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Germany, Wacken - Wacken Open Air 2010




Wacken Open Air 2009 was a huge disappointment for many metal fans. In 2008 the world's biggest heavy metal festival has booked Iron Maiden as headliners and has raised the bar a bit too high for its own good. In 2009, the 20th anniversary of this legendary festival, a lot of bands appeared which have played in the years before already, but no uber headliner a la Iron Maiden to justify the high ticket price. Many people blamed the W:O:A to rely on its name only as the 20th edition was sold out eight months prior to the festival. In 2010 however the Wacken Open Air proves all these critics wrong...

Iron Maiden are back again! And this time they aren't the uber headliners of 2008, but only primus inter pares ("first among equals"): thrash titans Slayer, glam metal monsters Mötley Crüe and the father of shock rock Alice Cooper are also confirmed as headliners for the 21st edition. And as always there are a few special performances: Grave Digger celebrate their 30th anniversary by performing the entire "Tunes of War" album, a show which will also feature some special guests, while Swedish gothic metal pioneers Tiamat will be performing their legendary "Wildhoney" album, 20 years after the band Treblinka mutated into the Tiamat we know today. But even if you don't care for either of these bands, Wacken once again offers a wide array of metal styles for almost everyone: black metal with Immortal and 1349, death metal with Cannibal Corpse and grindcore supergroup Lock Up, power metal with Kamelot and Stratovarius, heavy metal with U.D.O. and W.A.S.P., modern metal with Fear Factory and Soulfly, etc. etc. etc.. All in all a whopping 122 acts will perform on five stages over a period of four days.

Wacken Open Air takes plays in - surprise! - Wacken in Northern Germany, a small village with merely 2,000 inhabitants on 361 days of the year. The town is located 10 km north of Itzehoe and 50 km northwest of Hamburg. There will be shuttle buses from the festival site to the train station in Itzehoe as well as to the airports in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck. For more info on getting there and away check the festival page here.

Certainly not the cheapest, but probably the most fun way to get to and from Wacken has to be the Metal Train. The "railway to hell" equals one huge party of 850 metalheads in one train with 16 wagons, which includes two dedicated disco wagons. Check the website for the schedule and prices.

The festival is officially sold out since April. Most tour operators (e.g. Metal Train for Germany, Bock Tours for the Netherlands, Germany, Austria or Switzerland, Argon Events for the UK) still have tickets in stock though.

Another way to acquire your ticket would be the ticket exchange in the official forum which aims for eliminating the black marketing going on eBay and reducing the risk of acquiring fake tickets. In this exchange the Wacken staff supervises the ticket prices and acts as trust which means that the seller sends the ticket(s) to the staff who verifies the authenticity of the ticket(s) and reports it to the buyer. After the buyer has transferred the money to the seller, the Wacken staff will pass on the ticket(s) to the buyer. More information on this model can be found here (in German).

Further readings:
Wacken 2009 review
Wacken 2008 review
Wacken 2007 review

Headliners


DAY 1 (04.08)

W.E.T. Stage

Victims Of Madness 12:00 - 12:30
Void Creation (Metal Battle Austria) 12:50 - 13:15
No Dawn (Metal Battle Norway) 13:35 - 14:00
Snakebite (Metal Battle UK) 14:20 - 14:45
Raging Mob (Metal Battle China) 15:05 - 15:30
Dymytry (Metal Battle Czech Republic) 15:50 - 16:15
By The Patient (Metal Battle Denmark) 16:35 - 17:00
Forever Storm (Metal Battle Ex-Yugoslavia) 17:20 - 17:45
Metal Battle Finland 18:05 - 18:30
Frontal (Metal Battle France) 18:50 - 19:15
Vice (Metal Battle Germany) 19:35 - 20:00
Total Riot (Metal Battle Greece) 20:20 - 20:45
Wistaria (Metal Battle Iceland) 21:05 - 21:30
Missing In Action (Metal Battle Israel) 21:50 - 22:15
Penthagon (Metal Battle Italy) 22:35 - 23:00
Soul Stealer (Metal Battle Lithuania) 23:20 - 23:45
Mambo Kurt 00:00 - 01:00

Wackinger Stage

Lord Of The Lost 18:00 - 19:00
Fiddler's Green 20:00 - 21:00
Red Hot Chili Pipers 22:00 - 23:00

Beergarden Stage

W:O:A Firefighters 20:00 - 21:00
Mambo Kurt 22:00 - 23:00

Red Bull Bus

Rock Rotten's 9mm Assi Rock'n'Roll 13:30 - 14:15

DAY 2 (05.08)

True Metal Stage

Alice Cooper 17:30 - 19:00
Iron Maiden 21:30 - 23:30

Black Stage

Skyline 16:00 - 16:45
Metal Hammer Awards 16:50 - 17:25
Mötley Crüe 19:30 - 21:00

W.E.T. Stage

Orcus O Dis (Metal Battle Mexico) 12:00 - 12:25
Seven Ends (Metal Battle Netherlands) 12:45 - 13:10
Demolished (Metal Battle Belgium) 13:30 - 13:55
The Sixpounder (Metal Battle Poland) 14:15 - 14:40
Prayers Of Sanity (Metal Battle Portugal) 15:00 - 15:25
Altar (Metal Battle Romania) 15:45 - 16:10
Vita Imana (Metal Battle Spain) 16:30 - 16:55
Katana (Metal Battle Sweden) 17:15 - 17:40
Hathors (Metal Battle Switzerland) 18:00 - 18:25
Cangaço (Metal Battle Brazil) 18:45 - 19:10
Black Out Beauty (Metal Battle Luxembourg) 19:30 - 19:55
Ghost Brigade 20:15 - 21:00
Macbeth [GER] (Metal Masters Winner) 21:20 - 21:50
Crysys 22:10 - 22:40
Gojira 23:00 - 23:45

Wackinger Stage

Svartsot 17:00 - 18:00
Torfrock 19:00 - 20:00
Hanggai 21:00 - 22:00

Beergarden Stage

Mambo Kurt 18:00 - 19:00
W:O:A Firefighters 20:00 - 21:00

Red Bull Bus

Secret Show 13:30 - 14:15

DAY 3 (06.08)

True Metal Stage

Amorphis 11:45 - 12:45
Ill Niño 14:15 - 15:15
The BossHoss 16:45 - 17:45
Kamelot 19:15 - 20:15
Grave Digger 21:45 - 23:00
Anvil 00:45 - 01:45

Black Stage

Dew-Scented 11:00 - 11:40
Orphaned Land 13:00 - 14:00
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter 15:30 - 16:30
Endstille 18:00 - 19:00
Arch Enemy 20:30 - 21:30
Slayer 23:15 - 00:30
Cantus Buranus 02:00 - 03:00

Party Stage

End Of Green 11:00 - 11:40
Job For A Cowboy 13:00 - 14:00
Voivod 15:30 - 16:30
Frei.Wild 18:00 - 19:00
Tarja 20:30 - 21:30
1349 23:15 - 00:15
Atrocity 02:00 - 03:00

W.E.T. Stage

Brutus 11:00 - 11:30
Dead Means Nothing 11:55 - 12:25
Suicidal Angels 12:50 - 13:20
Astral Doors 13:45 - 14:15
Hackneyed 14:40 - 15:10
Mad Max 15:35 - 16:05
The Other 16:30 - 17:00
Eternal Legacy 17:25 - 18:00
Evile 18:25 - 18:55
Lizzy Borden 19:20 - 19:55
Broilers 20:25 - 21:10
Holy Grail 21:40 - 22:10
Secrets Of The Moon 22:40 - 23:25
Ihsahn 23:55 - 00:40
Imperium Dekadenz 01:10 - 01:40
Raven 02:10 - 02:55

Wackinger Stage

Schelmish 18:00 - 19:00
Letzte Instanz 20:00 - 21:00
Equilibrium 22:00 - 23:00

Beergarden Stage

Hells Belles 18:00 - 19:00
Fanfara Kalashnikov 20:00 - 21:00
Mambo Kurt 22:00 - 23:00

DAY 4 (07.08)

True Metal Stage

Caliban 13:15 - 14:15
Overkill 15:45 - 16:45
W.A.S.P. 18:15 - 19:15
Edguy 20:45 - 21:45
Soulfly 23:15 - 00:15
U.D.O. 01:35 - 02:50

Black Stage

Ektomorf 12:00 - 13:00
Unleashed 14:30 - 15:30
Lock Up 17:00 - 18:00
Cannibal Corpse 19:30 - 20:30
Immortal 22:00 - 23:00
Fear Factory 00:30 - 01:30

Party Stage

Smoke Blow 12:00 - 13:00
Kampfar 14:30 - 15:30
Delain 17:00 - 18:00
Stratovarius 19:30 - 20:30
Candlemass 22:00 - 23:00
Tiamat 00:30 - 01:30

W.E.T. Stage

Nightmare 12:00 - 12:30
The New Black 12:55 - 13:25
Degradead 13:50 - 14:20
Crucified Barbara 14:45 - 15:15
Skanners 15:40 - 16:10
Die Kassierer 16:35 - 17:20
Metsatöll 17:45 - 18:15
Varg 18:40 - 19:10
Debauchery 19:35 - 20:05
Sólstafir 20:25 - 21:10
Lake Of Tears 21:35 - 22:20
Rotting Christ 22:45 - 23:15
Despised Icon 23:40 - 00:15
Killing Machine 00:45 - 01:30
The Devil's Blood 02:00 - 02:45

Wackinger Stage

The Keltics 18:00 - 19:00
Týr 20:00 - 21:00
Orden Ogan 22:00 - 23:00

Beergarden Stage

W:O:A Firefighters 12:00 - 13:00
Fanfara Kalashnikov 19:00 - 20:00
Hells Belles 21:00 - 22:00
Mambo Kurt 22:30 - 23:30

Who was there?

Promonex 100%
corrupt 100%
Valentin B (Czech Republic) 100%
buki of steel (Croatia) 100%
Infurnace (The Netherlands) 100%
Maxx666 (USA) 100%
Aylee_Bodom (Spain) 100%
DanielViking (Finland) 100%
Hexx (Estonia) 100%
LeDruide (France) 100%
Skyum (Denmark) 100%
Jack--- (Denmark) 100%
In Chaos (Norway) 100%
Enigma (Portugal) 100%
Marcelo Hissa (Brazil) 100%
Arsen (Armenia) 100%
Gâsh (The Netherlands) 100%
arsene (Iran) 100%
hanfsud 100%
Misanthrope (UAE) 100%
Dewil Rituale (Bulgaria) 100%
COBdeath666 (Portugal) 100%
Saltimbank021 (France) 100%
Brodd (Denmark) 100%
Fraja (Peru) 100%
Miquele 100%
stefan86 (Sweden) 100%
Satyr (Montenegro) 100%
thrasher_93 (Cyprus) 100%
Oriôn (Belgium) 100%
Trust (Portugal) 100%
Grumble (The Netherlands) 100%
Tapyoh (Finland) 100%
valeria (UK) 100%
sempai (Latvia) 100%
Moocher (France) 100%
Izarus (Denmark) 100%
Oroandien (Czech Republic) 100%
JaimeeFotzeBetrunken (New Zealand) 100%
Buried Dreamer (Brazil) 100%
MikeD (Israel) 100%
Talrin 100%
davidog (Israel) 100%
Arcadius667 (Ireland) 100%
Necrozika (Sweden) 100%
Mi4U (France) 100%
Usurpus (UK) 100%
Doomhammer 100%
vip (France) 100%
iblis (Turkey) 100%
mephisto_loh (Mexico) 100%
mutantula 100%
antubis (Bulgaria) 100%
jtwrs (Spain) 100%
Fjorten (Denmark) 100%
AprilEthereal (USA) 100%
ruby_anathema (Turkey) 100%
Nachtblueter 100%
Tinuviel (Canada) 100%
funnelweb (Turkey) 100%
ANArhia (Romania) 100%
JuliusForgeron (France) 100%
huntlus (Estonia) 100%
zmya (Croatia) 100%
Princeps (The Netherlands) 100%
anaavila (Portugal) 100%
Vihtori Raivoisa (Finland) 100%
Sautherom (Mexico) 100%
Dunkelgeist (Spain) 100%
Vincent M (Israel) 100%
Wolfhead'sTree (USA) 100%
toxxxicmetalhead (USA) 100%
benjaminzzz 100%
deathspell omega (The Netherlands) 100%
Hugo (Slovak Republic) 100%
Aelitha (Russia) 100%
nihil (Turkey) 100%
infernall (Romania) 90%
Suisaidfet (Indonesia) 90%
Brave Sir Robbo (UK) 80%
kott 80%
thunder_lord (UK) 80%
Lola 8 (Croatia) 80%
omermetalol (Israel) 80%
Metalpii (Switzerland) 80%
mel (Turkey) 80%
Fabiana Thoresen (The Netherlands) 70%
iluvatar1 (Israel) 70%
Sludge Cowboy (Greece) 60%
bacho_dato (Georgia) 60%
kaoskrew (UK) 50%
Elegy (Belgium) 50%
enanox (Uruguay) 50%
Den Gode Hr. Kim (UK) 50%
RimV (Vietnam) 50%
Yomyael (Vatican) 50%
Nefarious (UAE) 40%
In_tallica (Sweden) 10%
Dr.TeM (Syria) 10%
+ Funeral X + (Iran) 10%

News


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Comments page 7 / 14

Comments: 414   Visited by: 818 users
20.12.2009 - 03:47
elven

Forever Autumn =)
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20.12.2009 - 03:54
elven

I'll do my best to be there again... I just need to buy the 1000 euro plane ticket, heh.. But this years lineup is really great so far, and lots of bands to be confirmed yet... I really hope for Blind Guardian, Thyrfing, Equilibrium, Arkona, Finntroll, Paradise Lost, Bloodbath, Unleashed, Bolt Thrower...
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20.12.2009 - 04:18
Promonex
Cathemeral
Written by elven on 20.12.2009 at 03:54

I'll do my best to be there again... I just need to buy the 1000 euro plane ticket, heh.. But this years lineup is really great so far, and lots of bands to be confirmed yet... I really hope for Blind Guardian, Thyrfing, Equilibrium, Arkona, Finntroll, Paradise Lost, Bloodbath, Unleashed, Bolt Thrower...

No Bloodbath and Bolt Thrower. Bloodbath will play their exclusive German show at Rock Hard Festival and Bolt Thrower their exclusive German show at Metalfest Open Air.
----
All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now.
- The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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20.12.2009 - 11:27
Valentin B
Iconoclast
I've read the news section in metaltix.com and it seems Crue will play before Iron Maiden on the first day

so the final headliner(the other being Slayer i suppose) spot is still open
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20.12.2009 - 18:36
GT
Coffee!!
It seems the lineup is getting a lot better and thereby increasing my chances of going again
----


Dreams are made so we don't get bored when we sleep
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21.12.2009 - 00:02
corrupt
With a lowercase c
Written by GT on 20.12.2009 at 18:36

It seems the lineup is getting a lot better and thereby increasing my chances of going again

Aw man! And I was hoping we're the reason you're coming.
----
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21.12.2009 - 00:12
blizzard tyrant

Can someone tell me wtf happened to Lamb Of God, I thought that they are coming to?
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21.12.2009 - 00:46
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Written by blizzard tyrant on 21.12.2009 at 00:12

Can someone tell me wtf happened to Lamb Of God, I thought that they are coming to?

how so?
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21.12.2009 - 00:51
Promonex
Cathemeral
Written by blizzard tyrant on 21.12.2009 at 00:12

Can someone tell me wtf happened to Lamb Of God, I thought that they are coming to?

Wut? Lamb of God? Haven't heard anything about them in connection with Wacken. I think they semi-confirmed themselves in an interview for Wacken 2009, but weren't really confirmed after all. And I'm not sure whether that was Lamb of God, could have been some other band as well.
----
All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now.
- The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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21.12.2009 - 01:35
R.I.Pdeadlegends
Account deleted
Crucified Barbara maybe for tomorrow. I'm not sure if it's right, but HELLLLLL are those chicks hot
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21.12.2009 - 10:11
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Yeah, it's CB
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21.12.2009 - 12:50
blizzard tyrant

Written by Promonex on 21.12.2009 at 00:51

Written by blizzard tyrant on 21.12.2009 at 00:12

Can someone tell me wtf happened to Lamb Of God, I thought that they are coming to?

Wut? Lamb of God? Haven't heard anything about them in connection with Wacken. I think they semi-confirmed themselves in an interview for Wacken 2009, but weren't really confirmed after all. And I'm not sure whether that was Lamb of God, could have been some other band as well.

A friend told me that he saw on the official W:O:A site that they are coming, and last night they weren't on the list. If they are coming on W:O:A than I'm coming too, if not im going on Metal Camp.
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21.12.2009 - 15:46
GT
Coffee!!
Written by corrupt on 21.12.2009 at 00:02

Written by GT on 20.12.2009 at 18:36

It seems the lineup is getting a lot better and thereby increasing my chances of going again

Aw man! And I was hoping we're the reason you're coming.

I already knew you were coming, so a good lineup is just the last little push
----


Dreams are made so we don't get bored when we sleep
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22.12.2009 - 01:27
corrupt
With a lowercase c
Next band is Equilibrium for the 300th time.
----
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22.12.2009 - 03:44
Baz Anderson

Equilibrium have never played there since I've been going to Wacken...
Another great band, really, this is looking fantastic.
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22.12.2009 - 10:52
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Written by corrupt on 13.12.2009 at 01:09

Next band appears to be Despised Icon. More *core fore the masses

i've been listening a bit to DI and they are pretty brutal compared to your usual -core band(like Caliban), not my type of band but i wouldn't put them in the "popmetalcore" category.. they're from Quebec so the local brutal death metal scene must have impacted them in some way i guess.

i've looked at their myspace player and sure it seems they are popular but their music is still really harsh to me.. i thought deathcore was like metalcore only with slower and heavier breakdowns
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23.12.2009 - 02:14
corrupt
With a lowercase c
Next band, and I knew this one in advance Kataklysm. I'm looking forward to that one. Gonna see them in about three weeks anyway
----
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23.12.2009 - 03:02
Promonex
Cathemeral
Nice. They are always a treat live. Also gonna see them in about two weeks again.
----
All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now.
- The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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23.12.2009 - 11:11
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Seems Santa Claus/Weihnachstmann/Satan himself is pretty giving this year, not only to me
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23.12.2009 - 17:37
Arsen

I'm sure the other headliner announced tomorrow will be Anthrax. Only them and Heaven and Hell left from the Sonisphere, and H&H already played last year, while Anthrax was supposed to play, but got canceled.
But I really hope I'm wrong and it's actually Metallica or Rammstein.
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23.12.2009 - 18:12
Promonex
Cathemeral
I really hope it's Metallica. They are one of those bands I always wanted to see, but never wanted to pay a shitload amount of money to see only them.
----
All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now.
- The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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23.12.2009 - 19:49
Overlord_PT

Written by Promonex on 23.12.2009 at 18:12

I really hope it's Metallica. They are one of those bands I always wanted to see, but never wanted to pay a shitload amount of money to see only them.


i wouldnt mind to see them again..
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23.12.2009 - 20:10
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Why the wacken-sonisphere connection? why would Wacken want to "steal" the Sonisphere bands?

i think given the bands already announced there's not enough money left to get another huge headliner, especially Metallica.
my guesses are: blind guardian, iced earth, scorpions, twisted sister, kiss, queensryche, manowar(small chances imo though, the only thing that got me thinking about them is the fact they don't have any festival booked for Germany next year, Magic Circle will take place in Slovenia)

my absolutely favorite headlining show would be an iced earth(1 hour and a half) + blind guardian(one hour and a half) + demons & wizards(one hour) 4 hour special or something like that. THAT would have been totally worth the wait and the hype, at least for me.
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24.12.2009 - 02:45
COBdeath666

So day 24? Rammstein ? Metallica? Blind Guardian?
someone know´s?????? :S
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24.12.2009 - 02:58
Promonex
Cathemeral
It definitely won't be Children of Bodom. They have just announced their only German open-air show at Summer Breeze.
----
All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu... This is the truth! This is my belief! ...At least for now.
- The Mystery of Life, Vol. 841 Ch. 26
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24.12.2009 - 03:00
Trust

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24.12.2009 - 03:27
COBdeath666

No one knows?
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24.12.2009 - 10:27
Valentin B
Iconoclast
The letters they gave us are these:

Daateclorntwgiwylhsluieb

which can be arranged into "woa bullhead city wrestling"

i don't really have any idea what band(if any) it's supposed to relate to...
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24.12.2009 - 12:46
corrupt
With a lowercase c
Written by Valentin B on 24.12.2009 at 10:27

The letters they gave us are these:

Daateclorntwgiwylhsluieb

which can be arranged into "woa bullhead city wrestling"

i don't really have any idea what band(if any) it's supposed to relate to...

From what I understood it's not supposed to relate to a band. The game has ended it seems. They will announce another band today and that's it.

The news from today announces the following bands:

Evile
Nightmare
Tyr
Die Kassierer
Orphaned Land
Kataklysm
Atrocity

Since we already had Kataklysm down this leaves us with six new bands.
I sure hope this is not the huge christmas surprise they were promising. Although I'm really happy about atrocity.
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24.12.2009 - 13:03
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Written by corrupt on 24.12.2009 at 12:46

Written by Valentin B on 24.12.2009 at 10:27

The letters they gave us are these:

Daateclorntwgiwylhsluieb

which can be arranged into "woa bullhead city wrestling"

i don't really have any idea what band(if any) it's supposed to relate to...

From what I understood it's not supposed to relate to a band. The game has ended it seems. They will announce another band today and that's it.

The news from today announces the following bands:

Evile
Nightmare
Tyr
Die Kassierer
Orphaned Land
Kataklysm
Atrocity

Since we already had Kataklysm down this leaves us with six new bands.
I sure hope this is not the huge christmas surprise they were promising. Although I'm really happy about atrocity.

a Tiamat special show has been announced too, seems they'll play the album Wildhoney in its entirety(i know it's a bit pushing it, but i hope this isn't the last headliner and we'll have a blind guardian, iced earth and demons & wizards special show big name announced soon ).

interesting, i used to listen to them a few years ago, i'll get back to doing that soon i guess.
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