Due to the number of bands and the length of the text, we have split this article into two parts; you can find the first part here:
Festival report: Wacken Metal Battle 2026 – Wednesday, Part 1 [English Version] – Dark-Art
Ashed Winter – France
Ashed Winter followed with a blend of tribal, death and groove metal. What already sounded like an exciting combination on paper sounded all the more thrilling live. The music alternated between heavy thrashing with guttural vocals, melodic passages, clear female and male vocals, and an almost impressionistic song structure. Musically, it was highly driving, rhythmic and, above all, gripping at every moment. The audience felt the same way and showed their appreciation with everything from appreciative headbanging to a full-blown mosh pit. But it wasn’t just the audience on the move; the whole band were highly energetic on stage, jumping around, swapping positions and interacting – all in all, it had everything you need for a proper good time.
Sinamort – Lithunia
This progressive doom metal band provided a moment of calm amidst the colourful and raucous Metal Battle. Sinamort’s music builds slowly, featuring quiet moments, but these are repeatedly broken by bursts of energy, with fast guitars and thunderous drums. Although they generally play relatively slow music, they have some impressive unique selling points. One of these, for example, is the interesting guitar technique, where the strings are not strummed or plucked, but tapped in between. The singer also played a second guitar at times, whilst delivering some proper guttural vocals, paired with decent, clear vocals. All in all, a specialist band with a very distinctive sound, which is just as exciting for fans of this music as it is for those looking to explore new experiences.
Blanket Hill – Luxembourg
Next up was a complete change of pace: hardcore from Luxembourg. The lads from Blanket Hill showed loads of energy right from the start. They were absolutely thrilled to be there and that so many people were gathered in front of the stage to take in the band’s performance. The crowd really got into the music, immediately starting a mosh pit and keeping it going through virtually every song. The singer used the breaks between songs to make statements and share the band’s ethos: “The whole world comes together to celebrate underground, rock, metal, core and punk”, “Fuck all the Nazis, homophobes, …” or even “Everything you want to do, do it, express yourself!” and “We need more women on these stages, more POCs!” And the audience welcomed these messages with open arms, rewarding the band with a fantastic atmosphere.
Deflag – Italy
When we talk about the diversity of the metal scene, it’s always fascinating to see what’s currently going down well with a lot of people. At the moment, hardcore is right at the top of the list, as was evident with Deflag, who were set to be the third band in the Metal Battle on Wednesday at Wacken to clearly lean in that direction. But not entirely – there was a touch of metal in there too, which was particularly evident in the long guitar solos and melodic passages. Among other things, the band performed a song about toxic masculinity, which went down well. At the end, the band thanked the backstage crew for their great work. All in all, a solid performance.
Witchlords – Belgium
What was still missing? Speed and power metal! That’s exactly what the Witchlords from Belgium were set to deliver. The band, which emerged from a tabletop gaming group and a love of classic power metal, is dedicated to classic old-school power metal: no fancy costumes, no keyboards, raw vocals, high-pitched singing where appropriate, driving guitars, no frills. With *Blood for the Blood God*, they also made a direct thematic reference to Warhammer, which went down rather well. Although it didn’t exactly spark a massive party, there were a few people in the audience who really enjoyed the music, even if some passages here and there could have been a little cleaner.
Noiduin – Finland
Things were set to take a slightly less metal turn next. We’ve known for years that Metal Battle doesn’t take a narrow view of the genre, as bands from the core and rock scenes have also taken part in Metal Battle. The Finns, however, have allowed themselves greater stylistic freedom here and sent Noiduin, a pagan folk band, to Metal Battle. The band got off to a slightly delayed start, as there were apparently technical issues, which may also have been due to the fact that they build most of their instruments themselves.
The music is reminiscent of the genre’s leading acts such as Wadruna and Heilung, with a clear focus on the music rather than the show. Yet, in the end, the whole thing wasn’t entirely un-metal. In moments when singer and multi-instrumentalist Henri Virolainen took the microphone, he delivered solid guttural vocals. Noiduin was likely not only a breather in the programme, but also a clear hidden gem for anyone who appreciates pagan/Nordic folk.
Elchivo – Mexico
With Elchivo from Monterrey, things got rockier on stage once again. In the eight years since their formation, this stoner rock band has already made quite an impression back home: their debut album earned them nominations for ‘Stoner Rock Album of the Year’ and ‘New Band of the Year’. At the WOA, they managed to keep the audience engaged, even though there wasn’t a huge crowd or a massive party. The latter, at least, wouldn’t have suited the music anyway. With a good balance between the instruments – none of which were drowned out – and a distinctive voice, the band put in a very solid live performance overall. As the set progressed, the music took on a slightly more doom-laden feel and the audience began to move; later on, the music even revealed some prog elements. Regardless of the outcome of the Metal Battle, it’s safe to say that this band has a bright future ahead of them.
Invasion – Norway
Invasion offered a bit of a ‘back to the roots’ vibe. The hard rock/heavy metal band combines the classic 80s heavy metal style with modern elements, catchy choruses and melodies that stick in your head. The band also places great emphasis on connecting with the audience; as early as the first track, singer Jørgen Bergersen came down into the stage pit to perform right in front of the crowd. Vocally, he’s somewhat reminiscent of the lovely Tobias Sammet, but he has other great qualities too, such as the ability to keep his stage banter brief. The band went down quite well with the audience. Even if it didn’t quite turn into a massive party, the music was definitely solid for fans of heavy metal.
Morphide – Latvia
Although modern metal is currently one of the most popular genres, it was nevertheless almost under-represented at Metal Battle. That’s precisely why Morphide brought a fresh new touch to Metal Battle. And even though there were a few technical issues after the first song, the band handled the performance professionally; whilst these problems were ongoing, singer Eissa simply started a screaming contest with the audience to take their minds off it. Overall, the band proved to be a sure-fire way of creating a great atmosphere amongst the audience and had clearly brought their own fans with them. The set felt shorter than it actually was – a good sign!
Sót – Island
Sót rounded off the evening with another musical punch in the face! The band delivered a wild mix of sludge, groove, stoner and doom metal. With two-part vocals and some more ballad-like moments, they brought a great variety of sounds to the stage. The audience were also treated to T-shirts being thrown into the crowd. By that point, the crowd wasn’t quite at their best anymore, though that was probably down to the late hour and the sun beating down mercilessly.
That marked the end of the Metal Battle final for the day, and the regular programme continued at the Bullhead City. Fans of the competition then had to wait until the following morning, when the next up-and-coming band kicked off the programme at 11 am on Thursday. You can read our impressions of the second part of the Metal Battle in the next article on Wacken Open Air on Dark-Art.
Text: Roksana & Anne
Pictures: Matthias & Patrick
You can find out more about Wacken Open Air 2026 here:
- Festivalbericht: Wacken Metal Battle 2026 – Donnerstag
- Festivalbericht: Wacken Open Air 2026 – Mittwoch, Teil 1
- Festivalbericht: Wacken Metal Battle 2026 – Mittwoch, Teil 2
- Festivalbericht: Wacken Metal Battle 2026 – Mittwoch, Teil 1
You can find previous posts about Wacken Open Air here:
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – weitere Bilder zum Freitag
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – weitere Bilder zum Donnerstag
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – der Bericht zum Donnerstag
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – der Bericht zum Donnerstag des Metal Battle
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – weitere Bilder zum Mittwoch
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – der Bericht zum Mittwoch
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – weitere Bilder zum Mittwoch des Metal Battle
- Wacken Open Air 2025 – der Bericht zum Mittwoch des Metal Battle
- Ankündigung: Wacken Open Air 2025
- Wacken Open Air 2024 – Bildbeitrag zum Samstag
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