PREVIEW: WACKEN OPEN AIR 2023, Germany 2nd-5th August

by Carina Lawrence

Wacken 2023 sold out as always, quicker than any metal festival worldwide, making it the biggest metal gathering to attend. The theme for this year is Vikings and their culture! Wardruna will play the festival for the first time, fitting the theme. Ex-Gorgoroth drummer Einar Selvik started the band. Their unique brand of Nordic folk was featured in the TV hit show Vikings, giving the whole genre a massive push. So many amazing acts will appear at the festival, but here are a select few!

Finnish folk melodic death metal act Ensiferum also wave the flag for Viking metal with their enthralling and powerful tribute to Viking culture.

American heavy metallers Pentagram with play a 50th Anniversary show which is impressive. It has been more than five decades since Bobby Liebling started Pentagram – and gave Doom Metal a huge push.

Offering up something truly special and unusual is Two Steps From Hell, a duo from Los Angeles. They have amassed millions of followers with their brand of epic music, used in thousands of movies, trailers, series, spots and games, turning them into the biggest in their field. At the W:O:A, their first festival ever and only festival in Europe in 2023, they will perform a special and unique Wacken set, so it’s not to be missed.

Traditional Heavy Metallers Burning Witches played at Wacken in 2019, and now they are set to return in 2023. Their 2021 album ‘The Witch Of The North’ was very Viking inspired, and earlier this year, they unleashed another scorching album, ‘The Dark Tower,’ which will go down a storm.

For the festival headliners, you need an incredibly epic band to fit that bill, which is Iron Maiden. The British metal legends will return to headline the festival for the fourth time, which is something few bands can claim! They are always armed with massive production, tons of energy and passion, and, of course, a multitude of classic metal anthems for their mighty headline set!