Deep Dives — Page 2
Deep Dive Wacken Open Air. The German festival that wrote the European metal festival playbook.
Wacken started in 1990 in a gravel pit with eight hundred people. By 2024 the festival was selling out 85,000 tickets in under five hours. The story of how two friends from a tiny Schleswig-Holstein village built the template every European metal festival now copies.
22 June 2026
Deep Dive Mayhem. The Marseille tape from 2000, and the years of carnage that made it possible.
A 26-year-old live recording of Mayhem in Marseille, France, captured on the 'Grand Declaration of War' tour. By 2000 the band had already lost a vocalist to suicide and a founder to murder. That this performance even exists is the story.
21 June 2026
Deep Dive Amenra. The Belgian post-metal band that turned a hardcore scene into a church
Amenra is a Belgian post-metal band from Kortrijk, founded in 1999. Their Mass series and the Church of Ra collective built one of the most influential heavy scenes in Europe. A deep dive into the country's loudest export.
10 May 2026
Deep Dive Darkthrone. Pre-Historic Metal points back to Celtic Frost, Bathory, Hellhammer.
Norway's most influential black metal duo released their twenty-second album on 8 May 2026. Forty years after they emerged in Kolbotn under the name Black Death, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto skipped polished modern black metal and went deeper into the genre's pre-history. The record sounds ancient and fresh at the same time.
10 May 2026
Deep Dive Hellfest. The festival France built and the rest of Europe is still trying to catch up to
Hellfest is a French metal festival founded in 2006 in Clisson, near Nantes. Six stages, 60,000 fans, four days. In 2026 it has overtaken Wacken as Europe's best programmed festival. Here is why.
10 May 2026
Deep Dive Jinjer. The band Tatiana Shmayluk fronts is heavier than the viral clip
Jinjer is a Ukrainian progressive groove metal band from Donetsk. Tatiana Shmayluk gets the views, but the rhythm section is what makes the songs work. A deep dive into the band, not just the voice.
10 May 2026
Deep Dive Gnome. Antwerp's stoner trio plays better than they sing.
Three Belgians in red pointed hats. Riff-driven stoner with progressive bones and a rhythm section that does not miss. The musicianship is exceptional. The vocals are the only thing keeping Gnome from a tier they have musically earned.
3 May 2026
Deep Dive Demon Spell. Italian occult heavy metal that stands at the door and knocks on Mercyful Fate's coffin.
Demon Spell's debut album Blessed Be the Dark lands on Dying Victims Productions. The European underground press is broadly positive: catchy, ferocious, occult heavy metal with clear Mercyful Fate DNA. Originality is not the point. Conviction is.
25 April 2026
Deep Dive Crimson Glory. Twenty-six years of silence broken by Chasing the Hydra.
Crimson Glory broke twenty-six years of silence with 'Chasing the Hydra'. Classic 80s atmosphere, technical riffs and a vocal performance that takes a few listens before it lands. Whether it reaches the band's absolute peak is the wrong question. The foundation still holds, and that is the news.
18 April 2026
Deep Dive Hypostasis. The Greek prog band that disappeared for eight years and came back swinging.
Athens four-piece returns from an eight-year silence with Mirror, the second single off their debut album. Production this clean has no business sounding this dark.
17 April 2026