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#AeternalRequiem

Aeternal Starlight shines bright despite venue's dark cloud

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Aeternal Starlight shines bright despite venue's dark cloud

For more than a decade, Austin Zettner and Jyro Alejo have been at the forefront when it comes to spotlighting the talented crop of guitarists comprising the San Antonio metal scene not named Ron Jarzombek.

Zettner has had quite a journey as the one constant in Aeternal Requiem for more than 11 years as guitarist and vocalist of what once was a trio, then went through lineup changes, then dissolved from the scene before resurrecting earlier this year as a quartet.

Alejo, meanwhile, has dazzled audiences with his thrilling style and skill on the axe, shredding his way to performances alongside Tim “Ripper” Owens and at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention while dedicating his craft throughout Jessikill’s tenure from 2012-23.

Alejo has a new group called Starlight, and they provided direct support to Aeternal Requiem this past Friday night at The Mix in a showcase of the 2026 versions of each of their musical undertakings.

The show, however, was supposed to feature four bands. And the cancellation of the other two didn’t come very lightly or for typical reasons.

Scars Of The Flesh and scheduled openers Arbiter took themselves off the bill earlier in the afternoon but unbeknownst to several in attendance until their scheduled set times went by without activity.

A visit to Scars Of The Flesh’s social media pages resulted in the band telling its fans: “So in light of situations that have arisen to the surface with the venue tonight, we must announce we are canceling (sp) our performance at The Mix tonight. We respect all parties involved but we must stand on the side of integrity. We will have some shows coming up here in town so catch us very soon! Duly noted: We love The Mix and the venue itself is a great place to play, once everything is settled and clear we would love the chance to return.”

Arbiter could not be reached for comment, but ATM was able to contact Scars Of The Flesh during what should’ve been the group’s performance time, and the band replied in kind: “As far as speaking for the cancellation of tonight, we are professionals through and through. We are not at liberty to speak of what caused said reason but to know we had to stand at the side of integrity since what was shared on social media from other parties regarding said venue. It’s too soon to know what’s happened so to be sure not to be associated in any way shape or form, we chose to bow out gracefully.”

ATM questioned two staffers at The Mix regarding the reasons for the cancellation, with one saying he “thought” it was over an Instagram post and the other saying twice, “I don’t know” before referring ATM once again to the first staffer.

Upon further digging, it was discovered that an alleged sexual assault had recently taken place in the back of the venue and that the Instagram post was reportedly the corresponding police report. According to a source, the alleged incident took place June 26 with the bar staff knowing about the activity, but that the incident allegedly was a false accusation between a boyfriend and girlfriend.

ATM asked Alejo why Starlight didn’t follow suit with the other bands not taking part. Citing the incomplete investigation, Alejo said, “We don’t ever like to cancel shows.”

So while the four bands were split on the proverbial “the show must go on,” that should’ve meant more stage time for the two bands that stayed and played. Instead, Starlight played a mere four songs in 23 minutes, while Aeternal Requiem’s headlining set was an all-too-brief 31 minutes.

But both bands made their time count.

Zettner not only has rebirthed Aeternal Requiem into a quartet of all-new players in bassist David Rey — a veteran of the local scene with other bands — guitarist Diego Quiroga and drummer Waldo Guardiola, but he has put his previous experience honing his craft and exploring other genres of metal while in Finland a few years back to various uses.

For example, Zettner has blended the band’s older material on albums such as Rise into newer tunes such as “Forlorn Hope” that put the focus on folk metal.

Nevertheless, ATM has covered Aeternal Requiem since 2015, and Friday’s show was Zettner’s most vicious to date.

Setting the tone early by telling a packed crowd, “I have a lot of pent-up energy to get out,” Zettner and the band tore into "Eternal My Soul” and “Invictus” while taking a chance on newer tracks such as “Chant Song” and “The Triumphant” (watch ATM footage of the latter two below).

Aeternal Requiem advanced out of the San Antonio Regional of the Wacken Metal Battle in February (coverage here) before falling short at the state final in March. But that has allowed the group more time to gel, write and rehearse, and Zettner appears to have Aeternal Requiem headed in a promising and longer-lasting direction when it comes to the city’s metal landscape.

Starlight in its own right, with vocalist / bassist Eric Blair, Alejo and drummer Riley Castillo have introduced San Antonio metalheads to their brand of power metal, and you can check them out below via ATM’s footage of “Night Rider” and “Cosmic Chaos.”

Starlight also has a couple of promotional videos out which, ironically, were mixed and mastered by Scars Of The Flesh guitarist Bryan Eckmermann.

In what was undoubtedly an atypical night of San Antonio live metal, here’s hoping both performing bands will continue to drop new music leading to more appearances.

But here’s much larger hoping that those involved in the aforementioned alleged activity can get things sorted out without any harm coming to any individuals. And that the bands who stood up for what they believed in, by sitting out, will be back on stage throwing down sooner than later.

AETERNAL REQUIEM SETLIST: Never to Return, Eternal My Soul, Chant Song, The Triumphant, Forlorn Hope, Invictus

STARLIGHT SETLIST: Starlight, Into the Night, Night Rider, Cosmic Chaos

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Local artists Voltreus & Aeternal Requiem advance to state final of Wacken Metal Battle

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Local artists Voltreus & Aeternal Requiem advance to state final of Wacken Metal Battle

The annual competition for worldwide supremacy of bands battling to represent their respective countries at metal’s most renowned festival this summer has kicked off around the globe. Closer to home, it all began Friday night at the Rock Box as the San Antonio Regional of the Wacken Metal Battle commenced to crown the top two bands that would advance to the state final Sunday, March 15, at Come And Take It Live in Austin (tickets here).

Some bands brought their “A” game. Some treated it as another opportunity to play in front of their friends and family and hawk their merch. Others stayed home for reasons only known to them.

When the night was over, a two-man panel of judges decided that the artists which most made like Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and seized the moment rather than letting it slip were San Antonio’s own Voltreus (regional winner) and local runner-up Aeternal Requiem.

Each of those bands came with an eyebrow-raising story on its quest for success.

The regional’s official flyer announcement began with 14 bands around the Christmas holidays. Soon thereafter, Thunder Horse, Surge, Glorious, Cheese Grater Masturbation and Wicked Angel withdrew.

By the time Friday rolled around, the event had whittled more from nine to seven bands.

Slated to kick off at 5:50 p.m. with San Antonio’s Blood Moon, with each group allotted 20 minutes to strut its stuff, Blood Moon did not appear. Nor did Forever Silent, a Spanish metalcore outfit from El Paso that would’ve had to make a 10-12-hour trek to San Antonio. The latter band did not make any mention of the Wacken Metal Battle on its social media pages, so perhaps something got lost in translation.

The more bands that succumbed, the better the chance the ones at the Rock Box were going to advance to Austin.

Voltreus (Voal-TRAY-us) arguably exhibited the most energy and, from a person who has covered and judged prior Wacken battles, that is always one of the top qualities that can help bands impress the panel. While it isn’t a guarantee it will lead to victory, artists can certainly play themselves out of the running if they take up part of their 20 minutes giving shout-outs to their friends in the front row or telling the audience to “come say hello to us at the merch booth.”

Note to bands: the Wacken Metal Battle is not your typical show. You are playing for 20 MINUTES TO ADVANCE TO MOVE ON TO HOPEFULLY AND EVENTUALLY PERFORM AT THE WORLD’S BIGGEST HEAVY METAL FESTIVAL IN GERMANY. You can play in front of your friends and family in your city anytime and point out your merch then. When you only have time for three or four songs to put a stranglehold on your opportunity and give the best you have, take advantage of it. Furthermore, when you’re playing in a bar and there’s fewer than 100 patrons there, they will see your merch stand simply when they’re walking around. If you’re going to emphasize that over your performance — a performance that, by the way, should concentrate on impressing the judges more than anyone else there — you’ve already lost. Consider it a lesson learned for future battles if you so desire.

Voltreus and Aeternal Requiem needed no such PSA.

Voltreus came out with black paint, eerie horned masks, loud music and an intriguing story as told by vocalist Tyler “Obidius” Groshon of how three of the band’s four members have been adopted (himself twice). The end result was the one song in which the band showed its faces in an uplifting message to what family and their fans mean to them on “Kith & Kin” (ATM footage below), which the band was scheduled to shoot a video for the day after winning the regional and releasing the song as a single April 10.

Voltreus was formed in 2019 by 27-year-old guitarist / singer Ferni “Infyct” Ramirez and bassist Devin “Obelith” Guy, 29.

Groshon, who turns 32 next month, drummer Fox “Primal” Alexander and Guy were adopted. Groshon, originally from Washington, D.C., spent six years in the Navy but said it was his dream to move to San Antonio not because it is Military City, but because of its music scene.

“The plan for me was to get into the military to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and then when I wanted to get out, that’s what I wanted to do,” Groshon told Alamo True Metal. “San Antonio just kept popping up in my head because that was a place that I could go. There’s a music scene there, it’s always been a dream. You know what, I’m going to try my best to get there. When I was applying for places to go, you never get anywhere that you pick. Ever. And I chose San Antonio as my No. 1. I’m the only person that anyone knows that got their No. 1 choice right off the rim. It’s super rare. I got my orders before my buddy who applied for orders six months before me, and he also came to San Antonio.”

Groshon joined Voltreus in 2021 after being asked by Ramirez to try his luck at vocals but not until he had declined several times. “Then I was in Calculus class, and I messaged him and said, “Alright, let’s do it. I blew out my voice the first practice, and I was like ‘That’s never gonna happen again.’ We just kept working at it,” Groshon said.

Aeternal Requiem has quite an interesting tale of its own.

Formerly a trio led by singer/guitarist Austin Zettner, the band competed as a quartet in the 2020 Regional at Fitzgerald’s. Basically defunct ever since, Zettner has resurrected the group with an all-new quintet that is now meshing folk metal using a mini flute Zettner keeps in his back pocket with songs from their initial album Rise (ATM footage below of “Forlorn Hope” and “Invictus”).

Friday night marked only Aeternal Requiem’s second gig in six years after playing the Texas Viking Festival in December in Paige, Texas. Now the band finds itself preparing for its third gig with its new lineup in Austin at the State Final.

While bands emanating from the Alamo City dropped out of the regional before the competition and the day of, Egregious made an incredible statement of its own by driving 10 hours from Albuquerque for its own 20-minute opportunity at exposure.

It wouldn’t have been the first time a band traveled that far to play 20 minutes. Texas Voodoo Stomp did that deed from El Paso to the Alamo City and ended up advancing out of the San Antonio Regional in 2020 to the state final in Austin that ended up taking place the day before the world was shut down due to Covid-19, eventually wiping out the national final and Wacken Open Air entirely.

This time, Egregious visited the Rock Box after raising $650 for a rental van through a GoFundMe effort “because nothing was really close to us” in terms of the Battle.

The mere fact that a band demonstrated that level of dedication to put all their eggs into such a brief set spoke volumes about certain bands’ outlook and goals for themselves as artists.

Egregious was one of the bands to shine on stage (see ATM footage below of “St. Vengeance”), though the judges had them finish just outside of the top two.

Immortal Execution, Corpse Hole, Overlay and Ariah Falls — all local bands — joined Voltreus and Aeternal Requiem in bringing their various genres to the stage. Corpse Hole, impressively, was fresh off an appearance at the annual 70000 Tons of Metal Heavy Metal Beach Party the week before at The Clevelander on South Beach in Miami. See each of those bands in action below.

In the end, only two could move on to Austin. Voltreus and Aeternal Requiem will need to step up their game with each round of the competition. They will join A Good Rogering, BountyTX, Nemesis and We Are Man at the State Final, with only the winner advancing to the national final June 13 in San Diego. The winner of that will be on the road to Wacken in Germany from July 29-Aug. 1 also earning VIP camping and $1,000 for the flight to the fest that will include 80,000 headbangers and headliners Judas Priest, Def Leppard, In Flames and Powerwolf.

The Wacken Metal Battle is a great way for fans and industry folks to discover bands — and to find out just how serious each outfit is in an attempt to “make it.”

Losing the competition also tests whether a band is going to ask itself, “Are we good enough going forward, and what do we need to work on? Or, are we going to give up because a couple of judges didn’t feel we were talented enough?”

While Voltreus and Aeternal Requiem move on in a competition featuring bands from 62 countries this year that is slated to grow to a whopping 102 nations in 2027, they know the stakes get higher and the contest gets tougher with each round.

“We don’t have to overthink it because we’re accounting for every little detail always,” Voltreus bassist Guy said. “All we gotta do is execute the plan.”

The quality of songs and a band’s look go a long way toward success in such a competition. But it also more than helps to have the right attitude.

“Honestly,” Groshon said, “don’t get me wrong, and I don’t want this to sound mean or anything, but when someone says, ‘You guys did great,’ we love that and we appreciate that a lot that everyone had a good time. But what I’m here for is I wanna hear what you have to tell us that we can do better.”

May the best band win.

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