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Karnivool, Crematory & Black Messiah: This Week NRW Tears Up Every Genre Box
Over 90 shows from Köln to the Pott and out to a Krefeld industrial church – coming at us from every angle. Pagan metal festival in Oberhausen, Australian prog madness in Köln, sold-out medieval rock in Bochum, punk festival in Coesfeld, Italian darkwave gods in Krefeld. If you wanted a quiet week – tough luck.
The Big Hitters
The biggest blow comes from Mead & Greed Festival on Friday at Resonanzwerk Oberhausen: 14 bands of pagan and folk metal, headlined by Swedish veterans Månegarm. The bill also includes Bottrop's homegrown Obscurity, plus Asenblut, Vermilia and Vanir. If you like mead and horns, this is non-negotiable.
The same evening at Juz Live Club Andernach, the two-day Andernach Metal Days kick off: Day 1 brings goth-metal mainstays Crematory and Swedish hard rockers H.e.a.t – Saturday adds SOEN, Onslaught and Sanctuary. Two-day pass is the move.
At Christuskirche Bochum, Subway To Sally play their acoustic Nackt III – Lies & Legends set twice. Friday's been sold out for weeks – Sunday still has tickets, grab them while they last.
Tuesday brings Australians Karnivool doing their prog-metal masterpiece In Verses at Carlswerk Victoria Köln (support: Intervals). Friday Florida death metal vets Monstrosity bring their Screams Across Europe tour to Turock Essen with Reject The Sickness and Bio-Cancer in tow.
Underground Gems and Local Heroes
Thursday in Coesfeld it's Punk in den Mai 2026 at Fabrik – Itchy, Rantanplan and our NRW horror-punks The Other on home turf. Mandatory for anyone who prefers a pit to a chair.
Saturday gets pagan and dark: Black Messiah headline Matrix Bochum – Viking black metal straight out of the Pott that you rarely catch this close to home. Meanwhile in Münster, Avalanche Effect celebrate their album release for Letters To My Future Self at Café Sputnik – the Münster nu-metalcore crew drops their debut the night before, this is the celebration.
Sunday at Don't Panic Essen, death metal powerhouse Hiraes land their Nightflight Tour in the Pott – with NOPREACHERS and Leaving The Orbit on support.
From Hardcore to Darkwave – All In
The week kicks off Monday with noise-shoegaze giants A Place To Bury Strangers at Gebäude 9 Köln (support: Kontravoid). Thursday at Ratinger Hof Düsseldorf, Australians Cosmic Psychos bring the week's most beer-soaked pub-punk show with their I Really Like Beer Tour.
Sunday Swedish skate-punk legends NO FUN AT ALL close out the week at Bastard Club Osnabrück – early start at 17:00, grab a beer beforehand.
In between on Friday: emo-tinged post-hardcore from Seahaven at Blue Shell Köln. And Saturday Krefeld's Kulturfabrik is THE hotspot for the dark scene crowd: at Electronic Westbound Night 2026, Italian darkwave legends Kirlian Camera headline alongside Potochkine and Sea Of Sin.
Don't Miss Out with KRACH!
Over 90 shows in one week, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Fire up the KRACH app and filter the gigs you can't afford to miss. See you in the pit. 🤘
