WACKEN 2014 – latest May updates!

Three more Metal-Battle finalists confirmed!

Timewaves Wacken 2014Wacken – we can confirm three more Metal-Battle finalists that will enlarge this year´s billing once more.

The finals in Norway are over and the winner is a band called Timewaves. The band from Kristiansand beat all competitors and will now proceed to the finals in Wacken!  The music can be described as a mixture between death metal and extreme American metal with focus on groove and power. The lyrics are dark and personal, but the use of metaphors gives the listeners room to make their own interpretation.

Dismoral Wacken 2014Dismorial won the national Metal-Battle finals of the Caucasian Republics. The band combines styles of all the former bands the members have played in such as black, progressive death or even power metal
In the past the band already shared the stage with a lot of well known bands such as Horse the Band, Lake of Tears, Saturnus and Orphaned Land.
Now they are preparing for the biggest gig in their history so far: The Metal-Battle finals 2014 in Wacken!

Anstratus Wacken 2014Anstratus from Slovakia were founded in 2012 and have only one mission: Thrash Metal! After they won the national finals in Slovakia they have returned home to record the first songs for their upcoming EP and to prepare for the big finals in August in Wacken.

Congratulations to the finalists! We are looking forward to see you live on stage at this year´s Metal-Battle finale in Wacken.

W:O:A Soccercup 2014 – registration starts on May 28th

the Soccercup will take place at the W:O:A.
The winner team will get the inofficial title of the Soccer-Metalchampion.
WOA 2014 SoccercupAs from May 28th 2014 you can register for the cup at the page of the W:O:A Soccercup.

As every year you can win attractive awards and lots of fun.
You will find here or in the forum all further information like game mode, play time etc.

W:O:A Soccercupteam & Metal Train

Reminder: Your anthem for the festival!

There are already plenty of songs, official and unofficial ones, about the Wacken Open Air and all of them were presented as a fait accompli.

But not this time! We’re looking for an anthem for the upcoming W:O:A 2014 and we want to do this together with you! This means our motto “by fans for fans” isn’t only referring to the festival itself this year but also to the song for the fest.

What is it all about?
Starting by today, you can send self-written lyrics or even complete songs to us. The sent in material will be reviewed by a professional musical jury and us. Afterwards we will start two online votings, one for the lyrics and one for the complete songs.

The two best songs will be published for a final voting. To make this easier, we will pre produce the lyrics-only version.

Sounds great – what are the preconditions?
We’re looking for an international and timeless anthem! This means the bigger part of the lyrics must be in English. And we don’t need to say, that the lyrics should be catchy right? To sum it up: It should be an English sing-along song with a reference to our festival.

To avoid problems, you have to transfer the legal right of use to us. Don’t worry; we don’t want to earn money with your idea. All potential earning will be donated to the Wacken Foundation. And without these legal rights, we couldn’t use the song as our anthem.

After we found the winner, the song will be produced in a professional way and presented to you.

You are a musician? Maybe you can be part of the production too! But it’s also possible, that we will take professional musicians and/or have to change some parts of the song or the lyrics.

Regardless how: Your song will be part of the festival and its history!

The author of the hymn will also get one of the iconic W:O:A e-guitars from us – perfect to rock the anthem and other metal songs at home!

How can I send my song in?
You can send your lyrics to hymne@wacken.com until the 19th of May. Complete songs can be sent to the same address until the 31st of May.

Attention: Please check the size of the file! Files which are bigger than 5 megabytes must be sent via a service like Dropbox, Wetransfer, YouTube or Bandcamp.

Campground reservations 2014 – a few places are still available!

There are a few places still available, to participate at our optional campground reservations for groups with at least 50 people.

What is it about?

Campground U is dedicated to big groups with at least 50 persons. Every group has to announce how many persons, cars and tents they will bring to Wacken and we calculate the space they need.

Day of arrival is Wednesday, the 30th of July 2014. Every group needs an contact persons who runs the reservation for this group. This contact person has already to arrive on the 29th of July. This person must also sign the rules of the house for the group.

How can we participate?

If your are at least 50 people and if the rules and terms are fine for you, feel free to send an email to campgroundreservierung@wacken.com. We will raffle the last places!

Death Angel will return to Wacken after 10 years!

Death Angel Wacken 2014After 10 years of absence, we make the return of Death Angel happen! The US-American thrash force was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1982, which means they are one of the pioneers of the genre itself.

In 1991, the band started to pause and the musicians established projects like The Organization or Swarm.

About 10 years later, the band finally reunited, to play at the benefit festival Thrash-Of-The-Titans. Their last record was released last year. The Dream Calls for Blood is the seventh studio album so far.

The band fills the last slot at the Bullhead City Circus, which means they will close the festival!

More information about the band can be found here.

The running order, which was updated a little, can be found here.

band package fills some gaps at our side-stages at the Bullhead City Circus, the Wackinger Village and the beer garden. And also the church of Wacken will open again for a very special concert!

In addition, the Running Order was enlarged, the stages inside the Bullhead City Circus were added. You can find the Running Order here.

Mixed band package for the side-stages and enlarged Running Order

Hell Wacken 2014Hell The British heavy metal band Hell can’t be categorized easily. The band which was found 1982 is often described as ahead of time. The music combines elements from genres like thrash, power, speed, doom and power metal, but most time they are mentioned as an NWoBHM band.

After some demos and one EP, the band split up due to the death of singer Dave Halliday. In 2008, the band reunited and in 2011, they finally released their first real studio album.

Arthemis From power to heavy and thrash: Arthemis have changed their musical style, but they haven’t lost anything of their energy! They will rock the W:O:A for the first time this year.

Hämatom The German thrash/NDH band Hämatom is going to hit Wacken for the second time. Since their first show at Wacken, they have released a lot of new material – get ready for a wild show with fresh sounds.

John Diva & The Rockets Of Love Hair metal at its best! Band founder John Diva worked as a coach, manager and songwriter for legends like KISS, Van Halen, Guns N` Roses or Aerosmith. He was also involved at the songwriting of great songs like Poison, Here I Go Again or You Give Love A Bad Name – songs which he is going to play with his own band at Wacken 2014!

Starchild The all new power metal band Starchild is going to hit Wacken with their first album!

Victims of Madness Our community band Victims of Madness is going to rock Wacken again! A lot of fun is guaranteed, when the band celebrates classic metal hits with a continual changing lineup of musicians.

Neopera The band from Hamburg is a project of some Gamma Ray and Dark Age members and combines metal and classical music. Their debut album Destined Ways will be released on the 11th of July.

FORK The a-capella quartet FORK from Finland comes to Wacken. The band is well known for their unconventional shows, their own compositions and also their cover versions.

Sacred Season Another band from the first Wacken Open Air returns to the holy ground!

Eric Fish & Friends The church of Wacken will again open its gates for a special concert! Subway to Sally singer Eric Fish is going to perform a special acoustic set with some friends.

The stage in our Bavarian beer garden gets two all new acts: Asrock (hard rock) and Los Vagabundos (acoustic metal). And also our unique Mambo Kurt and the legendary Wacken Firefighters will return!

The lineup for our Wackinger Stage grows too! Dordeduh (Folk/ Black Metal), Faun (Pagan Folk), Saor Patrol (Folk) and Mr. Hurley & die Pulveraffen (pirate rock) will rock the stage!

The return of a legend – Slayer will rock our Anniversary!

Slayer Wacken 2014The thrash metal Titans Slayer returns to W:O:A after repeated fan requests. For the third time, the American elemental force will force the amps to smoulder and the throats to get hoarse at Wacken.

Slayer is rocking the metal world since 1981 and they have recruited a real army of fans within this time. The last Slayer Album, World Painted Blood, was released five years ago and they haven’t played in Wacken since 2010.

But just one week ago, the band presented the all new song Implode and announced a new album which will be released in early 2015.

We are looking forward to welcome the Bay Area thrashers at our Anniversary! They will smash the True Metal Stage in the night from Friday to Saturday.

More at Billing/Bands.

Links:

http://www.wacken.com

https://www.facebook.com/WackenOpenAir.official

 

About Sheila

Former Editor, Team Co-ordinator as well as PR, news poster, pass requester, Ex-Scottish Team Leader for PM since 2011 \m/ \m/ Also owner of the infamous Garfield L'arpie, who is a official mascot of RACPA UK. Check out RACPA UK (Rock Against Child Pornography and Abuse UK) http://www.racpauk.org/