Wacken Open Air is keeping the Easter bunny busy by putting a wide range of musical eggs into the baskets of their fans. The largest metal festival on this planet has announced 53 new bands for its 30th-anniversary edition. Among established acts like British Heavy Metal heroes SAXON, Swedish death metal pioneers UNLEASHED, Norway’s KVELERTAK, this run includes many bands that will find particular favour with Germany’s prolific “Medieval rock and metal” scene such as FIDDLER’S GREEN, CORVUS CORAX family-friendly project “Der Fluch des Drachen” (“The Curse of the Dragon”), and COPPELIUS among others.
The promoters of the Wacken Open comment: “We are particularly proud that this round of Easter eggs contains many newcomers and young hopefuls”, says Holger Hübner. “We have always seen the importance of aiding young talents on their way to the top of the metal scene. As we are offering a wide range of acts from folk rock to death metal in this announcement, we hope that everyone finds some great ‘eggs’ to their liking.”
An alphabetical list of all 53 new bands:
Acres, Alabama Black Snakes, Axxis, Bai Bang, Bloodywood, Brass Against, Brenner, Cancer, Cesair, Christopher Bowes and His Plate of Beans, Coppelius, Damnation Defaced, Dampfmaschine, Der Fluch des Drachen, Diamond Head, Diary of Dreams, Die From Sorrow, Dream Spirit, Drunken Swallows, Duivelspack, Extrabreit, Fiddler’s Green, Jared James Nichols, Kvelertak, Molllust, Mono Inc, Monstagon, Mr. Hurley & Die Pulveraffen, Nailed To Obscurity, Operus, Paddy and the Rats, Ragnaröek, Reckless Love, Reliquiae, Saor, Saxon, Sibiir, Sikth, Skald, Skyline, Skynd, Soul Demise, Stoneman, Tanzwut, The Linewalkers, The Moon & The Nightspirit, The O’Reilleys and The Paddyhats, The Rumjacks, The Sinderellas, Tuxedoo, Unleashed, Victims of Madness, Violons Barbares
Germany’s final festival show of legendary US-thrashers Slayer will sure be counted as one of many highlights of the 30th-anniversary issue of the Wacken Open Air as well as performances by Demons & Wizards, Sabaton, Parkway Drive, Powerwolf, Monster Magnet, and Within Temptation. Further highly anticipated shows will be the appearance of Body Count lead by rap-idol and actor Ice-T, the only German concert of Rage with their Lingua Mortis Orchester, the show of gothic pioneers Sisters Of Mercy as well as the American crossover super-group Prophets Of Rage including members of Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill.
