Photo Credit: ICS Festival Service GmbH
The Scene
It's been dubbed The Mecca of Heavy Metal Culture. For three days in August, the population of the tiny town of Wacken swells from 2,000 to 75,000 for this annual gathering of German metalheads. This monster of a festival started off small in 1990 as a showcase for local bands, but has become a juggernaut of the metal festival scene.
2012 Artist Lineup
- Agro
- Amaranthe
- Amon Amarth
- Aura Noir
- Axel Rudi Pell
- Betontod
- Blaas of Glory
- Blechblosn
- Broilers
- BugGirl
- Channel Zero
- Chthonic
- CircleIICircle
- Cold Snap
- Coroner
- Corpse Garden
- Cradle of Filth
- Crimes of Passion
- D-A-D
- Danko Jones SW
- Dark Funeral
- Darkest Hour
- Dead By April
- Decapitated
- Delain
- Devil´s Note
- Dimmu Borgir
- Dio Disciples
- Disquiet
- Djerv
- Dødheimsgard
- DRI
- Ease Of Disgust
- Electric Hellride
- Electric Wizard
- Eisenherz
- Endstille
- Epsilon
- Eschenbach
- Exuviated
- Faanefjell
- Fateful Finality
- FDJ
- Forbidden
- Frantic Amber
- GammaRay
- Gehenna
- Ghost Brigade
- Gone Postal
- Gothic
- Graveyard
- Hamferð
- Hammercult
- Hammerfall
- Helmut
- Henry Rollins – Spoken Word
- Hone Your Sense
- In Extremo
- In Flames
- Ingrimm
- Insomnium
- Inquisitor
- Jim Breuer
- Kamelot
- Kellermensch
- Keule
- Kobra and The Lotus
- Kylesa
- Leaves´Eyes
- Leningrad Cowboys
- Liquid Meat
- Lord Shades
- Machine Head
- Mambo Kurt
- Manimals
- Manticora
- Massacre
- Megaherz
- Midnight Priest
- MindthreaT
- Ministry
- Mono Inc.
- Moonspell
- Napalm Death
- Nasum
- Oomph!
- Opeth
- OverKill
- Opifex
- Panteón Rococó
- Paradise Lost
- Rain Shatter
- RavenBlood
- Red Fang
- Riotgod
- Russkaja
- Rust2Dust
- Sacred Reich
- Santiano
- Sanctuary
- Saor Patrol
- Saxon
- Schandmaul
- Scorpions
- Sepultura
- Shredhead
- Sick Of It All
- Six Feet Under
- Suffocated
- Suicide Silence
- Sylosis
- Testament
- The Black Dahlia Murder
- The BossHoss
- The Falling
- Torfrock
- U.D.O
- Unearth
- Victims of Madness
- Vogelfrey
- Volbeat
- Volksmetal
- Volxrock
- Warbringer
- Warpath
- Warrior Soul
- Watain
- WBTBWB
- Weto
- Winterfylleth
- Winterstorm
- Wölli & Die Band…
- Yaksa
- Zygnema