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70,000 Tons Of Metal 2024 (Day Four) - The Full Experience Of Metal At Sea

The last day of any music festival is always bittersweet. In the back of your mind, you know it’s inevitable, but you do your best to distract yourself. Today was our last chance to see as many bands as possible and enjoy every moment like it was our last. Death by 70,000 Tons of Metal was our objective and we were going to meet it at any cost to our bodies.

The final day on 70,000 Tons Of Metal has always been by tradition a mini-Halloween of sorts. Survivors will dress in costumes of all types ranging from funny to crude to basically nude. I noticed some costumes being worn during every day of the festival, but the majority still garbed up on the last day.

There were some great getups this year. One of my favorites was a stormtrooper from the Star Wars movies. We saw him meandering the boat on several occasions but once I saw him checking out the merch selection, I had to tell him/her that I hoped their aim of picking out the correct shirt was better than their marksmanship with their laser gun. They turned towards me and just stared me down. They obviously were not amused by my snarky comment.

Stormtrooper Is Not Amused

The first band on the list today was Einherjer. Einherjer has been part of a few 70k line-ups, but I’ve never actually stopped and watched them. That changed today. I can honestly say that they were very good for the style they played, old school Viking metal. It’s really not my thing, but at least I could finally check that box of finally seeing them.

Einherjer

One of the festival’s most looked forward to attractions is the belly flop contest. By the time we arrived at the Solarium Pool, there wasn’t any open spots on the top deck to watch, we had to squeeze in from below. All shapes, sexes and sizes participate in this immensely popular and traditional event. The judges are always members of the bands and it’s a fun time for everyone involved. We were able to watch a few flops before grabbing lunch. It should come as no surprise that the person with the most body mass ended up with the highest score and winning the contest.

Sunblocked!

Another one of the highlights of the cruise is the Jamming In International Waters All Star Jam. It’s basically members of different bands getting together to cover classic metal songs. Many of the members have never played with each other before so there are some glitches here and there, but it’s worthwhile going to at least once if you’re a 70k newbie.
My Dying Bride was next on the day’s list and this would be our first time seeing this historic English doom band. As the crowd waited for them to take to stage, the fog machines were putting in some overtime. From my vantage point in the photo pit, I couldn’t even make out faces a couple rows behind me because there was so much fog. This is the ambience that great doom metal bands strive for and it worked out beautifully for My Dying Bride. Their gothic style of doom still holds up to this day and vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe is in a class all by himself not only in the classic doom genre, but for all heavy metal itself.

My Dying Bride

Sodom’s second set was an exclusive one, they were to play their classic and one of their most popular albums in full, “Agent Orange.” “Agent Orange” was released in 1989 at a time when the golden age of thrash metal was peaking. Fellow countrymen Kreator released “Extreme Aggression” and Destruction had released a live album, “Live Without Sense” that same year as well. Germany’s thrash scene was “in Brand!” I have to say that this was my favorite set for the entire festival. All the factors were present. Great energy from the band, incredible energy from the crowd, the songs were played to perfection. And after they finished with the album tracks, there was an encore of three songs. Danke Sodom for the incredible set!

Sodom

After four days of almost non-stop metal, my wife and I decided on seeing one more band before throwing out our 70,000 Tons Of Metal life preserver. That band was “I Am The Night,” a Finnish black metal band. “I Am The Night” turned out to be one of the gems of the festival for me. They have an old school black metal flavor. They definitely draw inspiration from early Emperor, a sound that still appeals greatly to the black metal fan base.

I Am The Night

As we walked back to our cabin to begrudgingly start organizing our suitcase to disembark the next day, we took a moment to soak it all in. This festival is special. And when I mean special, I mean it’s a tight knit community. Many of the attendees claim they are a Survivor several times over. This is very believable because many of them proudly wear their festival shirts from years past like a badge of honor. The culture of this festival is unlike any other and even though I might not be able to attend it every year, I get excited (and a little envious) when the first bands are announced. Safe sailing and keep it heavy 70,000 Tons Of Metal, until next time!