January 29th – February 2nd

All Photos By Lisa Holt Photography

Let me start by saying that this cruise is unlike any other, I have set sail on this cruise before and it’s always a smashing time from the yearly Heavy Metal Beach Party on Miami Beach the day before we all set sail, to the fun and bad decisions going on at the Clevelander Hotel, this cruise is the event of the year. The best music cruise out there!! Let’s get into it!

70000 Tons Of Metal once again proved why it remains the most immersive heavy-metal experience on the planet, delivering wall-to-wall performances in a setting that blurs the line between festival and floating metal utopia. AMORPHIS, a Finnish metal band, was my first chance to see a band on the pool deck. Although it was pouring rain, I had a great time photographing this immersive band! Even though I had raindrops on my lens, I still enjoyed this performance and shoot. AMORPHIS unleashed massive, melody-driven heaviness with absolute authority, while Bay Area thrash icons VIO-LENCE and HEATHEN tore through their set at the Studio B theatre my fellow Bay Area Thrash pals played with relentless precision, igniting pits and reminding everyone why their legacy still hits hard decades later. HEATHEN debuted an amazing new song in their set and it was on fire! These thrashers are relentless and leave no faces unmelted!!! One of the most powerful moments of the cruise came from IGNEA, the Ukrainian melodic metal force, whose cinematic, symphonic-infused performance combined intensity, emotion, and commanding stage presence — a set that resonated deeply and stood out among an already stacked lineup. ANTHRAX proved to be good sports playing twice once in the interior studio theatre and once on the freezing pool deck! ANTHRAX’s second show featured ARMORED SAINTS’s Legendary bass player Joey Vera standing in for Frank Bello as he was busy winning his first Grammy Award!! UK’s SATAN played a dangerously insane set, it was amazing to watch and listen to, it brought back memories for me of first discovering the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Genre I adored as a teenager. Between blistering shows, legendary moments like the infamous belly-flop contest captured the spirit of the cruise. the all night Karaoke was definitely going all night with a full casino on the boat, there are lots of shenanigans to get into .all in all, reinforcing that 70000 Tons of Metal isn’t just about the music — it’s about community, chaos, and unforgettable memories at sea. Comprehensive photo coverage captures the raw performances, the scale of the production, and the unmistakable energy that only this cruise can deliver.

Attendees describe the cruise as a close-knit community experience: seeing shows from hot tubs, bumping into artists in elevators or dining rooms, and trading stories with metalheads from around the world. It’s often an exhausting but incredibly memorable mix of music, travel, and shared fandom. It’s a family of lifelong, like-minded individuals that convene once a year from all over the world to bask in Heavy Music for nearly a week! We are fans, musicians, and just lovers of Heavy Music! What a place to be for all of us crazy headbangers!! I look forward to meeting up with all the amazing people I met on this cruise!! We are already planning for next year’s cruise!! Stay tuned for that while I get my sea legs back!!

AMORPHIS

VIO-LENCE

HEATHEN

IGNEA

ANTHRAX

SATAN

FIREWIND

BELLY FLOP CONTEST

FANS