After ten years, Sarajevo is regaining its former glory as one of the regional centers of heavy metal music, as fans of metal music will be able to enjoy performances by great foreign, regional, and domestic bands over two days in April, all organized by the young association for the promotion of alternative culture “Primarch.”
The Sarajevo “Yu Heavy Metal Festival” from the 1980s, when the late Želimir Altarac Čičak organized it in the iconic Youth Center, still stands as a synonym for a major event of its kind among older fans of that musical expression. Two decades into the future, the brilliant team from “Sarajevo Metal Fest Promotions” is bringing back major heavy metal festivals to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, featuring giants like EXODUS and MISERY INDEX. Unfortunately, due to generational shifts, Sarajevo has been without major heavy metal music festivals for ten years until last year when, after two successful local festivals, the team from “Primarch” took on the responsibility and challenging task of putting Šeher back on the European heavy metal map.
The festival, which has been held twice so far at the former Johnny club (the 2020 edition was canceled due to the Covid pandemic), finally got its name, and from now on, and as the organizers hope, for many years to come, it will be called the “Eternal Flame Fest.”
On those two spring days, April 12 and 13, at the Youth Center in Sarajevo, for heavy metal fans and lovers of guitar music in general, twelve metal bands will perform (six each day), representing almost all sub-genres of that music, so, as the organizers say, top-notch entertainment is guaranteed.
“We chose the Youth Center because of its connection to the Yu Heavy Metal Festival, and also because it is the best venue in the city for an event of this kind, both because of the space itself and the possibilities it offers, as well as because of its location,” say the Primarch representatives.
In addition to Primarch, the realization of the Eternal Flame Festival involves the Skenderija Center and Sarajevo Disk, and ticket sales handled by the service kupikartu.ba.
The lineup of bands performing at the festival is composed in a way that most sub-genres of metal music are represented. Thus, the colors of traditional heavy metal are defended by the cult Sarajevo band GNU, as well as by London’s PRIMITAI. For the speed of thrash metal, Banja Luka’s CORNIX and Belgrade’s INFEST are responsible, while three hardcore bands will make the venue pulsate: Doboj’s LAST DROP and Tuzla’s URBAN INSTINKT and DESPOTIC BULLET. For nu-metal groove, there is Bihać’s NEW STORM, while Sarajevo’s PARALIZA BUĐENJA will take the audience through avant-garde waters. Of course, a metal festival wouldn’t be what it is without extreme sub-genres of that music, so Tuzla’s SOUL CREATION, Italy’s HATEFUL, and Slovenia’s ENSANGUINATE will be responsible for demonic vocals, heaviest riffs, and fastest drums.
