Splendidula are very familiar to us, and seeing the amount of time we’ve hosted them at one of our events, I guess we could call them friends. They’ll be setting the mood in La Morgue around noon on the first day of Alcatraz, and the mood will be gloomy and melancholic, no matter how good the weather might be outside the tent. They have been turning heads internationally with their emotionally rich blend of doom, sludge, and post-metal, wrapped in haunting dual vocals and melancholic atmosphere. Their music is massive, graceful, and devastating, and so are their shows. It’s beauty and despair intertwined, ideal for fans of nuanced doom with heaps of atmosphere but also tasty riffs. Prepare to be drawn in and slowly crushed beneath waves of sound.

And last but not least, the Helldorado Stage will be getting a rude awakening by the rebel rousers of Coffin Feeder. This collective can’t be called anything else than a supergroup built of Belgian death/grind royalty, featuring members of Leng Tch’e, Fleddy Melculy, Aborted, When Plagues Collide and more. And they mix old school death metal brutality with grindcore and horror aesthetics. Early on they were mostly into serial killers, while lately they’ve sort of shifted their focus towards the golden era of action movies in the 80s and 90s, finding inspiration in the classics from that time. It’s one of those bands that sounds delightfully disgusting and brutal, but delivered with a wink, a nod and a big grin filled with black humor. Live, they’re an absolute riot, which is not too surprising looking at the pedigree of every single member. Expect gore, groove, and gallons of energy.