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Iloilo band rocks for PH in heavy metal music festival in Germany

Philippines | Visayas

Iloilo band rocks for PH in heavy metal music festival in Germany

By Tara Yap

SENTIENT Void performs at Wacken Metal Battle 2026 Final in Germany. (Photo courtesy of Dark Room)

SENTIENT Void performs at Wacken Metal Battle 2026 Final in Germany. (Photo courtesy of Dark Room)

ILOILO CITY – Iloilo-based band Sentient Void proudly waved the Philippine flag in their performance at the world’s largest heavy metal music festival in Germany.

Sentient Void took center stage on Thursday, July 30, as the country’s only representative at the Wacken Metal Battle 2026 Final, a showdown of competing bands from 31 different countries.

Prior to their performance, the band vowed to showcase “what the Philippines has to offer” and the “Ilonggo supremacy” as the first Iloilo-based band to perform in an international heavy metal music festival.

The band is composed five Ilonggos – vocalist Richard Arengo from Pavia; bassist Stephen Benedicto from Iloilo City; and guitarists Dr. Alfred Gregore from Barotac Nuevo, Atty. John Paul Ernest Ravena from Estancia, and Kevin Sombero from Pavia – and drummer Lemuel Anthony Gadong from Roxas City, the capital of Capiz province.

The band’s road to Germany was sealed after Wacken held the Philippine leg in Marikina City last June 20.

Sentient Void thanked people who supported their journey – Iloilo-based band Surebol, Jon G. dela Cruz of Elegee Custom Guitars, the rehearsal studios, and music fans in Iloilo and the rest of the country.

Related Tags

Sentient Void Germany Iloilo Wacken Metal Battle 2026

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