In about a month from now, Metal Bunker from Craiova hosts an intriguing event dedicated to thrash metal and bands with obvious roots within the genre – Olimpiada Națională de Thrash Metal (National Thrash Metal Olympics). The latest update we received was the one naming the bands that have entered the competition, eleven of them, and we’ll give you all of the important info down below. That is because i would like to start with my personal opinion of this upcoming event: it’s as noble and as fun as it gets! It takes a lot of effort to be able to build an event like this and i’d say the results are in when i’m looking at the bands, all of them from all over this country! I’ll raise a glass towards Metal Bunker and i’ll definitely join the party.
What you should know about ONT:
- it takes place on 15-16th of March at The Students Culture Club in Craiova;
- it has a split jury system – the official jury is composed out of three thrashers with a great background related to thrash metal events, local and from abroad. These three people will allot 70% of the final decision; 20% of the decision will go to the people who have a full pass for the two days of the event; 10% of the decision is left out to online voters who won’t be able to make it to ONT;
- three bands will headline the event: Crimena (friday; groove metal, RO), Mental District (saturday; heavy-thrash, RO) and Ciroza (saturday; thrash metal, BG);
- the official partners for this event are: Exit Festival, Kraken (merch company), Crimena, Romanian Thrash Metal Club and Biergarten Craiova;
- the awards for the Olympics are, as it follows: 1st place – an opening slot for the Coroner show at the Explosive Stage in Exit Festival (Novi Sad, Serbia) and a merch set offered by Kraken. 2nd place – a slot at Metal Bunker Fest (Craiova, Romania) and a merch set from Kraken. 3rd place – studio time offered by Crimena in their own crib so the band can record what it’s able to, whether it is a full length, an EP or a single. Plus a merch set from Kraken. Every person in the bands and their girlfriends get their weight in beer from Biergarten Craiova or something like that, hope i didn’t misunderstand this bit;
- oh, and the bands get financial support for travel and accomodation expenses. Bummer, i should’ve been in a thrash metal band by now…
Now, about those olympics… I’ll let you with the eleven bands in the competition, or at least some of them and their material.
Crossbone (Crossover Thrash Metal, Bucharest)
Crumble (Crossover Thrash Metal, Cluj)
Exuviath (Heavy-Thrash Metal, Bucharest)
Goatrocity (Blackened Speed Thrash Metal, Brasov)
Hëllstrike Blackthrash (Blackened Thrash Metal, Bucharest)
Leather Brigade (Blackened Sleaze Thrash Metal, Bucharest)
Psychiatry (Thrash Metal, Timisoara) – no material available so far;
Punisher (Thrash Metal, Craiova)
Ruyned (Thrash Metal, Timisoara)
Slicer (Blackened Sleaze Thrash Metal Punk, Bucharest)
Ventum (Experimental Thrash Metal, Timisoara) – no material available so far.
On a closing note, i’ll surely be there for this fascinating event and i honestly can’t wait to see everything these bands have up their slee…sneakers! See you all there!
Event page: Olimpiada Nationala de Thrash 2024
