Hyperspace Metal Fest VII Bids Farewell (For Now) [Photos]

The seventh edition of Hyperspace Metal Fest closed with a magnificent show at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver.

Canada’s premier melodic and power metal festival closed this year’s version with a bittersweet celebration. Bitter because the organizers announced that they are going on a hiatus with no definite time to return.

A legendary band formed over 40 years ago was the first to hit the stage. Witchkiller, who stopped playing together after the release of their first EP back in 1984, returned with a few new members and sounded like they never left.

They had a short five-song set, but that was enough to ignite the crowd. They opened their set with “Rage of Angels” and closed with “Saxons.”

Void Chaser was second on stage. The band came with great energy, displaying a lot of maturity in their sound and performance for a band that was created just three years ago. They performed songs like “Ivory Tower” and “Initiation Day.”

Driving all the way from California, we had Artificial Language. The progressive metal band put on a great performance, opening with “Two-Faced Star” and closing with “Trauma” and “House of Hoarded Sands.”

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The band was formed during the COVID pandemic, but their members are veterans of the metal scene, and their performance was clear proof of that. Some of the songs they performed were “Shadow of the Dragon,” “As Arrows Hail,” and “Crawl from the Carcass.”

Another legendary band was set to close the night, Sanctuary. They opened with “Die for My Sins” and “Battle Angels.” The band visited their 40-plus years of history during their performance, closing with “The Year the Sun Died” from their 2014 album of the same name.

The fans were not satisfied after eleven songs, and the band returned to the stage to deliver a three-song encore, performing a cover of  “White Rabbit” from Jefferson Airplane, “Arise and Purify,” and “The Year the Sun Died.”