The Wacken Metal Battle will be fought at the legendary live venue Iðnó in Reykjavik, on Saturday 25. April

Headliner: Múr!

This year 7 bands will compete in the battle for the main prize: Representing Iceland this summer at the Wacken Metal Battle finals at the Wacken Open Air, the world's biggest heavy metal festival, along with 30 other nations. The winner of the Icelandic pre-selection will be chosen by an international jury, along with votes from the audience.

Special guests performances by Múr and Gaddavír

Múr has been absolutely exploding lately as a fantastic live band.

Their performance at Andkristni last December is still widely talked about, as they were probably the best band at the festival. Their new material is absolutely magnificent. The band won this competition exactly four years ago and have gone far and wide since signing a record deal with one of the giants in the business, Century Media, and releasing their first album with them in November 2024. The band is one of 4 Icelandic bands playing at the Inferno Festival in Oslo this Easter. In January they played at Eurosonic in the Netherlands, and last year they were the direct support for Dark Tranquillity on a Swedish tour. They also played Sweden Rock Festival, Summer Breeze in Germany, and Incineration Fest in the UK, among others. The summer concert season of 2026 is already looking bright, as the band has been announced for Sátan and the new In Flames festival, Göteborg Brinner, along with ArcTanGent in the UK, Motocultor in France, and Karmøygeddon in Norway.

Gaddavír won the WMB Iceland competition at Iðnó last year and therefore played at the Wacken festival last summer, where they made a huge impression. The spirit of Skagamenn, the ÍA football team supporters (and of course their flag) carried strongly across the stage. The band has used their time well since then and has played many shows. They performed at Sátan last year for the second year in a row and traveled straight to Norðanpönk immediately after Wacken. They also played at Hellirinn Metalfest 5 and later supported Skálmöld at Gamla Bíó, among other things. The band will also follow Múr to Inferno over Easter, where both Auðn (the 2016 WMB Iceland winners) and Forsmán (WMB Iceland finalists in 2022) will also perform. Gaddavír will release their second album, Akranes Krú, on March 27 through Reykjavík Record Shop.

Doors open at 18:30 and Krownest start the evening at 19:00.

The participating bands in the competition part of the evening will be revealed soon, but the band applications are being evaluated by a special international jury which will select the bands that will perform live.

The audience will also have some voting power, so it is important to show up early and support your favorites. Voting ballots will be handed out at the entrance.

For more info, head to www.facebook.com/wmbiceland.Official and www.instagram.com/wmbiceland.Official/

Please not that there is limited amount of tickets for this event and they will sell quickly.

The Wacken Metal Battle is sponsored by: Dordingull, Rás 2 and Ægir Brugghús with Hljóðfærahúsið/Tónabúðin, Tónastöðin, Studio Helvíti, Sundlaugin studios and Xprent supplying winning prizes to the top 3 places in the contest.

The age limit for this event is 18 years old.