Don’t miss your chance to farewell one of metals’ greats!

Closing the curtain on a stellar career spanning two decades, doom metal legends CATHEDRAL announce their last ever headline shows as part of two exclusive sidewaves in Sydney and Melbourne, giving Australian fans an opportunity to be a part of metal history.

Twenty years, in which they’ve proved themselves to be a band who not only transcend metal, but all or any genre classifications one might attempt to restrict them within. Yet far beyond all expectations, their ninth album, ‘The Guessing Game’ is their boldest outing and is “a collection of timeless tracks that could easily span the decades” – Rock Sound

CATHEDRAL’S legacy will well and truly continue, with the band releasing their final studio album  ‘The Last Spire’ in 2012 an expression of gratitude to their cult following.

PARADISE LOST have pioneered gothic metal. Their desire to evolve and stay ahead of musical trends continues with their latest effort ‘Faith Divides Us Death Unites Us’  “a record of epic beauty with so many moments of genius” – Rock Sound.

Get ready for battle! One of the most exciting live bands in the world; Finland’s battle metal masters TURISAS, is once again setting course for Australia.

TURISAS’S blistering live shows are etched in metal folklore so don’t miss the opportunity to witness one of the “artists of the decade” – Terrorizer

DEVIN TOWNSEND; one of the most admired and lauded figures in the metal world will be bringing his astonishingly deep and varied catalogue of mind-blowing music to Sidewaves in Sydney and Melbourne.

Devin Townsend has amazed, beguiled and occasionally baffled all comers in numerous incarnations spanning the extreme noise metal of Strapping Young Lad to the intricate melodies of Ocean Machine; Devin has had his hand in almost every genre of music, from industrial metal to progressive rock to ambient sounds.  All of these projects had one thing in common: GENIUS.

In his incarnation as DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, ‘Hevy Devy’ makes his most grandiose musical statement with an extravagant conceptual quadrilogy showcasing his talents and diversity as a songwriter.  From the extreme metal to his more mellow work. ‘Ghost’, the final chapter of the quadrilogy is among the most celebrated creations of his career, a blissfully laid back opus. “Townsend has delivered on a level not previously imagined” – Metalinjection.net

Touted by Rolling Stones as “one of the 10 most important hard and heavy bands” acclaimed Swedish metal outfit MESHUGGAH have been leading the metal world with their ground-breaking approach to songwriting.

MESHUGGAH’S sixth studio album ‘Obzen’, a genre classic, sees them at their unrelenting and vicious best “having perfected their already unparalleled craftsmanship…it’s a phenomenal record” – Lords Of Metal

With a new album ‘Kooloos’ due out March 2012, the metal world waits in anticipation of what the metal giants have in store. In the meantime don’t miss your chance to witness “The most important band in metal”– Alternative press.

Driven by a desire to change and evolve, DREDG have been experimenting and pushing the boundaries throughout their 15 year career.  With their 5th studio album ‘Chuckles and Mr Squeezy’ DREDG is firmly cementing their place as one of rocks most innovative artists breaking new ground in an unexplored realm, “DREDG do pull the new approach off with real success” – Revolver Magazine

“Zakk Wylde, One of the 100 greatest living rockstars” – Revolver Magazine

A heavy metal immortal, Zakk Wylde has ridden the rock and roll rollercoaster having played alongside Ozzy Osbourne for more than 2 decades conquering the world’s biggest stages and releasing multi-platinum albums.

Founding BLACK LABEL SOCIETY in 1999, the band has gone on to achieve phenomenal success commanding a legion of fiercely loyal fans. BLACK LABEL SOCIETY’S 8^th studio album ‘Order of the Black’ is a cacophony of heavy riffing, heartfelt ballads, thunderous metal and epic thrash which sees them “onto another grin inducing winner here and long may it continue.” – Rock Sound

Brace yourself because HELLYEAH featuring metal’s baddest group of outlaws, Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Chad Gray (Mudvayne), Greg Tribbet (Mudvayne) and Tom Maxwell (Nothingface) are bringing their ‘let’s-tear-the-world-a-new-ass’ attitude and bonafide fist-pumping metal anthems for two special sidewaves. “Each person who was present felt it, in their soul and in their heart that metal lives.”  - antiMusic.com

For BLACK TIDE evolution is a big part of growing up. Returning with their dynamic sophomore album ‘Post Mortem’ showcasing the bands creative expansion with hard-hitting riffs, fist pumping choruses and the perfect dose of melody. “Equal parts muscle and melody, a slick distillation of every act between Iron Maiden and Avenged Sevenfold” – Revolver Magazine

HOLY GRAIL is heavy metal personified. Their latest offering ‘Crisis in Utopia’ possesses a seemingly infinite arsenal of mind blowing riffs, skyscraping vocal melodies and devastating drum dynamism.  With fans and critics singing their praises with Thrasher Magazine declaring “HOLY GRAIL are the reason that heavy metal will never die” and Decibel Magazine calling them  “The Most exciting prefix- free metal band to come out of L.A in the last two decades”.

Words by Sean Dudley

Early in 2011, German gothic metal band Katanga released their anticipated second album, entitled ‘Moonchild’ five years after releasing their debut. While the band are keeping themselves busy with tours and writing material for the next album, we here at The Metal Forge were interested to see how things were going. The end result was a nice ole’ chinwag with the gothic metalers themselves. Enjoy the interview. 

Words By Rod Whitfield

You can be forgiven for being a little confused about long running English Doom Metal band Cathedral. In early 2011, the band announced their 'official' retirement after more than two decades, ten studio albums and countless tours together, and that their 'last ever' show would be played in London in December. Lo and behold, they were subsequently announced as joining the almighty bill of the Soundwave festival, taking place on the other side of the world in Australia in February and March 2012! Drummer Brian Dixon explains that this was just a case of unfortunate timing, and that one final trip to our magnificent sunburnt country was an offer too good to pass up.