Day three began in Cozumel, Mexico. I did not have my passport, and I stayed up past 5AM drinking (See Day Two Recap), so I took the opportunity to sleep in. It turned out that a lot of people took that choice as the cafeteria was packed. We grabbed some of the awesome food from the ship, and headed back to our room to get some work done. Yes, I did get some work done on the trip. It wasn't all drinking and shows, that was just 98% of it. I unloaded some video on my laptop and then started counting down the hours until the bands started playing shows again. The band band up was Epica.

Epica and Cripper both played at 7PM on Wednesday, and I decided to try and catch a little of both shows. Cripper really has a great live show, so be on the lookout for that band in the future. After their set, we had an hour until Fear Factory came on, so that's when my drinking commenced again. I stood in line early and got front row again for Fear Factory and was once again blown away. The set list had a good mixture of old and new songs and the fans, including myself, were losing it the whole time. Burton started to lose his voice at the end of the set, but it didn't matter. Fear Factory made their presence felt on the ship, and they were easily the best band there in my opinion. After the show, I grabbed another bucket of beer and ran to the pool deck to catch Exodus.



I missed Exodus on the first night of the festival, so there was no way in hell I was missing them again. They played a blistering set on the pool deck, and the crowd was going apeshit. They even pulled a vertical wall of death on the deck, and you can see footage of that in the video below. Exodus were very impressive, and I can't wait until they return to Atlanta again. What a show!

Saxon played another hour and a half set, but I chose to sit this one out and hang out with some of my new international friends. Then I ran into the guitarist from Epica, Byron from Fear Factory, and a few other metal legends. I bought a few of them drinks, and they returned the favor later on, which was even more badass. I sat down at the bar and none other than Dino Cazares walks up. He sits down and says "Hey Mark, can I chill here for a bit?" Like I'm going to say no or something haha. So Dino and I chilled for a bit and talked about how amazing this cruise was. He was having the time of his life, and I think everyone left that tour feeling the same way. Dino left, my buzz turned into drunk, and I went indoors to catch Unleashed.

Two of the most brutal bands on this tour were Unleashed and Marduk, and they were playing back to back on the third night. Unleashed was missing one member, but they held their own as a three piece and had guest appearances to fill the spot. This band is so impressive live, and I can only imagine the power they have with every member on stage. Their set ended and we ran to the pool deck to catch Marduk at 3AM. There was something extra awesome about watching Marduk outside on the ship. I don't know if it was how drunk I was, the lighting, or just realizing what was going on, but their show was simply amazing. They played a littler over an hour to a big crowd, and put their heart and soul into the show. I left this show with a huge respect for Marduk, and now I can't stop listening to them.

I was trying to stay awake till 4AM to catch Destruction, but I wasn't going to make it. I went back to my room for a bit, saw my bed, fell into it, and passed out. This is the only band I missed on the festival, so I think I did pretty well overall. I must say though, that was my best night of sleep. Then again, I knew I had to wake up at 10:30AM to watch Arsis. That's going be fun....