SO MANY BANDS: Grimfest 2021 has been announced!
2021 will be the year where 22 outstanding bands will be performing live at the very first edition of the virtual festival GRIM FEST 2021. The festival will be streamed on YouTube and shared to various social media portals, on Saturday, 14th August.
Sharing the festival with these talented bands we will be having 22 major music celebrities sending their special shout outs to both bands and fans alike. The idea behind this is to entwine both major and upcoming artists in a single showcase to deliver one simple message to: Stay Safe! Stay Metal! Each celebrity is coupled with an artist and will be delivering their message with each band performance.
Some of the major celebrities partaking are: The Maltese nationals Noel Mifsud & Mike Bugeja (Rock DJ / Journalist), Frank Godla (Metal Injection), Sakis (Rotting Christ), Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride), Flegias (Necrodeath), Mariangela Demurtas (Tristania / Ardours), Tina Gunnarsson (Hexed), Axxel (Stallion), Marc Storace (Krokus), Guernica Mancini (ThunderMother), Rob Moschetti (M.O.D / Pro Pain), Marcelo Leal (Ill Nino), Trevor Strnad (The Black Dahlia Murder), Frank Calleja (Beheaded / Slit / It Came from the Desert), Diva Satanica (BloodHunter / Nervosa), Ingar Amlien (Crest of Darkness), Zel (Ancient), Jørgen Munkeby (Shining / Emperor), Justin Biggs (Sorcerer), Rob the Witch (Necronomicon) & Tony Dolan (Venom Inc). Industry professional Matt Bacon of Dropout Media will be presenting the fest!
The participating bands are: Ghost on Mars combines dark and melancholic atmospheres with metal traditions, trying to recreate their personal approach to dark metal. The songs are inspired by films, books and stories belonging to the sci-fi culture.
Established in 2015, Aether is an actively performing epic melodic death metal act from Poland. The band has already played more than 40 concerts all over Poland and released and EP Tale of Fire in September of 2016 and a full-length album In Embers was released on the 1st of June, 2019.
Ephemeral hails form Thessaloniki the queen in the North of Greece and home of powerful Rock and Metal acts. The band started creating music inspired by the rotten economic crises which sent people into heavy depression, anxiety isolation and pessimism. The band recorded their debut EP VII to help inspire and encourage people during these difficult times.
Founded in 2016, Aeolian is a metal band based in Mallorca. They are trying to raise awareness of the need to protect our damaged and fragile environment through their music and lyrics. Their main musical influence can be described as a combination of Scandinavian and melodic death metal with elements of black and folk metal.
Black Therapy plays gloomy and sorrow-fuelled Italian Melodic Death Metal, with catchy melodies and a perfect balance of aggression and dark, doomy atmosphere. The band released three albums and toured Europe with major acts such as Dark Tranquillity & Arch Enemy.
Moonshade are the Lusitanian response to the more melodic side of death-metal, with a charismatic and deeply personal sound signature that mixes a myriad of other musical influences going beyond the genre. Moonshade continue their ongoing rampage through the metal scene, musically redefining the beauty in chaos, death and despair.
Re-Armed is a melodic death metal band from Kerava, Finland. The band mixes their melodic death metal and thrash metal influences bringing them together and putting a modern feel to the music they create. The band released x4 albums and an Ep with different lables and toured Europe in support of Chimaira, Suffocation, Origin, Cattle Decapitation and Canadian Death Metallers Cryptopsy. They also played the infamous Bloodstock Open Air in the UK.
DANGEROUS TIMES FOR THE DEAD is a Dutch Heavy Metal band that sounds they have been transported straight out of the 80. A hard & heavy, classic but fresh sound, truly makes them a part of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal. Full of energy, entertaining and powerful, epic guitar solos, thumping bass and drums and a singer who cuts through all this violence with true heavy metal, high-pitched vocals. What makes them stand apart is their unique, fresh and modern-day approach, both in sound and online presence. Their goal is to passionately blast out traditional Heavy Metal.
Hailing from GOZO, the land of the Megalithic Temples in the heart of the Maltese archipelago islands, UPPER LIP spurs nostalgic, groovy Hard Rock music with a passion to its genre! The band has just been recently signed to ‘Pride & Joy music’ (Germany) and released their very first debut album Deep Within to a very warm media welcome!
Hailing from Cancun, Mexico – Jet Jaguar plays Nostalgic Heavy Metal since 2014! In August 2017, JET JAGUAR received worldwide recognition by being the first Hispanic American band to ever win the Wacken Open Air Metal Battle in Germany. The band also toured Latin America and Europe. Endless Nights was finally released in July 17th, 2020 under German label Pride & Joy Music.
Hailing from the Romanian shores of the Black Sea, the progressive metal outfit White Walls was founded in 2009. The band is associated with genres such as progressive metal, metalcore and melodic metal. White Walls played next to many big names in the metal scene such as: Deftones(US), Meshuggah(SE), The Ocean(DE), Symphony X(US), Apocalyptica(FI), Pain of Salvation(SE), Decapitated(POL), Haken(UK), Enter Shikari(UK), to name a few. The band is currently promoting their latest album GRANDEUR.
Based in Malta, Align The Tide are (now) a powerful quintet delivering active nu-metal / metalcore with attitude. Since their inception in 2015, the band have released, one album – DEAD RELIGION, two videos, signed to Cleopatra Records (USA) and toured the US in support to the legendary MUSHROOMHEAD. They have also performed at several gigs and festivals in Europe. The band has just finished recording their second album – HOLLOW for a late release in 2021 via the same label.
Abyzz has been around for the past 26 years playing their own style of Death Metal with several albums out. They are based in Thüringen, Germany. Their latest opus A Reborn Plague was released just exactly a couple of days before the pandemic hit the globe!
Formed in 1991, Tortharry have been blasting the crowds with their might and aren’t going to stop now! The band is currently released their 10th studio album – ALTARS OF IGNORANCE and preparing to tour in 2021. Tortharry have shared the stage with heavy weights such as BENEDICTION, SINISTER, NAPALM DEATH, BEHEMOTH, VADER, SEPULTURA, SUFFOCATION, BELPHEGOR, DESTRUCTION, SAMAEL, GORGOROTH, GRAVE, PESTILENCE, ROTTING CHRIST, HATE, DARK TRANQUILITY, ATROCITY, KRISIUN, FLESHCRAWL, DISBELIEF, DARKSIDE, and many international festivals as Brutal Assault, Obscene Extreme, Kaltenbach Open Air, MetalGate Czech Death Fest, Metal Mine Festival, Dark Fest, Gothoom Open Air, Basinfirefest and Protzen Open Air.
Satarial was created in 1989 by Lord Seth. It was then called "A.M.S.G." (Ad Maiorum Satan Glorium). That same year, cassettes of A.M.S.G.'s debut self-titled album appeared in record stores. The style of the group could be described as true black metal, the group's concerts were held in abandoned churches and houses. Due to Government oppression, in 1991, A.M.S.G., which brought ferrous metal to Russian soil, ceased to exist. Later, the members of the group will gather again, but under a different name - Satarial.
Born in 2006, Saħħar is the brainchild of Marton Saliba, in a mission to create the harshest sounds in Malta. The band’s themes lie in death, the occult and the imminent doom of mankind. Overall, Saħħar released 6 Albums, and 6 EPs, not including the original demos and bootlegs. SAHHAR has opened fo major artists such as ‘GHOTMISINSTER’, DESTROYER666’ and the legendary ‘MAYHEM’. He was also nominated in the Malta Music Awards in ‘Metal’ and ‘Album in Maltese’ Categories.
Two Face Sinner were founded in 2006 by Numa and Arún, the band started composing its blasphemous hymn for their first debut which took them to the stage in support of the mighty Greek band, Rotting Christ, the Germans Nargaroth, the Dutch based band God Dethroned and Austria’s Belphegor. The band has three albums out and already toured South America.
Founded in November 2017 in London, United Kingdom by musicians of Romanian origin, the black metal outfit TABLEAU MORT has in its current incarnation former members of bands such as Sin, Indian Fall or Justonefix, Havok (IT) all with a solid reputation within the metal underground community. The band also played several prestigious festivals in support of their album Veil of Stigma. Book I: Mark of Delusion to a very warm media welcome and premiered via Metal Hammer UK.
Forsaken, one of Southern Europe’s longest standing and premier doom metal outfits, were formed in 1990 under the moniker “Blind Alley”. Based in Malta, the band adopted the epithet “Forsaken” in 1991 and released their debut demo Requiem toward the end of that same year. Forsaken built a strong reputation as a powerful and emotionally charged live doom act. Apart from countless local gigs and their mini-European tour in 1994, the band played in various reputable heavy metal festivals all over Europe. The band has eight releases so far and shared the stage with countless acts such as Behemoth, Saxon, Raven, Candlemass, Primal Fera, just to name a few! orsaken clinched the MMA (Malta Music Awards) Best Heavy Rock/Heavy metal band award twice – in 2003 and 2009 and were also nominated for the same award in 1997.
Hailing from small Malta, an island nestled in the very heart of the Mediterranean, MartYriuM was forged in the year 1999 from the dying embers of the second wave of Black Metal. The band has released five full length albums and have toured Europe in support of several major acts and performed in festivals.
Gorilla Monsoon are a Heavy Metal band originating from Dresden, Germany. Active since 2001 the band exudes a sound that is a mix of sludge and southern metal, inspired by the likes of Crowbar, Down, Acid Bath, Entombed, The Hellacopters and Black Sabbath. The band's mixing of these sounds opted them to refer to their sound as "Hellrock". The band has released x3 records and were the winners of the 2005 battle of the bands at Wacken open air. The band also shares a name with the iconic WWF wrestler known as Gorilla Monsoon.
Necronomicon Montreal’s premier Blackened Death Metallers are back with UNUS, the crushing and cinematic follow up to 2016’s Advent of the Human God. With each record NECRONOMICON has created in the span of their 31-year career, the band has steadily evolved in both sound and power; UNUS is no exception to this.
All bands are fully geared up to deliver an explosive live performance at the GRIM FEST 2021!
Learn more on the event page HERE.
Presented by Matt Bacon (Dropout Media)
Produced by Nick Grima MGT (Management & Booking)
Prod/ Editing by Marton Saliba (Terrier Sound Studio)
PR by Keith Morash (Infecting Cells PR) & Leo Heresy (Heresy Metal Media)
Thrashers Paradise turns 5 years old, Gojira at the Olympics, Cannibal Corpse almost cancelled, Linkin Park’s fustercluck and more with Collin Sterling of Thrashers Paradise!