloween, Nile, Immolation, Doro and many, many more
Live review by Adrien Begrand; Live photos by Marc Hansen, Michael Jagla, Ag Babin, and Adrien Begrand.
After attending Barge to Hell in December, I had absolutely no idea that I’d be returning to Miami some five weeks later to the same port, the same ship, the same crew even, to cover the third annual 70,000 Tons of Metal. But as anyone will tell you, when you have a chance to go on the craziest cruise around, let alone one of the very best metal festivals in the world, you don’t pass it up.
Live review by Adrien Begrand; Live photos by Marc Hansen, Michael Jagla, and Ag Babin.
“Although I did see the inaugural version of Paganfest, I’ve missed the rest throughout the past few years due to whatever reason. Sometimes the tour date didn’t come quite close enough and sometimes it was a job issue. But with the lineup for this year’s show being pretty awesome and the measly one hour drive requirement to get to the show, I felt the only choice was to go and get my metal on.”
Live review and photos by Justin Richardson
“There is something about Paganfest that is magical. Someone on my Twitter feed referred to it as “the Comic-Con of metal shows” and I can’t think of a more apt description. The cosplayers were certainly out in force, from warriors carrying drinking horns and wearing utili-kilts to pirate wenches in striped tights. Before a single note was played, I saw foam swords, pirate flags, inflatable moneys, and even one memorable chain mail bikini. This show was all about the pageantry, about proclaiming your allegiance to one of the pagan metal subcultures, whether that be Russian folk or Roman Centurion. It made the audience a part of the entertainment, and made the ridiculous length of the show a lot more bearable.”
Natalie Zed reviews the April 2nd Toronto performance of the 2012 travelling Paganfest featuring Turisas, Alestorm, Ex Deo and more.
This album isn’t breaking any new ground, but if you’re a fan of clean-voiced heavy/melodic/viking metal (with some power metal mixed in) this album is for you.
Thematically, Turisas sustain their mostly historical bent with eyes turned toward Byzantium, though any storytelling takes back seat to the triumphant tone and exultant crusade invoked by the music itself.
Jonathan Smith reviews the Feb 26th Toronto performance by Cradle of Filth, Nachtmystium, Daniel Lioneye and Turisas. Live photos by Albert Mansour