OBSCURA Guitarist/vocalist Steffen Kummerer founded Obscura in 2002. Early on, he set out to improve, redefine, and push forward. Under his self-label creation, the Bavarian released debut album Retribution (2004), followed by heavy touring throughout Europe. Word quickly spread that a brand-new band from the south of Germany was on the rise. Buzz lead to a deal with U.S.-based Relapse Records. The first record out was Cosmogenesis. In Europe, Metal Hammer Germany awarded the album 6/7 while in the U.S. Cosmogenesis hit the Billboard charts at #71. The cross-continental praise and fevered momentum landed Obscura on high-profile tours in Europe, North America, and Japan. https://obscura.bandcamp.com/ PESTILENCE Legendary, genre-defying and long-running progressive death metallers, originally established in the Netherlands in 1986. From auspicious thrash metal beginnings, which earned them a deal with Roadrunner Records, to a spot-on death metal transformation, which turned them into a genre pioneering phenom, PESTILENCE is alive and kicking after decades since its fateful inception. Labeled on the same genre-defying scale as Death, Cynic and Atheist, but also Obituary and Deicide, with whom the band shared the same label-home throughout the 90s, PESTILENCE exists as an influential, innovative and distinctive player, with nine studio albums under the belt, and a new one in the making. https://pestilence.bandcamp.com/ CRYPTIC SHIFT Whilst not commonly known as an extraterrestrial hotspot, Leeds (United Kingdom) faced an encounter of another kind, as 2015 saw Xander Bradley (Vocals/Guitar) and Ryan Sheperson (Drums) set out to accomplish a project embodying their joint passion for the art of science fiction and heavy metal music. With CRYPTIC SHIFT taking form as a crossover between the worlds of Technical Thrash / Death Metal and all things Sci-Fi, the two set out to spread their influence across the UK, and soon venturing across the globe. After steady lineup refineme