We’re counting down to the 2024 edition of 70000 tons of Metal! This is by far one of our personal favorite metal cruises where every artist is a headliner. Metalheads from around the globe share an insane experience of four days with very little to no sleep of nonstop metal shows. From big pool deck experiences to the intimate Star Lounge, there’s something for all metalheads regardless of subgenre, and we love it all. 2023 marked a significant return for the cruise after all cruises generally faced a halt due to the pandemic. The event’s future was uncertain, but it returned, giving sixty unique artists a go. This year we saw a number of acts having their first experience on the boat to artists having some notable silver-to-gold member status returns. We managed to capture all sixty bands, and as we countdown to the 2024 edition, we will share artist spotlights from the 2023 expedition leading up to the 2024 voyage. Artist Number 22: Fallujah.
The 2023 edition may have been Fallujah’s second appearance on the metal seas, with the first being in 2016. However, it was the first of their latest lineup. The band has experienced a significant shift, with guitarist Scott Carstairs being the only original member in the San Francisco progressive technical death metal outfit. Luckily, everyone had the chance to hear the new lineup with their latest album, Empyrean, released in 2022 via Nuclear Blast. The group performed first on Day 1, January 30, 2023, at the Star Lounge at 12:45 AM and graced the stage once more on Day 3, February 1, opening the day’s Studio B – Ice Rink theater at 5:00 PM. We somehow wiggled our way to catch a portion of their second set. After seeing these guys around more or less since their inception, it felt like a brand-new band with fresh energy. Having a decent capture between the dim, barely-lit red lights and vocalist Kyle Schaefer’s ferocious energy on stage was challenging. But we can assure you, they did not disappoint, and we’re looking forward to seeing the next chapter for the band further unfold as we walk into 2024.
As for what Fallujah are up to so far? We can’t really tell quite yet. There doesn’t seem to be much currently on their schedule, but Carstairs has kept his listeners entertained and informed on the band’s social channels. Just recently, the band’s mastermind himself performed a playthrough of the entire 2016 album Dreamless.
Fallujah
70000 tons of Metal will return on January 29th, setting sail from Miami, FL to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and back on February 2nd with another batch promising sixty bands to perform twice throughout the waves of adventure. The announcements have been moving fast this year as tickets have already gone on sale, and, well no updates since our last post but, in case you missed it, 36 bands out of 60 have been revealed thus far:
2024 70000tons of Metal artists:
Aborted
Angra
Blind Guardian
Blood Red Throne
Crypta
Dalriada
Depressive Age
Draconian
Dynazty
Epica
Equilibrium
Fleshgod Apocalypse
Grave Digger
Heidevolk
Infected Rain
Iotunn
Kataklysm
Legion of the Damned
Lord of the Lost
Marduk
My Dying Bride
Mystic Prophecy
Nanowar of Steel
Nervosa
Nile
Omnium Gatherum
Saor
Scar Symmetry
Serenity
Sodom
The Halo Effect
Tygers of Pan Tang
Unleashed
Victory
Warkings
Wind Rose
2023 Artist Spotlight:
