Wacken Open Air announced 53 new bands at Easter

Wacken Open Air kept 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.

Holger Hübner, one of the promoters of the Wacken Open comment:

“We are particularly proud that this round of Easter eggs contains many newcomers and young hopefuls. 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.

A list of all previously announced bands:
1000 Löwen unter Feinden, Aborym, Acranius, Airbourne, All Hail The Yeti, Angelus Apatrida, Anthrax, Asrock, Avatar, Baby Face Nelson, Battle Beast, Beyond The Black, Black Stone Cherry, Bleed From Within, Body Count, Bullet For My Valentine, Cradle Of Filth, Crazy Lixx, Crematory, Crisix, Critical Mess, Crobot, D-A-D, Dark Funeral, Deathstars, Delain, Demons & Wizards, Die Happy, Die Kassierer, Dirty Shirt, Downfall Of Gaia, Eclipse, Eisbrecher, Eluveitie, Emil Bulls, Equilibirum, Evergrey, For I Am King, Frog Leap, Gama Bomb, Gernotshagen, Girlschool, Gloryful, Gloryhammer, Grave, Hämatom, Hamferð, Hammerfall, Harpyie, Hellhammer (performed by Tom Warrior’s Triumph Of Death), Jinjer, Joachim Witt, Kaizaa, Kärbholz, Krokus, Lagerstein, Legion Of The Damned, Life Of Agony, Lucifer Star Machine, Manticora, Meshuggah, Michale Graves, Monster Magnet, Myrath, Nachtblut, Nashville Pussy, Nasty, Necrophobic, Night In Gales, Nordjevel, Of Mice And Men, Opeth, Parkway Drive, Powerwolf, Primordial, Prong, Prophets Of Rage, Queensrÿche, Rage & Lingua Mortis Orchestra, Rose Tattoo, Sabaton, Santiano, Savage Messiah, Septicflesh, Sisters Of Mercy, Skew Siskin, Skyclad, Slayer, Soil, Subway To Sally, Suidakra, Sweet, Tesseract, Testament, The Adicts, The Boss Hoss, The Crown, The Damned, The Lazys, The New Roses, The Night Flight Orchestra, The Quireboys, The Vintage Caravan, The Wild!, Thy Art Is Murder, Torment, Tribulation, UFO, Uriah Heep, Vampire, Velvet Viper, Venom Inc., Versengold, Vltimas, Vogelfrey, Warkings, Wiegedood, Windhand, Within Temptation, Zuriaake