Known as the world's largest heavy metal festival, it takes place annually in the small village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. The latest editions have attracted an average of 86,000 people, as well as fans of Black Metal, Death Metal, Power Metal, Thrash Metal, Symph Metal, Folk Metal and even Metalcore, New Metal and Hard Rock.

The first edition of the festival took place in 1990 and involved only relatively unknown German bands. Currently, casting is mostly made up of ensembles from Scandinavia and Europe in general, but Brazilian, Australian and American bands, among others, have also been present.