With the year coming to a close and now most of the big festivals behind us, headbanging fanatics all across Europe are recapping their experiences and looking for new bands to discover and next venues to conquer. After the chains of pandemic lockdown were broken down, there was an outburst of events, both traditional comebacks and fresh bands emerging, often resulting in an overcrowded calendar and putting the devoted metal pilgrim in front of some tough compromising choices to make.
In the trad metal environment, couple of March’24 weekends in Central Europe stand out and Helicon Metal Promotions is to “blame” for one of them. What we have here is the fourth edition of the Helicon Metal Festival – a Polish gathering, designed for fans of old-school underground heavy, power, speed, thrash, and doom metal, with a deep admiration for idols hailing from the 1980s. The moment I saw the poster, the choice of booking the tickets was a no brainer. Every name there is a promise for couple of days of old-school metal indulgence and party pandemonium. As you will notice, the blend is a masterful mixture of local heroes, European idols and overseas trailblazers. To put you in perspective at the previous editions the venue had the pleasure of hosting bands such as Crystal Viper, Sacred Steel, Destroyers, Stos, Atlantean Kodex, Smoulder, Venator, Evangelist and many other bands from the young Polish metal scene.
And speaking of venues, recently the organizer was forced to make a sudden shift of places. The closure of Remont club came unexpectedly, and it was too late to find anything else. Odessa club is managed by the Remont team, so Helicon automatically moved there. Personally, I visited the area a couple of weeks ago and while the surroundings of the club are a bit austere, the inside looks better. Best of all – Odessa opens options for introducing a special festival gastro zone with BBQ and beverages, plus dedicated area for metal market, which to visit end enjoy in-between gigs or source one of a kind band memorabilia, completing a comprehensive event experience. What else can you wish for!?
Helicon Metal Promotions were kind enough to share some insights for the audience of THENWOTHM:
“Poland has never been the best country for traditional heavy metal. For years, death and black metal have dominated here. That’s why we’ve decided to offer something for the die-hard fans of the old, good heavy metal because we know there are plenty of maniacs for this music, but not too many concerts beyond the big stars like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. Helicon Metal Festival is an idea inspired by festivals like Keep It True, Headbangers Open Air, and Up The Hammers. We believe that in a few years we’ll be an important point on the heavy metal map of Europe”
◾️ 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: 15-16.03.2024
◾️ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧 17:00
◾️ 𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗨𝗘: Odessa Club, Kolejowa 8/10, Warsaw, Poland
◾️ 𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗧𝗦:
https://goout.net/…/bilety/helicon-metal-festival-2024/snpt/
https://heliconmetal.bigcartel.com
𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗖𝗢𝗡 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗩 line-up:
==========================
VISIGOTH – Heavy Metal – [USA]
– www.facebook.com/visigothofficial
– www.visigothofficial.bandcamp.com
GLACIER – Heavy Metal – [USA]
– www.facebook.com/GlacierMetal
– www.glaciermetal.bandcamp.com
MEGATON SWORD – Epic Heavy Metal -[SUI]
– www.facebook.com/megatonsword
– www.megatonsword.bandcamp.com
TRÖJAN – Heavy Metal – [UK]
– www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084833711230
– www.youtube.com/watch?v=fodtHnmfSrs
IRON KINGDOM – Heavy Metal – [CAN]
– www.facebook.com/ironkingdom
– www.iron-kingdom.bandcamp.com
ROADWOLF – Heavy Metal – [AUT]
– www.facebook.com/roadwolfmusic
MONASTERIUM – Epic Doom Metal – [POL]
– www.facebook.com/monasteriumdoom
– www.monasterium.bandcamp.com
HELLHAIM – Extreme Heavy Metal – [POL]
IRONBOUND – Heavy Metal – [POL]
– www.facebook.com/ironboundpl
– www.ironboundpl.bandcamp.com
SATAN’S FALL – Heavy Metal – [FIN]
TAILGUNNER – Heavy Metal – [UK]
– www.facebook.com/tailgunnerhq
– www.instagram.com/tailgunnerhq
...+ 1 more band to be announced soon…
The Nwothm 
Leave a comment