Jowita hat an einige Leute hier im board eine Rundmail mit folgendem Inhalt geschrieben:
Hi XXXXXX (Name entfernt),
I'm writing to you, as I know you're a fan of SKELATOR - and there's something very important to me that I wanted to tell you personally, hoping that we can still make a difference (even though this is a very small hope).
Oliver has just announced the running order of METAL ASSAULT - with Skelator as the opening act at noon.
Now... IF you agree with what I'm going to write, and ONLY if you really agree (and don't say it's because I asked of course

), I would be very grateful if you posted some kind of a comment in the Metal Assault thread, expressing this.
So, in short, we think it's quite UNFAIR and actually disrespectful that Skelator has to play as the opener. Why?
Out of the first 5 bands on the billing (incl. STORMZONE, ANTICHRIST, TRIAL, POSSESSOR) SKELATOR:
- were formed earliest - in 1998 (the other bands are from: 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009).
- have the biggest discography from all of them (see below this message for details).
- have been playing this kind of old school metal long before this stuff became trendy (first with some more thrash/speed influences), proving that they live and breathe true metal, and don't jump on the bandwagon like many kids do nowadays (dressing up as if it was early '80s to make them seem more "true"),
- have a huge live experience, as they play on average once per month, which makes them a really great live band,
- come a long and VERY expensive way from USA (that applies to Possessor too of course),
- because of the above fact, it's very unlikely they will afford to come to Europe again in the next years, while you can be sure that the Swedish and UK bands will play at many other German festivals and single shows this and the next years - there are already some confirmations.
These are just objective facts.
We think SKELATOR deserve a better position, not just because of where they come from, but mostly because of their nearly 15 years of undying dedication to speed and epic heavy metal, and their discography.
We ARE worried that some fans would be late even for reasons beyond their control (like winter traffic jams, not possible earlier train connections etc.) and wouldn't see SKELATOR if they play at 12:00. Saturday is the first day of the festival, so most people will be just arriving, contrary to HOD's or KIT's Saturday.
So... all I ask you is to post a comment in the METAL ASSAULT thread, expressing surprise or disappointment IF you agree with what I wrote above and think they do DESERVE a better position on the billing (at least to play after these unknown Swedish newcomers TRIAL!). Even if it doesn't change Oliver's mind about the running order, at least he will see we are not the only ones who have this opinion. That's always something.
Many thanks and hopefully see you on February 2nd! We will have some new SKELATOR merchandising there: "Agents Of Power" T-shirts, "Give Me Metal Or Give Me Death" CD (limited 100 copies) and "Live Chaos" tape (limited to 66 copies).

Cheers,
Jowita
PS. Here are just some statistics numbers from Metal Archives supporting what I wrote above:
SKELATOR
USA
1998
3 demos
2 EPs (one split)
1 compilation
3 albums (1 of them also on vinyl, not to mention the Greek/Russian "edition")
TRIAL
Sweden
2007
1 demo
1 album
ANTICHRIST
Sweden
2005
2 demos
1 compilation (tape with those demos)
1 album (self-released in 2012 - Coffin's Slave is an Australian mailorder)
POSSESSOR
USA
2009
2 demos
1 split (four-way split with the same demo songs)
1 album
STORMZONE
UK
2004
3 albums