Saturday, 22:45, Wermelskirchen: Casket from Reutlingen take the stage at the AJZ Bahndamm. Next to their name, the schedule says "open end". When they are done, the Hymns of Eternal Decay Fest is history. The fourth edition is the last one, and that was the organisers' own call. When a fan commented that it was so good they simply had to carry on, the organisers thanked them for the compliment and replied that you are supposed to quit while it is at its best.
If you want to be there, there is no rush: according to the organisers the pre-sale went really well, but there are still enough tickets at the door.
Saturday at a glance
Doors: 16:00
17:00 – 17:45 Curse of Khatru (Koblenz)
18:05 – 18:40 Serpent Spawn (Wiesloch)
19:00 – 19:50 Fleshripper (Wetzlar)
20:10 – 21:00 Putridarium (Marburg)
21:20 – 22:20 My Darkest Hate (Ludwigsburg)
22:45 – open end Casket (Reutlingen)
Listen in: our Spotify playlist for the festival, 20 songs from five of the six bands.
Venue: AJZ Bahndamm, Am Bahndamm 2, 42929 Wermelskirchen. By car via the A1, Wermelskirchen exit.
Tickets: at the door. Advance tickets cost 25 € plus a 2 € fee.
Payment: cash only.
Food and drink: beer garden, barbecue, cocktail bar, plus Rudi's food truck outside with currywurst and fries and falafel. Beer and soft drinks at the Bahndamm bar are cheap as always, the organisers say.
Merch: the shirt and double-sided poster of the final edition carry artwork by Jenglot Hitam. The shirt is limited to 75 pieces (S to 3XL), costs 15 € and is only available at the merch stand.
From compilation to stage
It began with a CD, not a festival. "Hymns Of Eternal Decay – A NRW Death Metal Compilation" came out on 1 September 2022: 15 bands from North Rhine-Westphalia, each with an exclusive song, 500 hand-numbered copies in a slipcase, plus a 20-page booklet with one page per band. Leimy (Reckless Manslaughter, Redemption Of The Rotten) and Marc (Depression, Suffer Productions) did the whole thing DIY, as a tribute to the underground compilations of the nineties. The cover is by Jenglot Hitam.
Because the compilation went down well, they brought it to the stage together with NRWDM organiser Thorsten. In April 2023, 14 bands played the Bahndamm over two days, all from NRW, ten of them from the CD. Where compilation bands could not make it, bands stepped in that had been wanted for the CD originally but had no material to spare at the time.
After that, the festival looked beyond the state border, in a different direction every year. In 2024, under the motto "The North Strikes Back", eight bands came from Hamburg, Emden, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg, Braunschweig and East Frisia. 2025 was "Unleash the (B)east", with six bands from Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin, Drowned headlining and Purgatory as co-headliner. To finish, "The Southern Storm" brings bands from Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.
And the artwork for the final edition comes from Jenglot Hitam again, just like the compilation cover four years earlier.
Three from the nineties, three from this decade
The bill splits almost exactly in half. The first half was already active in the nineties.
Casket from Reutlingen describe themselves as "Death Metal since 1990". Their first demo was called "'ne Vollkanne", and later the letter U ran through their discography: "Under the Surface", "Upright Decay", "Undead Soil", "Unearthed", "Urn". The new album "In the Long Run We Are All Dead" came out in January. The credits of "Unearthed", incidentally, list the line-up "ordered by weight". The organisers promise catchy mid-tempo grooves and "incredible deep growls". How far Casket get around these days shows in their calendar: a week after Wermelskirchen they play Tábor in the Czech Republic, and in October Taipei and Taichung.
My Darkest Hate from Ludwigsburg have been around since 1998. Bandleader and guitarist Jörg M. Knittel made his name in the nineties with Sacred Steel and Dawn of Winter; here he plays straightforward, groove-driven death metal. Their sixth album "Rust and Bones" came out on Massacre Records in November 2025, produced with Andy Classen. Dave Ingram (Benediction, ex-Bolt Thrower) guests on "He Who Never Sleeps", and "Flammenland" is the band's first German-language song. The organisers are sure that on the following Monday quite a few people will need to see an orthopaedist.
Fleshripper from Wetzlar play "Old School Death-Grind since 1997". Almost 30 years have produced demos and splits, among them a split 7" with Depression and, in 2006, a split CD with Obliteration on Suffer Productions, the label that later co-released the NRW compilation. After a break the band returned in 2022, now as a four-piece: growler Chris moved to guitar, and his brother Tomas plays drums. New recordings are done, and there will be new merch at the festival. "About time after 20 years", the band wrote. For anyone into Impetigo, Mortician or old Carcass.
The other half released its first recordings this decade.
Putridarium from Marburg have existed since 2021. They play slow, rotten death/doom in the vicinity of Autopsy and Cianide. Their 2024 debut album "Necrología del Sadismo" was recorded live, without overdubs or triggers, "a pure death metal album from maniacs for maniacs", as the band puts it. In January the 7" "Natvm Ad Mortem" followed in an edition of 300. According to the organisers, the members also play in Into Coffin, Nekus and Barbaric Oath. The band already played the Bahndamm in 2023, at the last NRW Deathfest.
Serpent Spawn from Wiesloch are a young band made of experienced people: according to the organisers, the line-up includes members of Blood and former members of Dawn, Malaphar and Deathcore. Their debut EP "Crypt of Torment" came out on Iron Bonehead in 2022, four songs in fifteen minutes.
Curse of Khatru from Koblenz open the day. The trio released its self-titled debut album on FDA Records in March 2025. The label places them in the tradition of Death, Morbid Angel, Pungent Stench and Grave; the band describe their sound as "unleashed, aggressive and song-oriented".
Temporary since 1981
All four editions took place at the AJZ Bahndamm. According to the house chronicle, the youth centre moved into a former screw factory in May 1981, explicitly as "yet another temporary solution in a factory earmarked for demolition". In September 1990 the young people took over running the place themselves, without social workers. The same year the supporting association Jugendinitiative Wermelskirchen e.V. was founded, which also handles the Hymns tickets. Hence the "since 1990" in the association's logo on the festival banner, right next to the motto "we care about assholes". Casket were founded the same year.
A small curiosity for a venue with this name: Bahndamm means railway embankment, but according to the AJZ's own directions Wermelskirchen no longer has a rail connection.
Death metal has a history here. The NRW Deathfest brought bands from Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Finland and the USA to Wermelskirchen; in 2017 it ran as "the 14th Attack", and in 2023 it took place for the last time. After the NRW Deathfest, the next death metal series is now saying goodbye to the Bahndamm.
Next to Casket, the schedule says "open end". Next to the festival, there is a full stop.
