In addition, Metal Blast is bringing back its educational musical workshops, reaffirming its commitment to giving back to the community and supporting the growth of the metal and alternative music scene.

The 15-year anniversary also marks the beginning of a new branding phase for Metal Blast. Updated visuals, anniversary identity, event dates, and lineup announcements will be revealed gradually later this year.

More details and further announcements will follow soon.

At El Sawy Culturewheel, a cultural center well-known for its constant support for Metal and Rock music talents altogether, and specifically in the River Hall was held Metal Blast, one of Egypt’s finest festivals in its third anniversary showcasing yet another diverting lineup and delightful medium. Rock Era Magazine team was among the crowds to bring you the experience as it happened:

Prior to the concert, Metal Blast offered four different workshops on vocalling by Zander Adam and Sayed Ragai, music composing by Ehab Fawzi, drums by Jacek Gut and guitar by Hubert Więcek. Aimed at educating beginners about the process of music making, these workshops drew a lot of attention and participation from people of different backgrounds who were very keen about learning new techniques as well as sharing expertise.

Concert started around seven-ish as Devour started their show. The four-piece Alternative Metal outfit abruptly came out stronger than before with music that sounded to have “matured” since their first appearance in The Breakdown: The Introduction event at Rawabet last year. Ragi Akram’s vocalling was a bit weak at first, yet seemed to improve as they went through their setlist of 6 tracks. The attention, however, was overly fixated at Omar Assem’s superb performance on bass and brutal vocals- also, Omar Damien on Rhythm guitar who skillfully mastered Ablaze solo. The band played songs, like: Patronize, Worthless, Little Scars, Freak, Ablaze and Reflections.

Led by Mohamed Emam who had taken on vocalling duty only earlier this year, the Heavy Metal group Divine followed onstage at utmost energy propped by profuse smoke and intense light effects. Not only did a success like such lie upon covering old school bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath – as well as the originals – it depended on Divine‘s distinguished fashion in keeping the atmosphere as energic as possible that was sure to overwhelm the audience and prompt them to interact. They played songs, like: Heavy and Hell (Black Sabbath cover), Skinned Alive, Powerslave (Iron Maiden cover), Kings and Queens and Burn in Hell (Judas Priest cover)

Medic fans began to gather around in anticipation for one of Egypt’s Progressive standouts in the heavy music field to-date going about its business. The hall was
thoroughly crowded by the time frontman Ehab Fawzi was chanting his famous lines “Rise Above, and Crave Your Way Back to the Surface”. Medic‘s latest arrival Karim Wassim shone on keyboards throughout the whole show.

On a side note, during the second song, Ehab called out for a mosh-pit which was, in a matter of seconds, put down by Metal Blast crew. Individuals involved were escorted out of venue as El Sawy Culturewheel is very clear about its policy against violent behaviors of any kind. Medic played songs, like: Of a Blessed Memory, The Downfall and Rise Above.

It goes saying how Destiny in Chains seem to never run out of surprises on each and
every live occasion; always seeking innovation as approach of avoiding repetition and falling into boredom. This once the five-member Metalcore/Deathcore outfit of eight years surprised the audience with a new song that was written only ten minutes before their coming out on stage. That song, titled I Am The Ruins, featured quite a reputable musician and event-organizer Sayed Ragai of Sinprophesy who does not miss a chance of providing support for his fellow musicians. Destiny in Chains‘ sounds had only recently become Deathcore-biased with a notable improvement in Ahmed Alaa’s performance on drums and Mostafa Khaled newly joining in as bassist, by which the fans were left in curiosity over who exactly wrote the music; the answer like it always had been “Destiny in Chains write all the music”. DIC played songs like: Instrumental, D.S.M., I Am the Ruins, Shut Up and Standing All Alone

And for the second year in a row, Polish Metallers graced the River Hall stage with their presence within a rather friendly, bustling atmosphere. The Death Metal group Banisher hailing from Cracow hauled on board giving a topmost heartfelt performance. There was technicality to it aroused mainly from Tytus Kalicki’s extreme vocalling style alterations and Hubert Więcek’s melodic tunes on guitars. By the end of show Banisher made sure to not leave without sharing a couple of laughs with the audience and finally wrapped it up by playing the Circus theme song in Metal. Banisher played songs, like: Scarcity, Black Blood, Dystopia, Paradigm Shift, Exceptionacism, Benny Hill, Chekov’s Gun, Brutal Vasectomy and War on Drugs.

All photography reserved to: Lina ElGohary