Reviews

The big review: Wacken 2024

Kommen sie, bitte, und listen to metal: Architects, Amon Amarth, Jesus Piece, Korn, Scorpions and tons more descend on Europe’s heaviest party!

It’s impossible to truly understand what Wacken is if you’ve never been there. So says Amon Amarth frontman Johan Hegg in one of the daily ‘Bullhead’ newspapers the festival print and distribute onsite, and we can’t help but agree.

There are other European metal megafests – Download, Graspop, Hellfest – but none have quite the same history, atmosphere or willingness to have put niche bands front and centre that organisers Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner are utterly dedicated to. Despite running a week-long festival that draws 85,000 denim-and-leather clad metalheads to northwestern Germany, now on edition number 33, both men are buzzing around backstage, absolutely evangelical about the importance of the continuing enterprise – and constantly vindicated by the roars of “WACKEN!” from a frenzied fanbase that echo non-stop.

Because Wacken isn’t just about the bands. It’s about the experience. With events having spilled well beyond the boundaries of the festival grounds and its nine stages, fringe events this year include performances in the local church, and the laying first blocks of a new rock and metal walk of fame, with Scorpions, Doro and Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna laying their handprints in fresh cement.

The ‘Metal Market’ remains unparalleled, full of oddities you’d struggle to find anywhere else. There is official festival merch for the ‘metal’ swimming pool that sits at the other side of town. Art installations are everywhere. A troupe of Mad Max-alike ‘Wasteland Warriors’ have their own compound. The first bands for next year’s UFO-themed edition are announced via a spectacular drone show. It’s an event with more to do and see than you could possibly manage even if you hang around for the full seven days of programmed entertainment. Wacken has always felt like a heaven for metalheads, but it’s now grown into something utterly awesome.

With battle jackets on, beer in hand and precious little sleep, we present the highlights from heavy metal’s ‘Holy Ground’ in 2024...

Faster Stage

Temperatures are spiking and beer is flowing freely as the main ‘infield’ at Wacken is opened on Wednesday afternoon: an involved ceremony, with fans flooding the area en masse, many kissing the hallowed turf. And there’s no better band to get the party started than The Darkness. Laying on the crowd pleasing hits (Growing On Me, Get Your Hands Off My Woman), frontman/unlikely YouTube personality Justin Hawkins is on feisty form, basking in the cheesier elements of life in this corner of Schleswig-Holstein. But any hint they’re taking the piss is blown away by a brilliant parting salvo of I Believe In A Thing Called Love and Love On The Rocks With No Ice – along with a little of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song thrown in for good measure. That’s just refreshing. (SL)

Wasteland Stage

Where it sometimes feels like Hellripper are still to get their full due back home in the UK, they’re already being treated as superstars at Wacken. It’s absolute chaos over on the apocalypse-themed Wasteland Stage, and with mainman James McBain visibly spurred on, hammering through Necroslut and Nunfucking Armageddon 666, only those who’ve passed out from the heat/beer aren’t wildly swept into this Goat Vomit Nightmare. Here’s hoping they can keep up that kind of fire for the homecoming at Bloodstock this week… (SL)

Wasteland Stage

Portrait’s patented brand of OTT ‘Heavy Metal Darkness’ should be an absolute slam dunk at Wacken. But through a mixture of beery shenanigans earlier in the day and simple heat exhaustion the crowd is a little limp by the time they hit the Wasteland Stage at dusk. Sacrament, From The Urn and Beast Of Fire are still a hell of a lot of fun, for sure. But a band who thrive on the borderline between true metal bombast and pantomime silliness should really be painting a scene with more energy than we eventually see here. (SL)

Wasteland Stage

Wacken is a long way from Huddersfield, but West Yorkshire’s fastest, Evile, are welcomed like local heroes in the Wasteland’s late slot. The one-two punch of Killer From The Deep and Head Of The Demon are a hell of a way to say ‘Guten Abend’! And from there Wacken gets a career retrospective all the way back to the classic Enter The Grave. Through triumph and tragedy, there have been line-up changes aplenty over the years, but this seems like confirmation, following a couple of rock solid latter day releases, that after two decades doing it, Evile are here to stay. (JS)

Headbanger Stage

Blind Channel owe a hell of a lot to Wacken. Having won the Finnish leg of the festival’s ‘Metal Battle’ new band competition back in 2014, played the show, and signed their first record deal the following year, they’ve clearly got a real love for the Holy Ground and its tattered inhabitants. A decade on, they’re closing the Headbanger Stage as one of the most exciting rising acts in Europe. And although this crowd are absolutely knackered, the Oulu heroes refuse to accept less than a deafening response, blasting all within hearing distance off their feet with the impressively munchy sounds of DEADZONE and WHERE’S THE EXIT, as well as some crowd-pleasingly ridiculous covers of Backstreet Boys and Scooter. Who knows where they’ll be in another 10 years time? We could see it scraping the top of the Wacken bill... (SL)

Harder Stage

Two Judas Priests are better than one. Rob Halford and Glen Tipton might be having a little downtime after selling out the biggest shows of their career over the last year and a bit, but K.K. Downing and Tim "Ripper" Owens are ready to go over on the Harder stage come Thursday afternoon. And with well north of 50,000 metalheads roaring along with original compositions Hellfire Thunderbolt and One More Shot At Glory, as well as well-worn Priest classics Night Crawler and Breaking The Law, it’s hard to believe that anyone here would trade this band for anyone else. Even wrapping up with with less well known K.K.’s Priest bangers Sermons Of The Sinner and Raise Your Fists, they're still in the territory of the Metal Gods. (SL)

Wasteland Stage

Thursday at Wacken is traditionally known as ‘A Night To Remember’: a celebration of metal’s old guard, populated by heroes like Priest, Accept and Scorpions. It’s something of a shock to the system, then, to be confronted with Jesus Piece delivering a masterclass in brutal metalcore over amidst the rust and wreckage of The Wasteland, but a thrilling one at that. Frontman Aaron Heard and the boys are visibly loving it, too, bludgeoning through Fear Of Failure and Oppressor as it seems that every bloodthirsty maniac on site has descended into the pit. (SL)

Faster Stage

If you’re going to see Accept, you may as well do it at Wacken. An absolutely colossal crowd are sprawling out over the horizon as the Solingen legends fire up The Reckoning, Humanoid and Restless & Wild. Starting out in the mid-1970s, most bands of this vintage are looking a little creaky these days, but founding guitarist Wolf Hoffmann leads heroically from the front, sporting black bell-bottoms and an open-chested vest all covered in gleaming chrome studs as he goads the huge audience for every last gram of energy. Metal Heart, Teutonic Terror and Fast As A Shark is as good a three-song run as any band plays this weekend. Then they bring Ripper Owens back onstage (“Wait, I’m still on the clock?!”) for a big banter rendition of Balls To The Wall. About as good as hard rock gets. (SL)

Louder Stage

Opeth are a band on everyone’s lips this weekend. With a long history of getting heavy at Wacken, the release of pleasingly guttural new single §1 and the announcement of fourteenth album The Last Will And Testament coincides with their fan-picked Louder Stage headline show, and there are high hopes of a crushing masterclass.

There are certainly some bangers, with an opening trio of The Grand Conjuration, Demon Of The Fall and The Drapery Falls delighting those who’ve been left cold by their proggier recent direction. But even with a characteristically dry Mikael Åkerfeldt playfully chiding the crowd for not picking a single song from the last decade, it feels they’ve still to really rediscover their old bite. And although, Ghost Of Perdition and Deliverance are ruthlessly brilliant, they’ve never really been far from the Opeth setlist. So,what about chucking in some really tasty cuts like Serenity Painted Death, The Baying Of The Hounds or even just old favourite Blackwater Park this week at Bloodstock? (SL)

Harder Stage

Scorpions can’t really fail at Wacken. Such is the sheer love for the legendary German rockers – now heading towards their sixtieth anniversary – that just seeing Rudolf Schenker, Klaus Meine and Matthias Jabs step onstage is enough to send waves of hysteria through the crowd. But they’ve got some of the best songs ever in their catalogue and a massive production, too. From the opening emotion of Coming Home and a rattling Make It Real to mega-sing-along Wind Of Change and a Doro-assisted Big City Nights, this is a set that fits the ‘Night To Remember’ billing effortlessly. And although a couple of the key players are looking a tad stiffer than they used to these days, the show-stopping dazzle of Rock You Like A Hurricane will never, ever grow old. (JS)

Headbanger Stage

“Massive Wacken?!?!” There are a few issues with the language barrier as some of the English fans at Wacken attempt to convince their hungover German counterparts that they should make the effort to see Lancaster rockers Massive Wagons open up the Headbanger Stage on Friday. Those who do are glad they made the effort, mind, with the NWOBHM-ish crunch of Sleep Forever and House Of Noise just what the doctor ordered, going down perfectly with a cool midday beer. There are bigger and far more self-important showings this weekend, but it’s important to squeeze in som good old spit-and-sawdust good times, and few bands right now do that better. (JS)

Faster Stage

One of Wacken’s great innovations has always been its rotating Faster and Harder main stages, meaning that bands early in the day have a decent chunk of time to set up their production, and there’s no rush to cut sets short to do the same for the next band, instead tagging in and out with clockwork precision. It’s something Sonata Arctica take full advantage of this lunchtime, with a frosty backdrop that wouldn’t shame a headliner at a lesser festival, and a chunky 10-song set with plenty of time to allow The Wolves Die Young and Full Moon to really sprawl. (SL)

Harder Stage

The Amity Affliction are unlikely Wacken favourites, with the festival-published recording of their full show in 2017 having racked up over half a million views on YouTube. Compared to that muddy showing, there’s far more of a relaxed, sunbeaten vibe this afternoon, with the Queensland lads happy to lean into the big melodies threaded through All My Friends Are Dead and My Father’s Son. When the crunch does hit on Death’s Hand or Soak Me In Bleach, mind, they’re easily a match for the heaviness of any of their current Aussie compatriots. (SL)

Louder Stage

Despite having literally just dropped fantastic fourth album Birthday, Blues Pills aren’t doing many festivals this summer due to vocalist Elin Larsson having just recently, er, given birth. It adds an extra layer of significance to their stomping Louder Stage showing this afternoon. Draped in gauzy blue, Elin looks thoroughly enlivened by motherhood, joyously throwing shapes through the gloriously rootsy likes of Bye Bye Birdy and Devil Man, then climbing down to get right into the faces of the front rows as her newborn looks on from the wings. It’s a wonderfully sunbaked Wacken return. Their UK headline dates in October should be an absolute treat. (JS)

Faster Stage

There are several literal cheese stalls offering punters the best of local produce for sale at Wacken 2024. They’ve got absolutely nothing on Beast In Black, though. The power metal collective look even happier to be up there on the biggest stage than the legion of fans who’ve turned out to see them - and the enthusiasm is inescapably infectious. Ridiculous songs like Blade Runner, One Night In Tokyo and End Of The World weren’t written for critical acclaim. They were made for people to scream themselves hoarse to – with big smiles, albeit straight faces – on days as unforgettable as this. Mission accomplished, lads: this is a beastly blast! (SL)

Harder Stage

“Hello Wacken, we are Spiritbox,” grins Courtney LaPlant as the world’s least polite Canadians get underway on the Harder Stage. “And we are here to ruin your fucking day!”

Driving straight into Cellar Door, it’s a gut punch of an opening that should kickstart one of the sets of the weekend. As much as there is a big, big crowd here, though, this doesn’t feel as much like ‘an event’ as you’d expect from a similarly-sized show on the other side of the North Sea. Perhaps it’s down to Courtney performing behind sunglasses (and in a distracting silver raincoat), though she does insist that this is somewhere she’s wanted to play since she was a kid. Maybe they’re a little under the shadow of the death of ex-bassist Bill Crook. Or it could just be fatigue from a heavy run of European festivals. Whatever the reason, though, Holy Roller and Hysteria feel a little more workmanlike than we’ve seen before. This is still a very strong showing, make no mistake, but it doesn’t quite stand out against a sea of other acts trying desperately to achieve something truly special. (SL)

WET Stage

It’s really saying something that Baroness are easily K!'s favourite band of Wacken 2024, but the American prog metal icons’ ability to keep getting better and better leaves fans slack-jawed and crying tears of joy tonight. Six albums in – every one a cast iron classic – there’s a strong argument that they should really be up there on one of the main stages rather than tucked away in the background, but it’s clear that everyone in this band is just overjoyed to be out here playing, and every punter squeezing in for a rubbernecked view is rewarded with a performance both intimate and absolutely massive.

Having set aside the more experimental material of Gold & Grey, big riffs and spine-tingling harmonies are the order of the day, from the rattling Last Word and wrenching Under The Wheel to a barnstorming run of A Horse Called Golgotha, March To The Sea and Shock Me. A few years into their six-string partnership, the chemistry between John Baizley and Gina Gleason in particular is otherworldly, lifting established classics Chlorine & Wine, The Sweetest Curse and Isak to new highs. They’re forced to cut a last song due to time constraints, but nobody here is complaining about being short-changed. And UK fans are fortunate enough to have the chance to catch them at ArcTanGent next week, too. An(other) absolutely sublime performance from one of the world’s best bands. (SL)

Harder Stage

Wiped clean of face paint, Gene Simmons has the look of a vaguely grumpy grandad for much of his solo set. Except we don’t know many grandads still capable of rocking this hard. With a crack team of musicians around him, KISS hits Deuce, Shout It Out Loud and Calling Doctor Love sound leaner and tighter than they have in years, while Gene’s solo songs Are You Ready and Weapons Of Mass Destruction are far, far better than they get credit for. There is a comedy of errors where they attempt to bring out Motörhead/Scorpions drummer Mikkey Dee for a cover of Ace Of Spades, only to find that he’s run off for his own solo set. But they play it anyway, and send everyone off on the ultimate high with a beer-stained cover of uber-party-anthem Rock And Roll All Nite. Tons and tons of fun. (JS)

Faster Stage

Compared to the freaks, weirdos and larger-than-life Capital-R Rockstars filling most of Wacken’s stages this weekend, Blind Guardian frontman Hansi Kürsch looks like he’s just arrived from his day job as a tax advisor. Looks can be deceiving, though, and he proceeds to lead the Krefeld-natives/Wacken favourites through one of the most spectacular sets of the festival – somehow steering songs about high fantasy away from any hint of cheese. From a UK perspective, where they just played to crowds of a couple of thousand on April’s headline tour, it can be easy to forget just how massive BG are on the continent, with most of the 85,000 WOA '24 ticketholders having turned out to enjoy this sundown showing. Epic songs like Imaginations From The Other Side, The Bard’s Song – In The Forest and Valhalla just sound better when being screamed back by a colossal choir of voices, too. And in Mirror Mirror they close out on one of the best power metal songs of all time. A towering statement from one of Germany’s greatest bands. (SL)

Harder Stage

There’s something fitting about hearing tens of thousands of voices screaming the ‘FUCK THAT!’ refrain from Y’All Want A Single. A small but vocal contingent of critics seem to be telling anyone who’ll listen this weekend that Korn ‘aren’t metal enough’ for Wacken. That is, until the Bakersfield giants turn up and demolish the place. Trolling aside, it’s truly fascinating to see how the forefathers of nu-metal – a band who rejected metal traditionalism from the outset – have adapted to be able to headline here, of all places. An outrageously good setlist is the main ingredient: the internalised darkness of songs like Rotting In Vain and Start The Healing writ large enough to sit comfortably alongside bombastic anthems Blind and Got The Life. Cutting-edge production helps, too, with the band performing behind an LED video screen for parts of the set. And then there’s the ridiculously well mixed sound, with gut-wobbling bass and serrated guitar tones easily getting under the skin. The fans respond in droves, with probably the biggest crowd of the weekend spilling out of sight into the night, and countless crowdsurfers travelling hundreds of metres to the stage. Even if the sheer number of people ramming towards the front means there’s less moshing than you might expect, the chaos that greets the snippet of Metallica’s One in Shoots And Ladders and for cataclysmic closer Freak On A Leash feels like a guarantee that Wacken will welcome Korn back one day with wide open arms. (SL)

Louder Stage

Korn’s landmark headline set is a tough act to follow, but if there’s one band with enough fire and brimstone to have a go at one-upping it, it’s surely Watain. The Swedish black metal nightmares are playing 2010’s Lawless Darkness in full tonight, but even those unfamiliar with that masterpiece can’t resist the sheer infernal fury of a Watain-at-Wacken live show. Wreathed in flame and solid red light, the sheer intensity and unapologetic commitment to the visceral experience of songs like Reaping Death and Four Thrones is something to to behold. And though the colossal pyro show for Avantasia on the next stage over does get distracting at points, 14-minute closer Waters Of Ain is thundering confirmation that Watain will always hold their own. (JS)

Headbanger Stage

It’s an hour past midnight by the time Unto Others hit the Headbanger Stage, but that’s exactly how the Oregon goth metallers like it. From the pulsating opening beats of Nightfall, Gabriel Franco and the boys luxuriate in the shadows, bending an impressively sized late-night crowd to their every OTT whim. Gabriel himself has commented on his love of the German electro kings Scooter, and there are even more pronounced elements of their deep-voiced absurdist theatre in the delivery of an incredible Sailing In The Darkness and When Will God’s Work Be Done tonight. Deliciously, new songs Butterfly and Raigeki suggest they keep steering into the same brand of sonic maximalism, too. Because miserabilism has rarely been so wonderfully buoyant. (SL)

Faster Stage

It’s downright irresponsible putting Tankard on at high noon on the last day of Wacken. Everyone’s still so hungover they couldn’t possibly manage another stein at this hour. And with the sun high in the sky, there’s a very real danger of dehydration. But when the self-proclaimed ‘Kings Of Beer’ demand that Germany drinks, this crowd duly obliges. From Beerbarians to A Girl Called Cerveza, the Frankfurt veterans’ unwavering commitment to the foamy-headed bit is awe-inspiring, and their timeless brand of party thrash still just as impressive. But spare a thought for the handful of heroes with mobile kegs strapped to their backs trying to keep everyone lubricated in the pit. Prost! (SL)

Harder Stage

With enormous dragon heads and oversized arcade machine risers, crackling fireworks and unusually scorcjing flame stacks, DragonForce remain absolutely dedicated to delivering A Show for their fans. Beyond the bells and whistles, however, the real pyrotechnics are still provided by the triple-guitar attack of Herman Li, Sam Totman and touring member Billy Wilkins – who gets to dispense a few bonkers solos of his own. Brazen covers of Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On and Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams frankly end up sounding like every other generic DragonForce song, but there’s a cleverer tongue-in-cheek sensibility about original compositions Fury Of The Storm and Through The Fire And Flames that’s right at home here at Wacken, where metal is serious business, but most fans are able to laugh at the most absurd excesses of the music they love. (SL)

Headbanger Stage

After a scorching three-and-a-half days, the skies open for heavy rain just as The Black Dahlia Murder hit the Headbanger Stage. Initially, it’s invigorating, waking everyone up from an oven-baked stupor and sending dozens of crowdsurfers over the barrier as Verminous and Kings Of The Nightworld crack like thunder from the PA. Eventually, though, it cools the audience’s fire. Thankfully TBDM themselves have little interest in slowing things down, with the Michigan death metal veterans roaring on through Everything Went Black, I Will Return and Deathmask Divine to defiantly wring all they can from a soggy Saturday afternoon. (SL)

Louder Stage

“If you came here to move, now is the fucking time,” grins Dani Winter-Bates, as Bury Tomorrow’s set properly hits pace. “If you came here to crowdsurf, now is the fucking time. If you came here to scream your lungs out, now is the fucking time!” The rain has broken by the time the Southampton crew step up, but there’s still work to do reheating a damp crowd and luring those seeking shelter under cover out from their hiding places. Thankfully, Black Flame, Cannibal and Choke are more than capable of hitting that mark. In the end it’s arguably a set with as much high octane focus and metallic edge as BT’s South Coast brethren in Architects manage at prime time on the main stage. Impressive stuff. (JS)

Harder Stage

Testament’s set should really be thrash heaven. There are a fuckload of fans, what looks like one massive circle-pit, and the Berkeley icons are packing an unapologetically old-school setlist with cuts only from their their 1980s classics The Legacy and The New Order. The atmosphere just isn’t as unhinged as you’d expect, though. Tired, broken bodies who’ve overindulged on, well, everything this week just don’t seem as keen to throw themselves around. But with Chuck Billy, Alex Skolnik and company clearly having the time of their lives, the climactic violence makes up for any earlier lethargy as we pile Over The Wall and Into The Pit. (SL)

Louder Stage

“Congratulations on having the first pit in the history of this song’s existence,” grins Chris ‘Motionless’ Cerulli as a huge crowd lose their shit with inflatable instruments, pool noodles and handwritten signs to Motionless In White's penultimate sort-of-ballad Another Life. It’s testament, mostly, to the younger, more energetic crowd who’ve packed in to see the Scranton psychos. Up against an absolutely terrifying Behemoth performance – with ragged sound-bleed invading any moments of quietude – the Americans’ high-sheen professionalism does sometimes feel a little too polished, but it’s to their enormous credit that they pack out this space, with said fans echoing back every ounce of dark catharsis. (JS)

Faster Stage

Heretics for life, Behemoth’s special set is part of their ‘Outliving Christ’ thirty-third anniversary celebrations. If there’s a bit of tongue in cheek to that title, there’s not much in this showcase of pure sonic terror. A colossal crowd bathe in the dark majesty of Conquer All, Once Upon A Pale Horse and The Deathless Sun, performed at a volume that feels like it’s breaking some kind of safety regulations. And though the Polish Satanists have played some massive shows over the past decade-and-a-bit, surely none have been grander than this, with all the scorching flame and spilled blood of a gigantic black mass. Most impressive is the raucous reception for songs as extreme as Ov Fire And The Void, Chant For Eschaton 2000 and O Father O Satan O Sun!, with tens of thousands of voices chanting along as if they were mainstream hits while the sun slips away into night. A show that will live long in the memories of all involved. Dark magic. (SL)

Harder Stage

It’s hard to believe this is Amon Amarth’s first show as a top-line headliner in the prime 9PM slot at Wacken. The Stockholm Vikings were plying their trade here in the witching hour slot close to 20 years ago, with dozens of swordsment re-enacting battle alongside them at a time they were still playing a few hundred fans a night in the UK. They were scheduled to top the bill in 2020, and played a ‘secret’ slot on a platform between the main stages in 2022. But tonight feels like the moment they’ve really made it.

It’s about time. Too many naysayers are quick to write AA off as a naff gimmick band, playing to a crowd who just want to cosplay and get pissed from drinking horns. But this is a celebration of their journey to being one of the biggest metal bands in the world, from the ferocious death metal of lesser-aired highlight The Last Pagan Blood and old favourites Death In Fire and Under The North Star to breakout hits Guardians Of Asgaard and Twilight Of The Thunder God onto cheesier latter-day hits Shield Wall and Put Your Back Into The Oar. But as silly as those more recent songs can be, they’re still really fucking good. Heidrun, for instance, might be the most ridiculous song played at Wacken all weekend, but its blend of ancient lore and modern jock parlance is so silly it’s actually pretty smart – and there’s not one person walking away from this without it stuck in their head.

And though the fresh mud underfoot means that not everyone is up for sitting down for a row-pit, there are literally hundreds of crowdsurfers, and thousands forcing their way forward to raise their horns to a band who’re exactly where they deserve to be. (SL)

Louder Stage

Cradle Of Filth draw a short straw in ending up clashed directly with Amon Amarth, but thousands of the faithful turn up to get silly regardless. Dani and the band are sounding absolutely great, too, with the singer’s trademark gnashing vocals packing real venom on Existential Terror and Dusk And Her Embrace, while Zoe Marie Federoff provides a vampiric salve with her more melodic tones. The Suffolk ghouls have a big twelve month ahead, including an autumn UK headline tour and ‘Old School Ritual’ at November’s Damnation festival in Manchester, before their fourteenth album is due to drop in early 2025. But judging by the ravenousness with which they attack Nymphetamine (Fix) and Her Ghost In The Fog, they’ve got still got the appetite to consume all in their path. (JS)

Faster Stage

Closing Wacken’s enormous Faster stage for 2024 feels like the ultimate test of Architects’ ability to step up to metal’s big time. Yes, they’ve been playing main support to Metallica for much of the last 18 months. And, sure, they’ve headlined big shows before. But never have they claimed full focus at anything of this scale – certainly not within the world of gatekept ‘real’ metal.

They seem unphased by it almost to a fault, with frontman Sam Carter the epitome of cool as the Brighton boys run through Seeing Red and deep fake. But it’s the moments where they bare themselves emotionally, dedicating a wrenching Curse to Spiritbox's Bill Crook, or where they dig deep into the most metallic corners of catalogue for Doomsday and Nihilist that they feel like a better Wacken headliner than most other bands of their generation could even hope to be. Capping it off with an absolutely colossal Animals, it’s clear that they’ve been through and accomplished enough for the choice of where they go next – into the mainstream or back to the world of heavy – to be absolutely their own.

Either way, the set is an important late statement of Wacken’s dedication to building the next generation of metal superstars and pushing the boundaries of what heavy music can be all about. The aforementioned spectacular drone show reveals that, in a leftfield choice that catches countless punters off-guard, tried and tested favourites Machine Head, Gojira, Within Temptation and Dimmu Borgir will be joined by Papa Roach next year. We can’t wait to find out what that looks like. Hopefully you’ll come find out with us as we bump beers in the pit! (SL)