VOA Festival 2019

Lisbon

By Francisco Morais

October 19^th, 2019

VOA – Heavy Rock Festival (formerly VOA Fest and Vagos Open Air) is an open-air heavy metal/hard rock festival held annually in Portugal. The festival is being held since 2009 in four different locations: the first four editions, from 2009 to 2012, were held in Calvão (a small town in the municipality of Vagos, near Aveiro), the next three (2013 to 2015) were held in the town of Vagos, the following two editions (2016 and 2017) were held in Corroios, a city in the municipality of Seixal, and after a year break the festival is scheduled to return in 2019 in Lisbon. It is organized by Prime Artists, a Portuguese event promoter. The origins of a music festival in the Aveiro region are traced to a small event, called Rock in Ria, featuring a few Portuguese and international bands, but in 2009 that event gave way to a new full-fledged international festival which turned out to be one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in Portugal. In 2018, after a sabbatical year, Prime Artists announced on their Facebook page the return of the event for 2019. The festival took place in 4 & 5 July 2019 @ MEO Arena in Lisbon.

slayer

Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and vocalist and bassist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax. Slayer's current lineup comprises King, Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt. Slayer has released twelve studio albums, two live albums, a box set, six music videos, two extended plays and a cover album. Four of the band's studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. The band has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane" and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six", both of which were from the album Christ Illusion (2006). Between 1991 and 2013, the band sold five million albums in the United States. After more than three decades of recording and performing, Slayer announced in January 2018 that they would embark on their final world tour, which began that May and will wrap up in November 2019.

slipknot

Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. The band was founded in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan, drummer Joey Jordison and bassist Paul Gray. After several lineup changes in its early years, the band settled on nine members for more than a decade: Crahan, Jordison, Gray, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, and Jim Root. Gray died on May 24, 2010, and was replaced during 2011–2014 by guitarist Donnie Steele. Jordison was dismissed from the band on December 12, 2013. Steele left during the recording sessions for .5: The Gray Chapter. The band found replacements in Alessandro Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums. After the departure of Jordison, as of December 2013 the only founding member in the current lineup is percussionist Crahan. Fehn was also dismissed from the band in March of 2019 prior to the writing of the We Are Not Your Kind album. Slipknot is well known for its attention-grabbing image, aggressive style of music, and energetic and chaotic live shows. The band rapidly rose to fame following the release of their eponymous debut album in 1999. The 2001 follow-up album, Iowa, although darker in tone, made the band more popular. After a brief hiatus, Slipknot returned in 2004 with Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses), before going on another hiatus and returning in 2008 with its fourth album, All Hope Is Gone, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. After another long hiatus, Slipknot released its fifth studio album, .5: The Gray Chapter, in 2014. Their sixth studio album, We Are Not Your Kind, was released on August 9, 2019. The band has released two live albums titled 9.0: Live and Day of the Gusano: Live in Mexico, a compilation album titled Antennas to Hell, and five live DVDs. The band has sold 30 million records worldwide.

GOJIRA

Gojira are a French heavy metal band from Bayonne. Originally formed as Godzilla in 1996, they changed their name to Gojira in 2001. The band's lineup, consisting of brothers Joe Duplantier (lead vocals, guitars) and Mario Duplantier (drums, backing vocals), guitarist Christian Andreu, and bassist Jean-Michel Labadie, has been the same since the band's name change. They have released six studio albums and three live DVDs. They are known for their environment-themed lyrics and have gone from "utmost obscurity" to being placed "amongst (death metal)'s leading new millennium upstarts". Gojira have received Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album for their latest album Magma (2016) and Best Metal Performance for their single "Silvera".

lamb of god

Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 1994 as Burn the Priest, the group consists of bassist John Campbell, vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, and drummer Art Cruz. The band is considered a significant member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement. Since their formation, Lamb of God has released nine studio albums, one live album, one compilation album and three DVDs. The band's cumulative sales equal almost two million in the United States, including one album certified Gold by the RIAA. In 2010 and 2011 the band received Grammy nominations for songs from their 2009 album Wrath. They also received a nomination in 2016 for their song "512". Lamb of God has toured with the Ozzfest twice. Other appearances include Download Festival and Sonisphere Festival in the UK, Soundwave Festival, Mayhem Festival 2010 and Gigantour. From 2008 to 2010 they toured as part of Metallica's World Magnetic Tour, and supported Slayer on their final world tour in 2018 and 2019.

moonspell

Moonspell is a Portuguese heavy metal band. Formed in 1992, the group released their first EP Under the Moonspell in 1994 and followed up with their debut album Wolfheart a year later. They quickly became the most recognizable metal band from Portugal and a key figure in gothic metal. Moonspell reached the Portuguese top first with their album Sin/Pecado, and were, along with Metallica and Iron Maiden, the only metal band to reach the first place of the Portuguese charts after the release of their album, Memorial, in 2006. With Memorial, Moonspell also became the first Portuguese metal band to have a record certified gold status. They are also popular in Germany, where their albums consistently enter the Top 100 Chart.

TRIVIUM

Trivium is an American heavy metal band from Orlando, Florida, formed in 1999. After getting signed to Roadrunner Records in 2004, the band has released eight studio albums and over twenty singles. Their latest album, The Sin and the Sentence, was released on October 20, 2017. The band has sold over one million albums worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy for the song "Betrayer" at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019 for the Best Metal Performance.

Trivium with national pop singer - "toy"

Arch Enemy

Arch Enemy is a Swedish melodic death metal band, originally a supergroup, from Halmstad, formed in 1995. Its members were in bands such as Carcass, Armageddon, Carnage, Mercyful Fate, Spiritual Beggars, Nevermore, and Eucharist. It was founded by Carcass guitarist Michael Amott along with Johan Liiva, who were both originally from the death metal band Carnage. The band has released ten studio albums, three live albums, three video albums and four EPs. The band was originally fronted by Johan Liiva, who was replaced by German vocalist Angela Gossow in 2000. Gossow left the band in March 2014 and was replaced by Canadian vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, but remained as the group's manager.