What Is Iron Maiden’s Burning Ambition Documentary About?
Iron Maiden’s Burning Ambition documentary delivers a full-scale look at the band’s 50-year career, combining rare footage, behind-the-scenes access and interviews with major figures across music and film.
TL;DR
Iron Maiden have released the first trailer for Burning Ambition
The film features Lars Ulrich, Tom Morello, Javier Bardem and Chuck D
It hits cinemas on May 7, 2026
The release ties into the band’s 50th anniversary celebrations
Their global “Run For Your Lives” tour continues worldwide
Iron Maiden aren’t being documented at the end of their story — they’re being captured while still operating at full scale. That alone makes this one different.
The First Trailer Feels Bigger Than A Standard Band Documentary
The first look at Burning Ambition doesn’t feel like a typical retrospective.
Directed by Malcolm Venville and produced by Dominic Freeman, the film is being framed as a no-holds-barred look at the rise and evolution of Iron Maiden.
That positioning matters. Most band documentaries lean heavily on celebration. This one is being set up as something more complete — and potentially more revealing.
The Names Involved Say Everything About Maiden’s Reach
The list of voices featured in the film immediately shows how far Iron Maiden’s influence extends.
Confirmed appearances include:
Javier Bardem
Lars Ulrich
Tom Morello
Chuck D
That range — from Hollywood to metal to hip-hop — isn’t something most bands can pull off. It reinforces the idea that Iron Maiden’s impact goes far beyond their genre. You can watch the trailer below or at this location.
The film includes Javier Bardem, Lars Ulrich, Tom Morello, Chuck D and Iron Maiden themselves.
What Tour Is Iron Maiden Currently On?
They are currently on the “Run For Your Lives” world tour celebrating their early catalog.
What Is Eddfest?
Eddfest is a special Iron Maiden festival event at Knebworth Park on July 11 featuring a full lineup and fan experiences.
Iron Maiden Bio
Iron Maiden formed in London in 1975 and became one of the most influential heavy metal bands of all time. Known for their theatrical live shows, iconic mascot Eddie and relentless touring schedule, they have sold over 100 million albums worldwide and remain a dominant global force decades into their career.
Long-running exploratory label Crucial Blast announces the May 15th release of My Death Is More Beautiful Than Your Life, from atmospheric synth-doom duo MY HEART, AN INVERTED FLAME. A wave of lunar heaviosity, My Death […]
Thursday might’ve prayed, prayed every single day, to avoid any situation where they’d have to cover the 4 Non Blondes song “What’s Up,” but those prayers did not come true. The music lessons app Musora has a video series where they challenge bands to come into the studio and figure out how to cover songs that fall far outside their comfort zones. Past hits include jazz combo Generation Y covering Nirvana, folk-pop duo Fionn covering System Of A Down, and Norwegian prog-metallers Leprous covering a-ha. Now, it’s Thursday doing 4 Non Blondes’ unkillable 1993 smash.
Starting today, you can buy your tickets to the upcoming Iron Maiden documentary, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition. As such, the official trailer for the damn thing came out today, focusing on the band’s early years and the more tumultuous times within the band. It’s all chock full of drama and some familiar faces, as well.
Featuring footage from the band’s personal archives, this documentary follows Iron Maiden’s 50+ years, including all the ups and downs that would make a film like this one as interesting as it is. And that includes footage from the band’s early years in the late 70s and early 80s.
Directed by Malcom Venville and produced by Dominic Freeman, the documentary picks up as Iron Maiden is out on tour for their ‘Run For Your Lives’ world tour. As such, it juxtaposes the band’s iconic huge stadium tours to the band’s early years.
As you can see in the trailer below, the documentary also features testimony from some of rock and metal’s biggest names, including Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and Public Enemy’s Chuck D.
The film will finally make its debut in theaters across the U.S. and Canada for a limited time on May 7, with a much wider general release planned for the rest of the planet. For information about where the documentary will be screened and how you can get your tickets, head over to the documentary’s official page for more detail.
I’ve a cautious relationship with melodeath (yes, yes, I know that’s not the genre tag they bear on Metal Archives, but for me it fits them much better than the alternatives I’ve seen). For me it often as not seems to describe music that takes aspects of extreme metal and contrives to make them as toothless as possible. There are obviously exceptions to this, and the genre has fans enough that this aversion is definitely more a “me” thing than a failing of the style itself, but even so, I hear the word “Melodeath” and I’m instantly wary, on guard like I’m creeping through a forest wearing pants made of bacon and someone just unleashed a pitbull. Maybe it’s just an entirely uncharitable level of musical bigotry on my part; it feels to me that a lot of melodeath lacks in a certain testicular fortitude, which grates for any number of reasons but as much as anything you don’t need to sacrifice your balls to be melodic. Take Nile for example – brutally heavy, but between “Annihilation of the Wicked”, “Masturbating the War God” and a hundred others ready proof is in abundance that you can still be unreasonably aggressive while containing deep melodicism. I bring all this unquestionably ignorant scribbling up to underline a point: Melodeath isn’t really my “thing”. So when I say that Abyssius are a good melodeath band, it should communicate one thing: If you like melodeath, you will have a hell of a time with this band.
Somewhere between older In Flames and Fit for an Autopsy, the band bolt an anthemic melodeath chainmail to the plate armour of modern metalcore and deathcore subgenres. Close your eyes when “Death Drive” is on and if you didn’t know better you could be smack bang in Gothenburg. If you love “The Jester Race” more than life itself, then there feels to be much about Abyssius that will also speak to that undying love of yours. For me though, it’s always the heavy that shall rule, and as it happens I’m in luck for Abyssius have that base covered too. “Black Dogs” is just vile. The swell of the high notes like air raid sirens while syncopated grooves gouge hasty bomb shelters out beneath you. A scattershot solo ratchets a panicked tension ever higher – klaxons and red strobes as the rumble of razing earth pushes down to terrified human huddles waiting helpless in hovels a stray hit from becoming a tomb. You can’t really have too many inches of concrete between yourself and high explosives, but if you had to put a number on it, you’d probably rather it wasn’t however much is “cost efficient”.
I’ve seen the band referred to as a tech-death group, and while I disagree with that label Abyssius are obviously a gifted bunch. They like their pyrotechnics, shredding their fretboards at frequent intervals with huge dramatic hooks everywhere else. It tries for explosive catharsis, big emotional swells and anthemic choruses. It is, for the most part, a winning combination – “Hesitation” has all the propulsion you’d expect from a death metal relative but packs in as much sugary catchiness as it can, coming across as an adrenaline shot buried in a glazed doughnut. There’s earnestness, such honest affection for the music subsumed within every second that the album becomes impossibly endearing in spite of it’s missteps – of which there is a small but pernicious handful. “Patricide” fumbles one of the best riffs on the album by sitting it next to a verseful of awkward, unseemly whisper-mumble vocals that sound a bit too similar to Jonathan Davis from Korn chuntering uncomfortable sweet nothings to me about nibbling my earlobes and threading spaghetti through my toes. Clean vocals are in general a weak spot, though thankfully a sparse one. “L’ Appel Du Vide” fares a bit better with them owing to the blackened mood of it being a more harmonious fit with the attempts at grandeur that the vocals make on the track, but those sections still stick out as unflattering. The same, alhamdulillah, cannot be said of the harsh vocals, which are uniformly grotesque in the best possible ways. The lofty peaks of sundered-air screeches to the chasm floor gutturals and all that wanders betwixt, when the roars come forth they do so with implacable authority. On the other hand, something about the drum sound felt off to me; performed excellently, no problems there, but it sounded a bit flat and so consistent that I initially took it to be a drum machine. It seems as though the band do in fact have a real boy for a drummer, so perhaps this is more of a production quirk that I’m not especially enamoured with.
Nonetheless, “Vermin” is overall good stuff, touching on a few genres while dodging the straightjacket of rigid adherence to any of them in full. The result is an album that feels familiar without ever incurring too heavy a debt to it’s influences to stand on it’s own two feet. It’s not faultless, and some of it’s flaws do feel frustrating in how much they can besmirch otherwise great material adjacent to it, but the all-important love for the music shines through and helps plaster some of those cracks closed. Maybe you’re one of those melodeath fans whose tastes I was somewhat dismissive of in my first paragraph; if so, thank you for bearing with me so long – and give Abyssius a go while you mull over what variety of ignominious execution my words have earned me, because their talent deserves your attention, because they’re evidently passionate about their craft and most importantly – because they’re fucking good.
Olympia’s Some Velvet Sidewalk made a lot of noise between the years of 1987 and 1997. Founded by Al Larsen on vocals and guitar and the late Robert Christie on drums, the DIY band put out a bunch of lo-fi rock albums on K Records, at times recruiting associates like future Bikini Kill co-founders Tobi…
Ten studio albums across thirty years, and the argument never ends. This is every Deftones record ranked worst to best on songcraft, consistency and how they actually hold up in a 2026 rotation — not on which one meant the most to you at seventeen. Fair warning: the album that won them a Grammy and the album that gets called their masterpiece are two different records, and neither of them is number one.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Most Deftones rankings are written by people too nervous to touch the classics, so they put White Pony at the top, nod respectfully at Around The Fur, and go home.
That’s not a ranking. That’s a consensus you could have written in 2004.
Here’s the thing about this band that makes them so hard to rank: the friction between Chino Moreno’s dream-pop drift and Stephen Carpenter’s tectonic low end took over a decade to find its sweet spot. The records everyone canonised early are not the records where that tension actually resolves.
So we’re going by three things. Zero-skip consistency. Production that still sounds right now. And whether the album pushed the band somewhere they hadn’t been. Nostalgia doesn’t score.
Best Song: “Phantom Bride” · Deep Cut: “Acid Hologram”
Gore is the only Deftones record that sounds like a band arguing with itself in real time.
“Phantom Bride” is a career highlight — Jerry Cantrell’s guest solo drifts through it like weather — but the album never settles. Matt Hyde handled the mix and it split the fanbase hard, with thinner, more abrasive guitar tones where you expect weight. Stephen Carpenter later admitted he wasn’t feeling much of the material during writing, and you can hear that disconnect in the guitar parts.
It’s a genuinely interesting experiment in space-rock. It’s also the one album in this catalogue that asks more than it gives back. Somebody has to be last.
Best Song: “Cherry Waves” | Deep Cut: “Kimdracula”
This is the “Black Sheep” that has aged like a fine vintage. Born from a band nearly breaking up (Chino was recording his parts separately in Connecticut), the volatility is palpable. “Cherry Waves” is perhaps the most beautiful, oceanic thing the band has ever recorded, while “Rats!Rats!Rats!” shows their most chaotic side.
In 2026, fans have reclaimed this as a “misunderstood masterpiece.” It’s messy and disjointed, but it feels more “human” than their more polished efforts.
8. Deftones (2003)
Best Song: “Minerva” · Deep Cut: “Battle-Axe”
After White Pony went nuclear, they could have chased it. Instead they made the darkest record of their career.
The self-titled album is claustrophobic — heavy in the riffs, heavier in the emotional weight. “Minerva” is a shoegaze anthem that still gets played at every show. “When Girls Telephone Boys” is pure undiluted rage.
It’s a transition record, and it does what transition records are supposed to do: it proved they weren’t nu-metal survivors riding out a trend. They were building something.
7. Adrenaline (1995)
Best Song: “Bored” · Deep Cut: “Fireal”
Raw skate-rock energy, recorded with Terry Date on almost no money, and the sound of a band running purely on instinct.
There’s none of the ethereal texture that would define them later. What there is instead is rhythm — the interplay between Abe Cunningham and the late Chi Cheng was already world-class, and it’s the engine of the whole record. “Engine No. 9” still tears a hole in a live set thirty years later.
Ranked here because it’s the caterpillar stage. Essential, but everything they became is still ahead of it.
6. Ohms (2020)
Best Song: “Genesis” · Deep Cut: “The Spell Of Mathematics”
The return-to-form that recalibrated the whole band.
Bringing Terry Date back re-centred the sound and gave Stephen’s guitars their teeth back. Frank Delgado’s textures and Abe’s swing finally locked together the way they hadn’t since Diamond Eyes. It earned them Grammy nominations and it deserved them.
So why sixth? Because it’s a perfect Deftones record that plays it slightly safe. Everything above this line takes a risk that Ohms doesn’t.
5. Around the Fur (1997)
Best Song: “Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)” · Deep Cut: “Dai The Flu”
This is where the Deftones sound gets invented.
That transition in “Be Quiet And Drive” — melodic bridge into crushing outro — is the exact moment this band stopped being a heavy act from Sacramento and started being Deftones. It’s raw, it’s sweaty, and it bridged a gap nobody else was even trying to cross.
They proved you could be the heaviest band on the bill without giving up a single thing. Every band on our bands like Deftones list is downstream of this record whether they know it or not.
4. Diamond Eyes (2010)
Best Song: “Sextape” · Deep Cut: “976-EVIL”
The comeback nobody had any right to expect.
After the car accident that left Chi Cheng in a coma, the band shelved the Eros sessions and made something that had no business being optimistic. Diamond Eyes is clean, enormous and weirdly hopeful. “Sextape” is a masterclass in mood. “Rocket Skates” is proof they hadn’t gone soft.
This is also where they mastered the wall-of-sound production that half of modern metal is still copying. The RIAA certified it platinum, and it earned every unit.
3. private music (2025)
Best Song: “milk of the madonna” · Deep Cut: “ecdysis”
Five years is the longest gap between any two Deftones albums. They used it.
private music landed on August 22, 2025 — ten studio albums deep, with Nick Raskulinecz back behind the desk for the first time since Koi No Yokan. Recorded across Malibu, Joshua Tree and Nashville, it runs a lean forty-two minutes and eleven tracks, and there is nothing on it that shouldn’t be.
New bassist Fred Sablan — previously with Marilyn Manson, Chelsea Wolfe and Peter Hook — makes his studio debut here and immediately justifies the hire. His pick-heavy attack honours both Chi and Sergio Vega while dragging in a post-punk grit that’s genuinely new for this band. Listen to how he sets up the main riff on “ecdysis” with Abe before anyone else arrives.
“Milk Of The Madonna” is a thirty-year career summarised in four minutes: beautiful, frightening, rhythmically complex. The Recording Academy agreed — the album picked up a Best Rock Album nomination at the 68th Grammys.
A top-three finish for a record barely a year old is a big call. Play it next to anything from 2016 and tell us it isn’t earned.
2. White Pony (2000)
Best Song: “Digital Bath” · Deep Cut: “Knife Prty”
The culture shifter, and the reason Deftones didn’t go down with the rest of the nu-metal scene.
They refused to rap. They refused to play it safe. They made an art-rock record in the middle of the most anti-art moment in heavy music and won a Grammy for it. “Digital Bath” and “Change (In The House Of Flies)” are the two songs that let this band walk away from a genre that was about to become a punchline — and the RIAA has White Pony at 2x platinum with “Change” sitting at 4x.
So why second? Because important and best aren’t the same word. Head to head on no-skip flow, this record takes a few detours. “Teenager” is the one everybody skips and you know it.
From the opening stomp of “Swerve City” to the eight-minute drift of “Rosemary,” Koi No Yokan is the only Deftones album with zero skip moments. Not one. It’s the perfect marriage of Chino’s breathy melody and Stephen’s eight-string density, and it’s the record where the two halves of this band stop pulling against each other and start pulling together.
The production is flawless. The pacing is a masterclass in tension and release. And the band sounds telepathic in a way they’ve never quite matched before or since — every transition lands exactly where it should, with nobody reaching.
White Pony is the more important record. Koi No Yokan is the better one. That’s the whole argument, and we’ll take it.
It’s not a studio album, so it doesn’t belong in a worst-to-best ranking of studio albums. It’s still essential.
The 2005 collection is the clearest window into this band’s actual DNA. Their cover of Sade’s “No Ordinary Love” proves Deftones are the only heavy band alive who can be sexy and suffocating in the same three minutes, and their take on Jawbox’s “Savory” says everything about where they came from. The Cure, Cocteau Twins, Depeche Mode — the art-rock influences that would define their 2020s work are all sitting right here, twenty years early.
If you’ve never gone through it, start there and then go back to Saturday Night Wrist. The line between them is obvious once you hear it.
The Verdict
A band’s masterpiece doesn’t always arrive at their commercial peak. That’s the whole point of doing this exercise honestly.
White Pony is the superior historical moment — the record that changed what heavy music was allowed to be. Koi No Yokan is the superior listening experience, and in 2026, thirteen years after release, it’s the one that still sounds like it came out yesterday.
The full ranking, worst to best: Gore · Saturday Night Wrist · Deftones · Adrenaline · Ohms · Around The Fur · Diamond Eyes · private music · White Pony · Koi No Yokan
The crown:Koi No Yokan takes #1 for flawless production and a genuinely zero-skip tracklist
The upset:White Pony finishes second — the more important record, not the better one
The newcomer: 2025’s private music cracks the top three and earned a Best Rock Album Grammy nomination
The reclaimed one:Saturday Night Wrist has become the fan-anointed misunderstood masterpiece
The bottom:Gore is the outlier, held back by a fractured mix and a guitarist who wasn’t feeling it
Not ranked:B-Sides & Rarities is a compilation, covered separately
FAQ
What is the best Deftones album?
Koi No Yokan (2012). It’s the only Deftones album with no skippable tracks, it’s the point where Chino Moreno’s melodic instincts and Stephen Carpenter’s low-end weight finally lock together, and the production still sounds current fourteen years on.
How many studio albums do Deftones have?
Ten. Adrenaline (1995), Around The Fur (1997), White Pony (2000), Deftones (2003), Saturday Night Wrist (2006), Diamond Eyes (2010), Koi No Yokan (2012), Gore (2016), Ohms (2020) and private music (2025).
What is the newest Deftones album?
private music, released August 22, 2025 through Reprise and Warner Records. It’s their tenth studio album, produced by Nick Raskulinecz, and it was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 68th Grammy Awards.
Who is the current Deftones bassist?
Fred Sablan. He joined as touring bassist after Sergio Vega’s departure in 2021 and made his studio debut on private music, contributing to every song on the record.
Why isn’t White Pony ranked number one?
Because important and best are different things. White Pony changed heavy music and won a Grammy, but track for track it takes more detours than Koi No Yokan, which runs clean from start to finish.
Which Deftones album should I start with?
Around The Fur if you want to hear the sound getting invented, White Pony if you want the cultural landmark, and Koi No Yokan if you just want the best record they’ve made.
We know somebody’s yelling about this ranking already — so tell us which album we got wrong and where it should have landed. Drop it in the comments, and follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
Ex-Queensrÿche frontman Geoff Tate unveils the third chapter of his classic concept series, offering a new perspective and global recording adventures.
Organizers behind Rock Hard Festival Greece have started to roll out details for the 2026 edition, which is set for September 11–12 at the Technopolis City of Athens. The event will feature a total of 10 bands, with six already confirmed and the remaining four expected to be revealed within the next couple of weeks.
Rock Hard’s name carries weight across the metal world. Founded in Germany in 1983, the brand has long been a key voice in heavy music. The Greek edition launched in 2005 and later transitioned to a fully online format in 2011 via its official website. Alongside its presence in Germany and Greece, the publication also runs in France and Italy, reaching a wide audience each month. Over time, Rock Hard has built a reputation for direct coverage, in-depth interviews, and reviews that often fuel debate among fans. Its material is frequently picked up by other outlets, and it remains one of the most referenced metal publications on Wikipedia.
This year’s festival will also feature backing from the mobile game Rock Kommander, a title centered on rock and metal culture where players manage bands, connect with other fans, and engage in collaborations with real artists.
Looking back, the 2025 edition set a high bar. Rock Hard Festival Greece 2025 was a pure sonic assault on Athens and wow, what an absolute monster of a weekend it was! The 2025 edition delivered a masterclass in Heavy Metal, proving this new festival a serious contender to the crown jewel of the Greek Metal calendar.
From the doom-laden majesty of legends Candlemass featuring Messiah Marcolin to the anthemic, fist-pumping power of HammerFall, every moment was pure magic. Overkill brought their signature relentless thrash energy, tearing the roof off, while guitar virtuoso Gus G. & Friends shredded with breathtaking precision. The riffs were heavy, the solos were lightning fast, and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. We witnessed epic singalongs, circle pits, and a crowd united by the power of metal.
A massive thank you goes out to all 12 bands, the crew, and every single headbanger who made 2025 unforgettable. If you were there, you know just how special it was. If you missed it, you definitely missed out on the party of the year!
But if you did, fear not – we are stoked to now announce that we will be staging the 2nd edition of the Greek Rock Hard Festival in 2026, again to be held at the Technopolis City of Athens, on the 11th and 12th of September.
For the 2nd edition of the festival in Greece, we already have the following 6 artists ready for announcement now:
– Blood Fire Death – performing A Tribute to Quorthon and the Music of Bathory:
Celebrating the visionary legacy of Quorthon, who proudly pioneered Black and Viking metal, this event reunites a constellation of the Norwegian Black Metal elite. Originally conceived to honor the fallen master, the project features a core line-up of Erik Danielsson (Watain), Ivar Bjørnson (Enslaved), Blasphemer, Apollyon, and Faust. This immersive performance captures the spirit of Bathory’s legendary recordings, praised globally as “pure magic.” For this special Athens show, the band will be joined by iconic special guests, including Grutle Kjellson (Enslaved), Gaahl, former Bathory bassist Frederick Melander, and Mayhem’sAttila Csihar. This marks a rare opportunity for Greek fans to witness this historic homage, where the genre’s defining figures gather to celebrate the music that shaped their artistic paths.
– Angra – performing Holy Land 30th Featuring Kiko Loureiro
Rock Hard Festival Greece 2026 will host a truly historic event as Brazilian power metal legends Angra return for a special 30th-anniversary celebration of their masterpiece Holy Land. Performing the seminal 1996 album in its entirety alongside career classics, the show features a rare temporary reunion with acclaimed guitarist Kiko Loureiro. This performance is one of only two European dates honoring this landmark record, making it an unmissable event for fans across the continent and beyond. Renowned for blending technical metal with Brazilian rhythms and orchestration, Holy Land holds a cherished place in Greek metal history. The powerful line-up includes founding guitarist Rafael Bittencourt, Felipe Andreoli, Bruno Valverde, Marcelo Barbosa, and vocalist Alirio Netto. The concert will of course also pay tribute to the late Andre Matos, whose voice defined the band’s early era. Fans can expect an unforgettable, once-in-a-generation experience honoring one of melodic metal’s most visionary albums.
– Stratovarius – a travel through time with a Special 1990s Set:
Stratovarius, formed in Finland in 1984, stands as a titan of European melodic power metal. Shaped by guitarist Timo Tolkki, the band reached their peak in the mid-90s with the classic lineup featuring vocalist Timo Kotipelto, keyboardist Jens Johansson, and drummer JörgMichael. This golden era produced seminal albums like Visions and Destiny, blending neoclassical speed with symphonic arrangements and hits like “Black Diamond.” The band shares a deep bond with Greece, where they enjoyed massive popularity in the late 1990s, immortalized by the partly in Athens-recorded live album Visions of Europe. For this festival appearance, Stratovarius will deliver an exclusive set dedicated entirely to their 1990s masterpieces.
Expect a journey through the decade that defined them, showcasing the technical brilliance and melodic power that made them icons and inspired a generation of metal fans.
– Dirkschneider – performing Special Best of Accept Set:
Rock Hard Festival Greece proudly welcomes heavy metal icon Udo Dirkschneider and his band Dirkschneider for a rare performance dedicated to the legendary songs he recorded with Accept. With a career spanning nearly five decades, Udo’s gritty, raspy voice defined the sound of German metal on classic albums like Balls to the Wall and Restless and Wild. Following his departure from Accept in 1987, he enjoyed massive success with U.D.O., but this event focuses on the timeless anthems that started it all.
This exclusive show will feature a true powerhouse line-up including Udo’s son Sven on drums and longtime Accept bassist Peter Baltes, reinforcing the connection to the band’s golden era. Audiences will experience a celebration of Udo’s legacy, delivering the high-energy hymns that made him one of the most distinctive voices in European heavy metal history.
– Primordial:
Formed in Ireland in 1993, Primordial has forged a unique identity within the extreme metal underground. Merging the bleak intensity of black metal with Celtic heritage and epic storytelling, the band transcended genre boundaries early on. Built around founding members PólMacAmhlaigh and Ciarán MacUiliam, alongside commanding vocalist Alan “Nemtheanga” Averill, they became one of the first Irish representatives of the global black metal scene. Over three decades, albums like The Gathering Wilderness and To the Nameless Dead have cemented their status as one of the most respected and authentic acts in metal. Their latest release, 2023’s How It Ends, proves their uncompromising vision remains vital. For Greek audiences, who have long revered the band, Primordial’s return promises a performance of raw intensity, ritualistic atmosphere, and profound emotional depth that few bands can match.
– Triumpher:
Athens-based Triumpher has rapidly emerged as a leading force in modern epic heavy metal, transcending their local underground roots to gain international recognition. Formed in the early 2020s, the band blends epic metal with black metal intensity and a theatrical atmosphere. Their debut, Storming The Walls (2023), and follow-up Spirit Invictus (2024) established their powerful sound, featuring towering vocals and sharp guitar work. In 2026, they released their third album, Piercing The Heart Of The World. This ambitious record showcases cinematic arrangements and monumental performances, further solidifying their status. Having already conquered major festivals like Keep It True and Up The Hammers, Triumpher proves their rise is no coincidence. With an uncompromising vision and undeniable talent, the Athenians are carving a distinct path in the global epic metal landscape.
The final 4 bands to complete the 2026 festival 10 band lineup will be announced in the coming 2 weeks.
Ticket sales for the festival will be starting on April 1, 2026 here.
