Returning for its 6th edition after another year of crowd-pleasing epic fun in Vancouver, B.C., Canada’s premier melodic and power metal festival Hyperspace Metal Fest announces the addition of Symphonic Metal Storytellers, Minneapolis’ AFTERTIME to their 2025 lineup to replace the unfortunate cancelation of OWLBEAR.
Since their inception in 2011, AFTERTIME has been perfecting a potent blend of Symphonic Metal and orchestral film scores. Their songs are larger-than-life and unapologetically epic, with a special focus on adventurous storytelling and marvelous atmospheres. This past September, the band announced Narcissa as their new vocalist and released a version of their song “Sons of Fenrir” with her on vocals.
Festival organizer Joey Hockin of Journeyman Productions adds: “This time of year is always hectic for us, and this year is no exception. OWLBEAR has been forced to pull out of the lineup this year. For more info on that, watch for a statement from them on their page. In their place, we will have the epic AfterTime from Minneapolis! They’ll be playing Vancouver for the very first time on day 3 of Hyperspace and we can’t wait!”
Being hosted at The Cobalt (April 10 &11th) and the Rickshaw Theatre (April 12th), Hyperspace Metal Fest’s 2025 lineup features headliners ENFORCER, PSYCHOSTICK, along with CRIMSON SHADOWS, LUNAR, OWLBEAR, TOWER HILL, SOLARUS, RED CAIN, TYLOR DORY TRIO, SERPENT RIDER, LUMINATOR, and CRÜZER.
Headlining Saturday, April 12th at The Rickshaw Theatre, Sweden’s ENFORCER have proved themselves both live and on record, they stake their place amongst the world’s most renowned heavy metal bands since first forming in 2005. They have toured the world over, playing the biggest festivals and garnering a global fanbase. Their latest sixth studio album Nostalgia (released May 2023 – Nuclear Blast), features 13 heavy metal anthems and throws ENFORCER back to their speed metal roots. Fusing extreme guitar riffing with catchy stadium choruses, ENFORCER is out to conquer the world.
Supporting ENFORCER on the closing night lineup will be Comedy Metal Kings PSYCHOSTICK. These humorcore titans bring forth a nostalgic escapade of sing-alongs and moshing fun with iconic titles such as “Beer!”, “Numbers (I Can Only Count to Four)”, “Dogs Like Socks”, “Obey The Beard!”, “Boobs”, and their latest single “Ultra Mega Fast.”
The Saturday night lineup will also witness the return of the formidable force that is Toronto’s CRIMSON SHADOWS bringing forth tales of fantasy and warfare in their fierce melodic power and death metal imbued sound. Thundering across the icy Canadian mountains, CRIMSON SHADOWS has awoken after five years away. The band has emerged from the dark and is preparing to forge its own path in this next stage of its journey. Across their defiant career stretching almost two decades, to date notable highlights of CRIMSON SHADOWS‘ journey include the band’s appearance at Wacken Open Air in Germany in mid-2013 and subsequent victory in obtaining the title of International Wacken Battle Champions. Alongside international performances, CRIMSON SHADOWS has ventured across the length and breadth of their homeland delivering brutality, technical prowess, and unyielding intensity in their melding of power and death.
Headlining Friday, April 11th at The Cobalt and returning for their third time at HMF is Seattle’s GREYHAWK. This will be the band’s first time headlining along with performing with new vocalist Anthony Corso. They are supporting their latest album Thunderheart released in April 2024 on Fighter Records, a division of Xtreem Music.
The second night of the festival will also unleash the first-ever live performance of Lunar, a progressive metal project from California that features members from HELION PRIME, BEHOLDER, VIS MYSTICA, MOKILI WA, NORDIC FROST, OUTLOUD, and DOUBLE VISION. This fourth full-length Tempora Mutantur out on January 31st via Saibot Reigns Records follows 2023’s The Illusionist and features a fresh lineup with the addition of guitarists Carlos Alvarez and Connor McCray (VIS MYSTICA) along with keyboardist Anthony Stahl plus album guests Wayne Ingram (WILDRUN), Joe Gullace (THANK YOU SCIENTIST) and Sam Vallen (CALIGULA’S HORSE).
Full lineup is as follows:
Thursday, April 10th – The Cobalt
Glyph
Tower Hill
Red Cain
Serpent Rider
Crüzer
Friday, April 11th – The Cobalt
Greyhawk
Lunar
Solarus
Tylor Dory Trio
The Astral Prophets
Saturday, April 12th – The Rickshaw Theatre
Enforcer
Psychostick
Crimson Shadows
AfterTime
Luminator
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.