Black Rose Metal Heart Promotions has announced that BENEDICTUM will be headlining this year’s Flight Of The Valkyries (FotV) female-fronted metal festival on Saturday, November 19 at Sonar in Baltimore, MD.

Now in its fifth year, the Flight Of The Valkyries festival welcomes back Benedictum, marking their third FotV performance and their second time headlining (first headlining FotV III in MN in 2009).

This will be Benedictum’s first time playing Baltimore though. “I’ve wanted to bring them to the east coast, to Baltimore, ever since I saw them for the first time at FotV in 2008,” says Bobbie Dickerson of Black Rose Metal Heart Promotions, co-founder and promoter of the festival (which she began with SwordLord Productions in MN in 2007). Dickerson’s intention for the festival is to promote, support, and encourage the diversity and talent of female singers in metal while bringing together national and local acts people may have never before heard.

Benedictum, the heavy metal band hailing from San Diego, Cal., is getting attention now more than ever, as they were recently featured on VH1’s “That Metal Show” as the Pick of the Week. With riffs, rhythms, and melodies reminiscent of traditional heavy metal bands like Rainbow and Savatage, Benedictum adds a style all their own with Veronica Freeman's powerful and raw vocals. The well-received success of their current release, Dominion, performance at this year’s Metal Female Voices Fest, and upcoming Path Of The Valkyries tour make Benedictum a powerful choice for this year’s festival headliner.

Also performing at FotV is DESDEMON, the New York-based symphonic power metal band. Teaming up on tour with Benedictum for the Path Of The Valkyries tour, the two bands will carve their way up the east coast from Pathfinder Metal Festival to the Flight Of The Valkyries. DesDemon’s debut feature-length album, Through the Gates, was released this summer. Vocalist Chelsea Knaack appears with guest vocalists Tim “Ripper” Owens and Amanda Somerville (AVANTASIA, EPICA) on the album. DesDemon have also shared the stage with the likes of FIREWIND, PRIMAL FEAR, GAMMA RAY, and TÝR.

The Flight Of The Valkyries festival is also pleased to announce the recent additions of FotV V co-headliner Echoterra and supporting acts BRAVE and CASSANDRA SYNDROME.

Formed by Jonah W (PYRAMAZE) and Yan Leviathan (AVIAN) in 2007, Echoterra is now joined by vocalist Melissa Ferlaak (ex–VISIONS OF ATLANTIS and AESMA DAEVA), drummer Adam Sagan and bassist Sam Van Moer. Prepare for pounding drums, soaring female vocals and incredibly intricate keys along with powerful guitar and bass playing. The band recently released their first music video for 'All The Lies' and is promoting their sophomore album Land of the Midnight Sun.

Melissa Ferlaak is no stranger to the Flight Of The Valkyries festival. She was the MC for the first FotV in Minnesota in 2007. “It is amazing to see how this festival has grown and changed. I remember the very first Flight Of The Valkyries in Minnesota and Bobbie Dickerson has done an outstanding job with this festival and increasing visibility of female fronted metal acts in the United States. We look forward to seeing this festival continue to grow and grow in the coming, successful years!”

View Echoterra's announcement video to the fans below:

From the suburbs of Washington, DC, Brave is a progressive rock/metal band with female vocals and violins featuring members of While Heaven Wept. Originally called Arise From Thorns, Brave has behind them an over 10-year career, 7 albums and a dedicated fan-base, leading them to be one of many female fronted bands the festival has been watching over the years. “I began to think about bringing Brave to FotV back in 2009. We actually tried to get them for last year’s festival here in Baltimore, but the timing was just not right. With such a history in the area and a career of over 10 years behind them, I knew I wanted Brave to be a part of this year’s festival,” says Dickerson.

Brave’s singer Michelle Schrotz commented, “We are thrilled and honored to be a part of the Flight Of The Valkyries V festival this year. Each year the festival brings such a high quality array of bands and we are so honored to be asked to play this year. The tradition of this festival will no doubt continue for many years to come.”

Female-fronted hard driving rock, striking the perfect balance between playful and sinister, Cassandra Syndrome is an intimate theater of darkness and seduction. Says Dickerson of their performance at FotV East last fall, “As a sensational opening act, Cassandra Syndrome kicked the show off right and set the atmosphere for a great day of metal. With such passion and enthusiasm for the festival and our vision, I just had to have them back!”

Hailing from Maryland, Cassandra Syndrome is a female-fronted operatic metal band. Formed in 2005 and eschewing the synthesizer-laden stereotypes of symphonic metal, Cassandra Syndrome revolutionizes the genre with a unique blend of axe-heavy melodic metal and operatic vocals. Above the punishing bass, scathing riffs, throbbing beats and searing leads, radiates the resplendent soprano of Irene Jericho. “It is an honor to be included in a festival that showcases the incredible contributions of women in metal,” says Jericho. “With such passion and dynamics on tap, Flight Of The Valkyries V will truly express the power, beauty, complexity and catharsis that only metal can offer.”

Flight Of The Valkyries has hosted many powerful women in metal over its last four years, and the fifth festival keeps with this tradition. Former heavy hitters who have graced the FotV stage are Doro, Shadowside, Luna Mortis, and Vainglory, and the women fronting Benedictum, DesDemon, Echoterra, Brave and Cassandra Syndrome are sure to do what the others have done before them—make a mark that’s uniquely theirs.

Stay tuned for more news as there are still three more bands to be announced, and with all this power, beauty, force, and heavy metal, the face of Baltimore is sure to be forever transformed.

Flight Of The Valkyries is Saturday, November 19 at Sonar in Baltimore, MD. Doors at 3 pm. Show at 3:30 pm.

Tickets are $20 for general admission and $55 for VIP passes and are on sale now via Sonar’s website here.

For more information on the Flight Of The Valkyries festival visit Flightofthevalkyries.com.