The Malta Doom Metal Festival (MDM) owes its existence, indirectly at least, to the much-respected (and sadly now-defunct) Doom Shall Rise (DSR) festival. The connection may not be immediately obvious, but it was indeed after attending the 2003 edition of that German festival that Maltese Doom metal veteran Albert Bell thought of staging a local equivalent. “I was totally captivated by the magic, the intimacy, the community spirit that was so present throughout DSR”, Bell said of that experience. “I thought it would be fantastic if we could get something similar off the ground in Malta”.
Such an event required a lot of ground work however, and a tentative ‘test-run’ was made in 2007 in the shape of a three-way Doom night featuring UK band Unsilence alongside local stalwarts Forsaken and Nomad Son. “That event went very well, so we started to plan for a bigger event”.
Two years later, the first edition of what has now become an annual fixture on the international Doom Metal calendar was staged, with Italian legends Dark Quarterer headlining the festival. The feedback was very positive, enough in fact to encourage the organisers to strive for a bigger, better festival the following year. With each edition, the stature of the festival has kept on growing, making it necessary for a bigger team to handle all the organizational requirements involved in such an event.
Now incorporating James Gauci, Glen Gauci, Simeon Gatt and Noel Mifsud alongside Albert Bell, the team has again come up with an incredible line-up for the sixth edition of the MDM festival; one that not only features different aspects of the Doom metal genre but also brings together musicians from no fewer than 9 countries in what is truly an international event.
The full 2-day festival line-up features Crimson Dawn, In Aevum Agere and Firelord (Italy), Forsaken, Victims of Creation and It Came From The Desert (Malta), Soul Steal (Cyprus), Façade and Officium Triste (Netherlands), Mist (Slovenia), Reino Ermitano (Peru), Outrage (Germany), Desolation Angels (UK) and Manilla Road (US).
Ahead of the actual festival, which kicks off at Chateau Buskett on Friday, October 24, there will also be a bonus triple metal blast featuring 12th Ode (Malta), Fangtooth (Italy) and Arkham Witch (England) on Thursday, October 23 at Remedy in Paceville. It’s fair to say that MDM 2014 will be presenting another blistering edition of doom metal heaven, proving that not only has Doom Risen…it is here to stay!