6 metal festivals in East Germany: From Rockharz to Party.San

Unlike many other legendary ones festivals Thrashing East only took place once. That’s exactly why it was a key moment for the East German metal scene. On March 4, 1990, in the sold-out Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, the bands Kreator, Tankard, Sabbat and Coroner played a concert that accompanied the great upheaval and thrilled thousands of “heavies” with an excellent sound – perhaps Some were consoled by the fact that only non-alcoholic beer was served.

The festival, organized by the Noise Records label and the Jungliberale Aktion with the greats of West German and international thrash metal, undoubtedly made history, but also attracted criticism. Because the question arose as to whether the scene had started to sell out?

In 1993, the “Rock Against Right” initiative took place in the Osterode town hall resin a festival that attracted around 1,400 people with bands like Abrutschende Homingtauben. This marked the starting signal for the Rockharz Openair, which, after a few changes of location, has been taking place at Ballenstedt airfield since 2009 and is currently considered one of the largest metal festivals in Germany.

The focus shifted over the years from southern Lower Saxony to Saxony-Anhalt, while at the same time the sounds became increasingly harsher: while in the early days bands like the Harz power metallers Dark At Dawn were still in the minority, the festival now attracts big names from the international metal scene on on: Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, Cradle of Filth and Heaven Shall Burn were guests several times.

Anyone who talks about metal festivals in East Germany can’t avoid Full Force. Inspired by the Dutch festival Dynamo Open Air, a few music enthusiasts organized the festival for the first time in 1994 in the city park of Werdau near Zwickau, which grew steadily in the following years and therefore had to change its location several times – at its peak, around 30,000 people came.

For good reason. Iron Maiden, Rammstein, Slayer, Slipknot: German and international bands have been drawn to Full Force every summer since 2017 Ferropolis placed in front of an impressive backdrop that is only fitting for a metal festival. Found? Correct: There will be no edition in 2025 for “multifaceted reasons”. It should continue in 2026.

For fans of the harder style, an annual trip to Thuringia has been confirmed. In 1996, 200 metalheads gathered for the first time at the Bad Berka airfield south of Erfurt Party.San Metal Open Air together, which moved to the Obermehler-Schlotheim airfield near Weimar in 2011. Black, Death, Doom and Thrash and related varieties of extreme metal are on the program there every year; permanent guests include the Apocalyptic Riders from Thuringia as well as the death metal legends Dying Fetus.

Party.San stands out with excellent line-ups and a clear edge: the glorification of National Socialist ideology and right-wing extremist bands, as they can still be found in the black metal scene, has no place there.