MORE BANDS ANNOUNCED!

BLAZE BAYLEY - Headlining Friday 25th (British Metal Night)

Blaze Bayley was originally lead vocalist of Tamworth rock band, Wolfsbane. When Bruce Dickinson departed Iron Maiden in 1993, Bayley was chosen as his replacement in 1994. After a bad motorcycle accident, caused by losing control and clipping his knee on a catseye in the road, which put him out of action for a year, his first album with Maiden was The X Factor, released in 1995. Bayley went on to tour with the band in support of the album. In 1998 – still with Iron Maiden – he recorded the album Virtual XI.

The two Iron Maiden albums released during Bayley's time in the band did not chart as well as that to which the band were accustomed. The X Factor achieved 8th in the UK Albums Chart, and Virtual XI hit only 16th putting it as the lowest Iron Maiden studio album since Killers, which achieved 12th place. Some of this comparative commercial failure could be attributed to[citation needed] the tours being cut short due to Bayley's frequent sickness, and the more progressive, dark tone of the albums produced during his tenure.

In February 1999, when Iron Maiden announced that vocalist Bruce Dickinson was returning to the band, Bayley departed. The following year, Bayley released his first album with his new band, called Blaze Bayley. With this band he has so far created four studio albums, Silicon Messiah (2000), Tenth Dimension (2002), Blood & Belief (2004), The Man Who Would Not Die (2008), and one live album, As Live as It Gets (2003). During this time, and to fund his ongoing musical endeavours, Blaze held down a 'proper' job working at a well-known UK car accessories retailer.

Despite his absence from the band, Iron Maiden occasionally performed songs from Bayley's two Maiden albums until 2003, including Man on the Edge and Futureal, both of which he co-wrote. Likewise, Bayley has performed Iron Maiden songs originally recorded by the Dickinson and Di'Anno led line-ups at some concerts

E-FORCE - Featuring Eric Forrest Ex - VOIVOD

E-Force was formed in Montreal in the spring of 2001 by singer/bassist Eric Forrest, upon his departure from cyber-metallers Voivod. After choosing to use his Voivod moniker as the bands name, Eric was joined by guitarists Bryan Donahue (formerly of Homicide),Dan Lauzon(formerly of Entropy) and drummer Louis Levesque (ex-Genetic Control). E-Force was signed with the label, Season Of Mist Records and released their debut album "Evil Forces" on October 20th, 2003. They played in june 2003, for the Obey the Flames Festival in Montreal with Strapping Young Lad, Immolation. Because of personal and business reasons, Eric relocated in France and changed the line up,with the touring members: Dennis Roussel (Soul Erosion, Diatribe), Jerome Point (Mutanzero), Krof (Catacombe, Hellfrost).Although Louis Levesque did continue and played with the groupe until july 2004.+Tim Gutierrez(P:FF) filled in on guitar,june 2004..... Since this time, they opened for Impaled Nazarene and Scarve, they performed for the Six Pack Week end Festival in Cleveland in june 2004 (with Doro, Metal Church, Dismember), and the Raismes festival in september 2004 (with Angra, Rage, Primal Fear.). In winter 2005 they made a european tour with Carpathian Forest, Tsjuder and Wykked Wytch. In the end of 2005, E FORCE is back with a new line up and a new demo, more heavy and melodic and always thrash. The new guitar player of E Force is 19 year old guitar hero influenced by Malmsteem, Marty Friedman, Andy Laroque The current line up is: ERIC FORREST: bass/vocals CYRIL BERNHARD: guitars BORIS LUGAN: drums E-FORCE are currently writing songs for the next album release. Plus, Alex of AGRESSOR (Season of Mist) is co-writing a track, as are Tim and Kevin Guttierez of PROJECT: FAILING FLESH (Karmageddon/Candlelight). Moreover, Eric has decided to re-record/cover a song from the unreleased VOIVOD demo 2001as a tribute to PIGGY . E-FORCE HAVE JUST INKED A NEW 3 ALBUM DEAL WITH THUNDERING RECORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scheduled to record mid-oct with PATRICK FREIDRICH here in TOULOUSE..... The recording and mixing of the new E-FORCE "modified poison" record has been completed.ACHIM KOHLER(sodom/primal fear) will be handling the mastering process...feb/mars 2008 for the release! track listing is as follows: 1)deviation 2)modified poison 3)lobotomized 4)agent 99 5)malpractice 6)revolution riot act 7)la vie cest precieux 8)disillutioned 9)exterminator 10)perfexionist (co written by Alex Colin-Tocquaine(AGRESSOR)) 11)wired(feat.Tim and Kevin gutierrez(PROJECT:FAILING FLESH)) 12)victory(VOIVOD cover) +)reborn again(japan bonus track)

Yes, Blaze Bayley is awesome

E-Force are pretty ace too

This is really shaping up to be a good festival!

Okay ...another band confirmed for METALFEST 2009 ........
BRAINSTORM
Formed in 1989 by Torsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric on guitars and Dieter Bernert on drums, BRAINSTORM released their first demo "Hand Of Doom" after one year of existence. Followed by many shows and several compilations and demos ("Heart Of Hate" / 1992; "The Fifth Season" / 1994) the band signed their first recording contract in 1997.

The self-produced debut album "Hungry" was an immediate winner with fans and journalists alike, enabling BRAINSTORM to go on their first European Tour. In 1998 the band hired the illustrious producer team of Dirk Schlächter and Charlie Bauerfeind to guarantee a perfect production for their sophomore effort "Unholy". The following European Tour alongside Iced Earth totally fulfilled the high expectations, created by an already overwhelming reaction from the metal press.

In 1999 the vocalist position became vacant, but the band managed to fill it with one of the best metal frontmen worldwide, Andy B. Franck. Finally everything was falling into place, and the band signed a contract with Metal Blade Records. The long awaited third album "Ambiguity" was recorded at House of Music Studio with Dirk Schlächter and Sascha Paeth producing, and was received with euphoric reviews everywhere. Successful European tours and various celebrated festival appearances further cemented the band’s popularity, making the "Swabian Five" one of the hottest bands around.

In October 2001 the band released "Metus Mortis", a high-energy metal classic produced by Achim Köhler, which became Album of the Month in several metal magazines worldwide, paving the way for another successful tour as well as many festival gigs and shows across Europe.

In March 2003 the band returned to the studio to record "Soul Temptation", the fifth album in their career. What followed the release can only be described as a triumph for the band: Several chart entries, a massive European tour and festival shows all over the world resulted in the band’s definitive incorporation to the World’s Champions League of Metal. BRAINSTORM had finally arrived where they belong – at the top!

So now time to take a break? No way! With the incredible energy and atmosphere from their live shows still fresh in their minds, the band began writing new material. From November 2004 on, the band started recording their new album again with Achim Köhler in their usual working environment. "Liquid Monster" was completed in early 2005, showcasing the enormous progress the band had gone through, surpassing even the most optimistic of predictions. The single "All Those Words" was released on March 7, meant as an appetizer for the fans before the full album was launched on April 4. Again, several chart entries all over Europe followed.

Their following first headlining tour through Europe was an overwhelming success, seeing the band touring constantly for over a year and a half, including all the important festivals and such. At the end of 2006 the band started work on their 10 years of BRAINSTORM albums festivities for 2007, which included the re-release of their first two albums, "Hungry" and "Unholy", and the first ever double DVD "Honey from the B’s" with a duration of over 5 hours of pure BRAINSTORM Power. The DVD was highly praised by fans and media, entering several DVD charts again and shortening the wait for the new album with another successful release.

The new album’s preceeding single "Fire Walk With Me" was released in October 2007 and topped the Hungarian charts in its week of release.

Now, after 2 1/2 years of wait, BRAINSTORM have recorded their long awaited new album "Downburst" with producers Sascha Paeth and Miro, which will be released in January 2008. And BRAINSTORM is stronger than ever. "Downburst" will not only satisfy the needs of their followers, it will surprise many and even convince the non-believers! All songs show the incredible songwriting talent of the band members and prove once more why this band has been up and running for over a decade now and for sure is here to stay! The songs range from fast, hard and double-kick-driven bastards to epic soundscapes to melodic metal hymns. "Downburst" is a beautiful beast, a real ball of steel but also an emotional masterpiece with no fillers... just killers!

In 2008 BRAINSTORM is riding the storm again and will bring an amazing "Downburst" show to the stages of the world.

LINE UP NOW IS:
Blaze Bayley
Brainstorm
Threshold
Swallow the Sun
Xandria
E-Force (Ex Voivod)
Omnium Gatherum
Holy Moses
Pythia
Hanging Doll
Northland
Invey
Warpath

Still more bands to announce including the headliners for SATURDAY and SUNDAY!!!

BRAINSTORM!?

Very nice......

More great bands!

Can't wait to see the other two headliners

Damn you & here was me trying to save money after Christmas. Brainstorm might have to mean a present to myself.

How many more bands can we be expecting on the lineup Mark?

Any news on when we might be given a few more bands to drool over too?