METAL MERCHANTS FESTIVAL - Oslo, 28./29.01.2011

[Stian]

Greetings, friends!

Sorry for the English, but I'm afraid my German isn't very good.

First of all, great that some of you are planning to visit us in January! We're looking forward to it ourselves as well, of course, and being a small festival, I often get time to talk to almost every metalfan dropping by, and that is one of many great aspects for me, so don't be a stranger!

As for the ticket price, I'm afraid that's because of Norway being an expensive country. The MMF ticket is around half the price of any festivals we could compare with, but we totally understand that in an European setting, it is quite much. So we're happy for anyone making it, and for those unfortunate not to, there's luckily always great alternatives such as Keep it True and their likes. And just for fun, if we compare it to the local beer prices, just to see how it compares, you'll find that a Keep it True ticket will cost you 16 beers, whilst a MMF ticket will cost you 10.

So once again, welcome to Oslo, and if anyone is wondering more about the prices or more metal related stuff, feel free to drop me a note!

And on another note, I will visit Germany for the first time myself this fall, at another brilliant festival, namely Nuclear War Now! Fest II.

Cheers,
Stian

[Inuluki]

Hey Stian, thanks for your answer and for inviting Solstice. It would be great if Lamented Souls could play again!!

[Stian]

The Lamented Souls concert in january was absolutely magical. As an old fan, and friend, of Lamented Souls, it was bliss to see them on stage again.

We will not include LS for the 2011 edition, but I wouldnt mind inviting them back some time. 2011 will probably include 2 Norwegian bands yet to be announced, but more in the vein of thrash metal and heavy/doom metal. Very obscure stuff, actually.

We get so many fantastic offers from bands, that it's a shame we can't do the festival bigger, just to be able to present all that great music. If I were a rich man, I'd rent a place for a week, and give away the tickets, just because of the awesomeness of all bands interested.

[Stian]

Hi again, friends! We have an update for you all:

Greetings once again, fellow metalheads!

The time has come to reveal two of our last bands, and to be honest, two great bands, one from when we were kids, and one for the kids of today, both great metal bands for generations to come. In addition to the already announced bands, we feel we’re putting together an extremely strong lineup for 2011 as well, so we are happy to introduce the following two acts:

WHYTE ASH – From the ashes (pun intended to both bands) of Burning Saviours, WHYTE ASH arose. Where Burning Saviours was a critically acclaimed doom band loved by the fans, WHYTE ASH has brought out Swedish heavy metal at its best from the guys. After some PRETTY convincing demo material, 2010 offers the debut album ”I Will Remain”, which we urge you all to get a hold of as soon as possible. Heavy metal according to old power masters is what we’re looking at, and WHYTE ASH at Metal Merchants Festival 2011 is what YOU are looking forward to!

http://www.myspace.com/whyteash

NUCLEAR ASSAULT – We could rant on and on about NUCLEAR ASSAULTS’S history, but this band you already know, since you’re an old school metal head. Mixing up the American and German way of thrash, adding some hardcore punk tendencies, NUCLEAR ASSAULT produced a couple of the really classic thrash metal albums of the 80’s. This one is a must, peeps! Dang, we’re proud just now!!

http://www.myspace.com/theofficialnuclearassault

So, as said earlier, the place is John Dee, Oslo, January 28th and 29th of 2011, and you can find all info you need at http://www.metalmerchantsfestival.com , and you can get your tickets at http://www.billettservice.no .


These are the confirmed bands for now:

NUCLEAR ASSAULT
BROCAS HELM
SOLSTICE
JAGUAR
ELIXIR
BLIZZARD
ASOMVEL
CONVIXION
WHYTE ASH


So, we’re of course looking forward to seeing YOU at Metal Merchants Festival 2011!

Best regards,
Mr. Softee Sigurd, Ronny the Pope and Nuclear Stian

[Goatstorm]

I just booked my flight. Got myself a nice affordable hotel in the centre of Oslo.
Is it possible to get the tickets at the show or should I order them online, in case you're sold out?

[Stian]

Cool! I'll keep an eye on ticket sales, and if we seem to sell all, I'll let You know, and we'll work something out. Due to vacation time over here, I haven't got the actual numbers now.

And welcome to Oslo!

[MetalMueller1807]

Zu wenig Zeit, zu teuer, zu wenig gute Bands und viel zu weit weg...

[TWOS]

Thanks for the updates, Stian! The billing is very good and varied.

Last week when I was on way to Jotunheimen I had a short stop at Oslo for one night and besides a nightly sightseeing tour I had enough time to check the Rockefeller Music Hall. It's really near to the train station and Anker Hostel (where Inu and I will stay) and the building does absolutely not look like a typical concert hall with some officies under and a fitness centre above the music clubs.


I like the idea of doing a trip to Holmenkollen in the deepest winter.

[Stian]

Greetings, friends!

One of the risks of booking early is that one can not see all circumstances, big or small. We unfortunately have two cancellations for 2011, and two replacements. As many of you already know, Asomvel's Jay Jay tragically died in a car crash a little time ago. We at Metal Merchants Festival will dedicate the 2011 festival to his memory. Rest in peace. Also, Whyte Ash has been forced to cancel their appearance.

As for replacements, we have a couple of exciting names for you to get to know. We hope you enjoy it!

TESTIMONY (Nor) - We guess there's no further info needed? It is? Haha, well, here it is; Testimony is one of Norways classic extreme metal bands that really never got out of the rehearsal room, except for some live performances, such as supporting Kreator back in the day. The little fame they might have accomplished, is unfortunately not much about the music (luckily some of us remembers the great music as well!) but maybe just as much around the fact that this is Rune Blasphemer Eriksen (Aura Noir, Mayhem) who plays guitar for TESTIMONY. We were quite pleased when they wanted to pick up their weapons again, and we're looking forward to seeing one of Norways best hidden gems in january!
http://www.myspace.com/testimonynorway



DEVIL (Nor)

By far the newest band ever seen on Metal Merchants Festival, but hopefully it sounds anything but new!

We will not blow our horns too much about DEVIL, because it's actually the band of Stian and Ronny, two of the MMF promoters. Imagine a dirty mix of Pentagram, Black Sabbath and NWOBHM, and you are in the neighbourhood. The demo is out in these days, and due to awesome feedback from you people out there, DEVIL is a force to be reckonned with in the future, with the debut album out in the spring of 2011. As mentioned, we will not brag too much, but we hope you will check us out, and join us for a helluva party in Oslo in january!
http://www.myspace.com/devilband

We are also working on a 10th band for the bill, but since we don't do compromises, we can't promise we'll find anything good enough (and affordable) on such a short notice.

This leaves us with the following and PRETTY brilliant lineup for now:

NUCLEAR ASSAULT
SOLSTICE
BROCAS HELM
JAGUAR
ELIXIR
BLIZZARD
CONVIXION
TESTIMONY
DEVIL

Tickets can as usual be bought at www.billettservice.no , and the venue is as last year John Dee in Oslo. The dates are january 28-29.

You can also visit us at:
http://www.metalmerchantsfestival.com

Devilish regards from those who entered obscurity,
Sigurd, Ronny and Stian

[Stian]

Good day, friends and enemies!

Unfortunately Testimony will have to cancel their MMF performance, but we hope to see them around some other place anyway.

Instead we have managed to book a quite awesome replacement, namely Kings of the Sidewalk, GEHENNAH! One of the first and most importan Scandinavian black/thrash combos, with a number of partyhits made in hell, such as Bitch With a Bullet Belt, Piss off I'm Drinking and Say Hello to Mr. Fist. GEHENNAH har basically called it quits, but they've decided to get back together to do special occations and selected shows, such as Metal Merchants Festival. It's time to raise your glass and yell!

Tickets are going at steady speed, and even though we seldom do this, it's now time to advise people to get their tickets for the festival at www.billettservice.no . The date and venue is still January 28th and 29th on John Dee, and the billing is as follows:

NUCLEAR ASSAULT http://www.myspace.com/theofficialnuclearassault
BROCAS HELM http://www.myspace.com/brocashelm25
SOLSTICE http://www.myspace.com/solsticeenglander
JAGUAR http://www.myspace.com/jaguaronline
ELIXIR http://www.myspace.com/officialelixir
GEHENNAH http://www.myspace.com/wearegehennah
BLIZZARD http://www.myspace.com/blizzardoffiziell
CONVIXION http://www.myspace.com/convixionband
DEVIL http://www.myspace.com/devilband
++ SPECIAL SURPRISE ACT SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED (This one is a treat for you doomsters out there)

Amongst other things we will have a nice merch stand and a DJ with cool projection of classic covers just as last time.

Hope to see you all there!

More details as usual at www.metalmerchantsfestival.com .

Cheers,
Saturdaynight Sigurd, Ronny Rebel and Hardrocker Stian.

[Goatstorm]

GEHENNAH... fucking hell... I didn't see that coming. The billing looks incredible.

[Holy Mighty Stormwitch]

Metal Merchants Festival Greetings to all!

As a special treat for us all, we've decided to invite PROCESSION from Chile to do a showcase for us on the first day of the festival. With their acclaimed album Destroyers of the Faith out recently, PROCESSION has taken the doom metal underground with storm.
http://www.myspace.com/processionburn

Quelle: Facebook

Habe heute erfahren, dass meine Uni-Veranstaltung um ein WE vorgezogen wurde und ich jetzt Zeit hätte. Aber vermutlich reicht die Kohle nicht.

[TWOS]

GEHENNAH und PROCESSION sind tolle Ergänzungen, damit freut man sich noch viel mehr. Als Trost bleibt für die, die nicht mitkommen können, dass GEHENNAH wohl noch mehr Gigs dieses Jahr spielen wollen, sicher auch in Deutschland. PROCESSION sieht man sowieso noch öfter - aber nie oft genug.

Das Wetter morgen in Oslo: -16° -20° (...also auch nicht viel weniger als hier manchmal.)

[Max Savage]

sagt mal, nur so aus interesse: sind die kosten für übernachtungen in norwegen auch so horrend wie zB der alk oder sind die preise da "normal"?

[TWOS]

Das hängt natürlich von deinen Ansprüchen ab. Bei meinem letzten Norwegenbesuch bin ich dank Allemannsretten und Bahnhöfen/Nachtzügen/Parks mit Übernachtungskosten von 0 ausgekommen. Im Winter ist das freilich nicht die beste Lösung. Wir zahlen für das preisgünstigste und zugleich zentralste Hostel, das wir finden konnten, ca. 37€ pro Person und Nacht im Doppelzimmer am Wochenende. Zum Vergleich: in Athen (Exarchia-Viertel) kostet die Nacht für den Up The Hammers-Besucher 22,50€ im 4-Bett-Zimmer.

Zum Alkohol: das billigste Bier im Supermarkt kostet knapp 20 NOK (2,50€). Das ist aber nur an Werktagen zwischen 9 und 20 Uhr (sammstags bis 18 Uhr) zu kaufen, außerhalb dieser Zeiten gibt es nix, auch wenn das Geschäft geöffnet hat.