For the third time running, Metal over Malta is set to transform the Buskett woodlands with melodic riffs, death growls and a rockin’ good time. Meet this year’s participating bands.

With a line-up that features some of Malta’s top metal bands and a number of foreign entries, this year’s edition of the metal festival is set to gather all the metalheads in one big celebration of the genre.  The festival is hosted by Weeping Silence, who are just back from extensive touring abroad, and who are signed up to German recording label  Masscare Records, and takes place on Friday and Saturday at Chateau Buskett, Buskett. A preparty is being held on Thursday at Funky Monkey, Gżira. Tickets are available at the door.

www.metalovermalta.com

Orphaned Land

Israel’s breakthrough band Orphaned Land – the pioneers of Oriental metal – recently returned with All Is One and an in-your-face message for everyone to embrace: “People should be judged by their hearts and inner sincerity, not their religious beliefs.”

Something beyond melodic death metal, black metal and folk metal, Orphaned Land doesn’t base their music on myths that other bands sing about. They focus on situations in the real world that are happening right here, right now. You’d be hard pressed to find any other musicians in Israel that have influenced so many people outside the country’s borders. In the eye of opposing religious views Orphaned Land are, in many ways, considered enemies. There’s no escaping the fact, however, that the band’s music has broken down those barriers and unified a community.

Forsaken

Forsaken remain one of the most consistent and long-standing bands in Malta’s underground scene throughout its 25-year existence. The band started out as progressive metallers Blind Alley and adopted the epithet Forsaken shortly after the recruitment of ex-Kremation and Vandals bassist Albert Bell in July 1991. The new line-up set about writing new material that displayed an array of influences among the plethora of sub-genres in the heavy metal scene.

Poem

Poem is a four-piece progressive rock/metal group based in Athens. With a wide range of influences and love for experimentation, Poem embarked on a sound adventure defining their personal style from the very first songs. The four members have various musical backgrounds which they bring into the studio and rehearsals, creating music that none of them could compose alone. They like to experiment with different sounds and rhythms, so jamming freely is a liberating process for each member separately and also a very unifying process for the band.

Abysmal Torment

Abysmal Torment emerged as a violent death metal bullet destined to spread ear crushing brutality. Musically, the band relies on speed stimulated tempos, breakdowns, technical riffing and a dual assault of varying gurgling vocals. A glance at the lyrical content illustrates that there is no ordinary gory mentality at work here and the knowledgeable treatment of the subject matters add more depth to the Abysmal Torment mix.

Loch Vostok

Born out of the ashes of Mayadome, with the intention and starting position of anything goes, the band started out in defiance of the rules of composition. Hence, Loch Vostok was born. As the band members say, playing in a somewhat unorthodox band was liberating and allowed them to infuse whatever style they wished into the band.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dimlight

Dimlight’s music can be characterised as symphonic death metal blended with dark symphonic elements, aggressive guitars, sharp female vocals but also deep and eerie brutal shouts. The band has toured extensively in Europe and has shared the stage with Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, Epica, Septic Flesh, Rotting Christ, Firewind, The Haunted, Delain, Xandria, Vision of Atlantis, Leaves Eyes, Sirenia and Annihilator.

Saille

Saille is a Belgian black metal band formed in 2009 by Dries Gaerdelen. The band consistently incorporates classical instruments (like the cello, violin, cornet, trumpet and euphonium) into their compositions, as well as strong influences from black metal. Their songs include both black screams and death growls, with every now and then even clean vocals. Lyrically, Saille handles what they call “the fearful, the uncanny and the weird”.

Weeping Silence

Weeping Silence plays a blend of male and female fronted gothic-doom metal.
The band was formed in 1998 as an atmospheric doom metal act. Over the years, it has appeared on stage at several festivals and concerts. In 2013, Weeping Silence was nominated for the Best Heavy Metal Band award in the national Malta Music Awards and also won the Best Band of the Year 2012 at the Female Metal Webzine awards.

Animamortua

Animamortua is a Maltese metal band influenced by various styles such as thrash metal, power metal and speed metal. Formed in June 2015 by ex-Relicuia members Juan Xerri (vocals), Clayton Cini (guitars, also Thy Legion drummer) and Josef Bray (drums), they rounded out their first line-up with Steve Azzopardi on bass and quickly found their own style, where they incorporated melody in the guitars and topped it off with powerful melodic vocals. 2015 saw the addition of guitarist Emanuel Portelli from Victims of Creation. The band is currently working hard to finish their debut album, which is targeted for release this year.

Civil War

The Swedish metal generals present twin guitars, keyboard fanfares and doublebass marches. Civil War is a power metal band formed in 2012 by several former members of Sabaton. The band adopted the same lyrical themes of war and historical battles that were characteristic of Sabaton.

Desecrate

Born in 1995 Desecrate immediately become protagonist in the Italian underground scene. The band stopped in 2001 due to several musical disagreement between members, but got back together in 2010. Throughout it all, they remain faithful to their sound – European matrix death metal, bound fast to the earlier 1990s aggressive and scratching sonority, which together with the constant use of the piano, contribute to the creation of a very personal sound.

Preach

The band known as Preach is a testament to why Swedish metal is held in such high regard throughout the world. With their straightforward riffs, melodic hooks and in-your-face vocals they deliver metal as it’s supposed to be. Hard, heavy and passionate. Preach has always been known as a solid live performance act and they have done several tours and festivals over the years in various countries. Their energetic and relentless live presence has also resulted in supporting slots for major bands.

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