Do we still need a lengthy introduction for Het Zesde Metaal? With classics like Ploegsteert, Naar De Wuppe and Tid Van Ton, and acclaimed and award-winning albums like Nie Voe Kinders, Calais & Skepsels, we can’t imagine the Belgian music scene without the band encompassing Wannes Cappelle. The just recently released Het langste jaar, the band’s sixth album, and one that came about under emotional circumstances. In mid-2022, the news of guitarist and keyboard player Tom Pintens’s incurable illness hit like a bomb. It inspired the band to make an album in the intimacy of their own circle. Pintens put on the producer’s hat and led the band into the studio in

the summer of the next year, to give it their all for one last time. He died a month after the recordings. Het langste jaar is a musical chronicle of the most turbulent time in the history of the band, but at the same time it’s probably the most melodious album by Het Zesde Metaal, with more room than ever for intricate, highly efficient arrangements. We can already hear you humming along!