| Standard 3-day-pass incl. programme book: 99 Euro + fees & shipping |

9/29 • Prophetic Overture • Krachmucker reads "Reading King Diamond" - Mosaic - Vrîmuot - Thurnin - Neun Welten - Crone (acoustic show) - Zwischenlichten

9/30 • Arthur Brown - Alcest - The Vision Bleak - Fire + Ice - Winterfylleth - :Of The Wand & The Moon: - Arð - Imha Tarikat

10/1 • Empyrium - Coven - Darkher - Austere - Antimatter - Camerata Mediolanense - Saturnus - A Forest Of Stars - Dold Vorde Ens Navn

Yay, expect the unexpected :) It was indeed a surprise to see the announcement for the PROPHECY FEST 2022 in Germany. Originally, it was planned to alternate the festival annually between Germany and the USA, which would have meant to see the next German edition of the PROPHECY FEST in 2023. As :: Prophecy Productions :: stated, it was the massive success of the 25th anniversary last year (live report here) that lead to the decision to return to the legendary :: Balve Cave :: this year again. Taking place from September 29 to October 1st, it was even an extended version of the festival. If there will be also an US edition anytime soon, nobody knows.
However, words have fairly gotten around that the PROPHECY FEST is a unique one, a festival with a special concept attracting music connoisseurs around the globe. So it didn’t wonder that fans from all over the world like the USA and Australia once again traveled to the Sauerland, to the little city of Balve, to see stunning bands playing exclusive shows in one of the biggest cultural caves Germany has to offer.

:: Thursday :: Friday :: Saturday :: Impressions ::

Once again, Prophecy Productions put an awesome billing together. I was looking forward most to the comeback of Danish death/doomsters SATURNUS and what can I say? It was THE highlight of the entire festival! The biggest surprise to me were Norwegian lunatics DOLD VORDE ENS NAVN, who straight blew me away as opening act on Saturday. I didn't have them on my radar. ALCEST were brilliant as always, of course. Likewise stunning were :OF THE WAND & THE MOON: and DARKHER. And with EMPYRIUM and THE VISION BLEAK you can never do wrong ;) Only downer was to see FIRE + EIS on the billing (and on the label's roster generally). But more on this on Friday.

Speaking about the organization of the festival, nothing much has changed. Or to say it in other words: all Covid restrictions were gone. The stage returned to its old place. Only the paper tokens remained. As everywhere, also at PROPHECY FEST 2022 prices have increased. Instead of 1 Euro for 1 token last year, you had now to pay 1.60 Euro for 1 token. Luckily, they had price lists on the counter so that no one had to wait while the staff was calculating every order. As for that the prices for food and drinks decreased a little bit compared to last year. Water 1 token, beer 2, wine 3, and most of the food 2 tokens. Nothing to nag about ;) And, the ticket prices remained the same too! 99 Euro for the whole festival including the wonderful program book with two audio CDs.
The entire festival was once again professionally filmed from a multi camera perspective and streamed for free. Let's hope that Prophecy Productions makes the videos available afterwards.

Last year, there was no visual artist. This year there was no visual artist too. It’s a pity; I really miss the artistic aspect of the festival. Maybe it is about time to offer Łukasz Jaszak a chance. He is such a talented photographer/digital designer. He has done so many band shootings, created cover artworks and layouts for Prophecy releases and also designs the program book and visuals for the PROPHECY FEST for many years. So he did this year as well, with the cover photo taken by yours truly :)

This year there have been no band cancellations, no other problems and actually no delays. Only a few minor probs like short power breakdowns for the mixing and light desk and some minor sound probs occurred. It was autumnally cold but the weather was mostly better than its forecast. Luckily, the cave has radiant heaters on the ceiling that were partly operating on Friday and full-time running on Saturday.

At the end of the intro, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude towards everybody involved of the festival. THANK YOU thousands times Prophecy Productions, thank you to the Schützenbruderschaft Sankt Sebastian and the Festspielverein Balve. Thank you to all helping hands and Fidel security for a very relaxed festival with a care free package. And, of course, a big thank you to all bands for their stunning live shows! Thanks from the bottom of my heart! ♥♥♥

Story & Pics © Dajana & Dajana Winkel • Photography