We’d highly recommend you to get your ass to the festival area early on the last day of this year’s Alcatraz. Especially if you’re any bit into black metal and would like to see one of Belgium’s best black metal bands of the past decade creating their unholy  mass. The dark and damp atmosphere of the Swamp Stage is the place to be to experience the filth that Serpents Oath will spew out of the speakers there around noon. You really won’t want to miss out on this!

Troubles waking up on Sunday? No worries, the Canadians of Archspire are ready to quite literally blow up your head with their extreme music. Technical death metal in the most extreme form possible with a speed that is facemeltingly relentlesss. The amount of talent within this band is ridiculous and this might be the last time you can catch them touring with their latest album ‘Bleed the Future‘ before they start working on new music. Stay Tech!

One of GRIMM’s favourite bands from Belgium: Psychonaut. One of the best and most promising post-metal bands the country has to offer. While Belgium has a whole lot of good stuff to offer considering that genre, there is something special about this band. Particularly the mesmerizing guitar riffs of Stephan suddenly bursting out in all heaviness are simply nectar for the floating mind. With the in 2020 re-released debut album ‘Unfold the God Man‘ they easily landed on our number 1 spot of our albums of the year list of that year, and last year with they ended up pretty high as well with ‘Violate Consensus Reality‘. Not to be missed!

We’ve had these guys coming by our own venue Asgaard in the past (just like Aeveris, who is also playing on this day, and definitely worth checking out), and we all agreed on one thing: once you’ve experienced Mantah live, you never want to miss out another show of theirs if you any bit can. Their style of music is what you could call modern metal, but with a very clear and strong influence from 90s and early 2000 nu metal, and their energy live feels unstoppable. They’ll be playing La Morgue stage, which will be perfect for them to feed off the energy of the crowd and the other way around. This will be a riot!

Feel the need for some bluesy stoner rock with a hefty shot of psychedelics? Helldorado Stage is where you’ll need to be about halfway the afternoon. The Swedish stoner rockk band Gaupa will be taking up shop there to sweep you away with their mesmerizing compositions. Last year’s release ‘Myriad‘ was an absolutely great album and we can’t wait to hear these sweet tunes live!

Belgium is very heavily represented at Alcatraz on the last day of the weekend. And if there’s one you won’t want to miss out on, it’s Stake. The band, in an other life called Steak Number Eight, has been one of the favorites of the Belgian metal scene and is still killing it release after release. But where you really want Stake, is on a stage. Every single show they throw themselves at it as if there is no tomorrow and feel the need to play as if their lives depen on it. At Alcatraz they always deliver a massive show, and this year will be no other, we’re sure of it.

The kings of Power Metal themselves: F*cking Blind Guardian. This is a band that does not come to Belgium quite often and finally they are here. Even if you’re not really a power metal fan, you can appreciate  what they do both on record and on stage. Even after all those years and albums, they still hit hard with ttheir latest album, ‘The God Machine’, quickly becoming one of our favourite Blind Guardian albums ever (and many are in agreement that it is at least the best album since ‘Nightfall in Middle Earth‘). So not only will we hear ‘Mirror Mirror‘, ‘Valhalla‘ or ‘The Bard’s song, but also – and for the first time – ‘Deliver us from evil‘ or ‘The Secrets of the American Gods‘. This is setting up to become one of the top shows of the year for many metal fans!

Another one of Belgium’s favorites. Brutus, a band that has a quite unique line-up with their vocalist also being the drummer (we only recall seeing something similar with Exciter) and that has been working hard to get where they are right now. It clearly worked, because at some point recently they were chosen by the listeners of radio channel Studio Brussel as the number one band in the yearly “Hardest list” (surpassing even Metallica). The way they manage to craft together highly catchy songs that are drenched in raw emotions and desperation, and just enough heaviness is rather unique and whenever a song starts playing of these guys, you’ll be able to pick it out as being Brutus. An exceptional band that you need to see live at some point in your life!

Looking for some metalcore? Or possibly some youth sentiment? Get to the Prison Stage by about 9 in the evening, because one of the forefathers of metalcore are going to rip it up there. Killswitch Engage is one of those bands that always kill it live and that continue to deliver great albums even after all these decades of being around. Add to that the original vocalist Jesse being back on the mic for the past almost decade, and you know it’s going to be kickass. One of the few metalcore bands that is universally accepted by metalheads as a good band, and we can’t wait to be shouting along to some of their hits.

If you’re totally not into the crazy party that will be Electric Callboy on the Prison Stage, or simply want to get one more good shot of old school metal, the very last band on La Morgue is where you need to be. The rather legendary thrash metal band Holy Moses is going to be there to demolish the last bits that are still standing of that stage. And it’s the right moment to catch them live, because after releasing their new album ‘Invisible Queen’ and wrapping up this tour, you won’t see them around anymore. Both the album and the tour is the last you’ll get from this historical band,  so don’t miss out on this!