Charting the course to 2024: reflecting on 70000tons of Metal 2023 Artist Spotlight: Evergrey

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 21: Evergrey.

Sweden’s Evergrey darkened the waters for their third time at 70000tons of Metal. The first was in 2013, the second in 2018, and the third in the wake of 2023, ready to translate life’s woes into melancholy metal mastery. Gracing the stage on Day 1, January 30th, 2023, at the Royal Theater at 7:30 PM and kicking Day 3 off on the Pool Deck for Day 3, February 1st, 2023, at 5:00 PM, Evergrey brought the enchanting gloom as we were lucky to witness both. While keeping a few favorites such as “Weightless” and “Eternal Nocturnal,” Evergrey more or less had two different performances, where close to the end of their second set, they invited the one-and-only Floor Jansen, who was on the boat for Nightwish, to join them on stage for an exceptional performance of “In Orbit.” Another beauty about the cruise experience is that, depending on other acts, it allows artists to have surprising guests join them on stage. This one was no different, and it was well worth seeing this shared moment under the stars in front of 3,000 metalheads from across the globe.

Evergrey Set 1:

As 2023 is coming to a close, Evergrey sure has a lot in store as we are getting close to walking into the fresh new year, 2024. For the Evergrey mastermind himself, vocalist/guitarist Tom S. Englund has had quite the busy year with two new albums out, the new progressive metal outfit Redemption album, I Am The Storm, released earlier this year via AFM Records and Silent Skies with the latest cinematic offering, Dormant, also released earlier this year via Napalm Records. But that’s not all, of course, as Englund, with his Silent Skies/ Redemption composer, Vikram Shankar, has taken things to prehistoric levels, being part of the famous Jurassic Park franchise by working on the score for Jurassic Park: Survival. As for Evergrey, it looks like a new song will be added to what appears to be a mysterious new special edition along with workings of album number fourteen, the follow-up to 2022’s A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament), is on the horizon. Lastly, the group has announced their appearance at 2024’s Bloodstock Open Air fest. Keep on the lookout for many great things to come for these Swedish melancholy giants.

Evergrey Set 2:

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