Space Vacation (USA) + Thorium (B) + Hidden Intent (AUS)

19u / heavy metal / power metal / speed metal / thrash metal / presented by MMM / €7,50

Space Vacation

Blasting off as the forerunners of the NWOTHM movement in 2007, Space Vacation is the heavy metal band for fans of heavy metal. Known for being louder, catchier, and faster, Space Vacation gets the crowd singing and the heads banging.

 

Influenced by heavy metal and rock thrashers like Judas Priest, Motorhead, Van Halen, AC/DC, and Guns N Roses, Space Vacation has married the hellish fury of their inspirations with their own melodic sensibilities. The band utilizes twin guitars, shredding leads, an exceptional rhythm section, and strong vocal performances and vocal harmonies to blend the best of their muses with their own flair and create the kind of heavy metal music they want to hear.

 

Space Vacation is comprised of Kiyoshi Morgan on guitars, Eli Lucas on drums, Kai Sun on bass, and Scott Shapiro as lead vocalist and rhythm guitar.

 

Kiyoshi is a guitar hero of the bygone age when hard rock and heavy metal ruled the earth. Prior to joining Space Vacation, he played with the Bay Area metal band Vicious Rumors, touring around the globe with the band in support of their “Razorback Killers” release. Eli is an explosive drummer, formerly of the band Hatchet and played on their album “Dawn of the End,” touring extensively throughout the US in support of the album. His drumming is the physical expression of power, precision, and performance. “White Hot Reflection” is the first album on which Eli has been able to contribute to the song-writing process and perform. Kai is a Berkeley School of Music graduate who honed his skills as the bass player for the band Immigrant while they supported the sold-out US Muse tour in 2007. He brings precision, style, and aggression to Space Vacation. Scott has been singing his whole life, his natural singing voice being a stand-out in the heavy metal scene. Lyrically, Scott has been lauded in his ability to both support and subvert the heavy metal norms while still doing the scene proud.

 

Fans have described Space Vacation’s music as taking them “back to the ‘golden era’ of traditional heavy metal, where it all began,” and expertly combining musical influences into “Heavy Metal with melody.” In the words of one metalhead, Space Vacation demonstrates that “they are able to combine the best melodic hard rock together with the speed metal, enriching the bomb with power and epic drippings, the result couldn’t be other than a wild and catchy masterpiece…Space Vacation will take you to the top and back in time.”

 

Space Vacation’s expertise and unyielding shredding is guaranteed to leave you with the best bangover you’ve ever had. Stay tuned for their latest album drop in April 2022.

Thorium

Given great incentive by their work together in Belgium’s legendary Heavy Metal band Ostrogoth, axemen Dario Frodo, Stripe and Tom Tee found themselves overwhelmed by massive amounts of inspiration for new material, much of which proved to lie too much outside the boundaries of what they could rightly realize with Ostrogoth. Therefore, they decided to found a brand new formation into which to channel all these new ideas.  With the addition of classically trained batterist Louis Van der Linden to the fold, the search was open for a powerful vocalist with a wide range and striking stage presence, which they found in seasoned Dutch singer David Marcelis (Lord Volture, Black Knight).

With the line-up complete, the band put the finishing touches on their self-titled debut album, which was released on October 5th 2018. Touring and gigging in promotion for the new record commenced immediately, and saw the band playing dozens of dates across Germany, Spain, Great Britain, Holland and Belgium, where they shared the stage with acts such as Geoff Tate’s Operation Mindcrime, Ross The Boss, Toxik, The Three Tremors, Heir Apparent, Q5, and many more.

Not content to rest on their laurels, and eager to prove themselves a band that could keep on producing quality material quickly and efficiently, Thorium completed work on their sophomore album Empires In The Sun within one year of their debut release. Working together once again with seasoned mixer Simone Mularoni (DGM, Michael Romeo, Geoff Tate, Ray Alder,…), the band delivers some of their most ambitious material yet, employing guest vocals by acclaimed artists such as Arjen A. Lucassen (Ayreon) and Joe Van Audenhove (Evil Invaders), as well as British actor and narrator Norman Eshley (Blind Guardian) to further broaden their sound. ‘Empires In The Sun’ is released on March 5 th 2021.

Influenced by and incorporating elements of all the classic styles of Metal from the past four decades, such as NWOBHM, Power Metal, Progressive Metal, Speed Metal, Bay Area Thrash and of course classic Heavy Metal, Thorium’s members set themselves no boundaries and seek to deliver music that is heavy, melodic, virtuosic, catchy and conceptual.

With the unfortunate departure of co-founding member and bassist Stripe in 2023, Thorium welcomed Jeroen Bonne (Poseydon) into the fold as their new bass player. The position of full time drummer has not yet been filled since the departure of Louis Van der Linden in 2022, but Kjell De Raes has appeared on a session basis during Thorium’s shows in the spring of 2023.

Hidden Intent

Since their inception in 2011, Adelaide built thrash metal brutes Hidden Intent have been working harder than a meat mincer in an aussie pie factory, nabbing themselves a whopping fan base worldwide with their 80’s thrash style deeply rooted in the Bay Area and Teutonic thrash scenes. Fuelled by a firestorm of riffs, frenzied guitar solos, frenetic drumming, gritty vocals and all mashed in together with a solid slab of party, Hidden Intent punch on ruthlessly on the live front as they charge themselves loose onto crowds like a bull at a gate!

With a cluster of international tours and supports tucked tightly under their sleeves, Hidden Intent have found themselves perched on stages with the likes of Destruction, Venom Inc, Flotsam and Jetsam, Dark Angel, Iron Angel, Nuclear Assault, Lich King, Artillery, HAVOK, Toxic Holocaust & Exmortus. From the countless tours here, abroad and with no fear of busting a gut, Hidden Intent have muscled an unassailable tight force. Not only have they well established themselves as one of Australia’s prime thrash metal acts, but just in general, like a VB frothy, are one of the country’s best!