Southern Discomfort is a metal festival in Kristiansand, Norway, founded in 2002. The idea was conceived the previous year by Dag-Ove Johnsen and Bjørnar Jakobsen while travelling home from a concert at 1001 Watt in Skien. The first edition was held at Vaskeriet on 3–4 May 2002, with a line-up that included Carpathian Forest, Tristania, Red Harvest, Extol, Blood Red Throne and Guardians of Time. The festival moved to Caledonien Hall in 2003 before spending subsequent years at venues including Østsia, Kick and several smaller clubs around Kristiansand.

Southern Discomfort has traditionally been a two-day festival with around ten bands, combining established Norwegian and international acts with artists from the local metal scene. Its programme has never been restricted to a single style, covering black, death, doom, progressive and other forms of metal. Among the bands to have appeared over the years are Arcturus, The Haunted, Dismember, Enslaved, 1349, Ihsahn, Candlemass, Septicflesh, Taake, Kampfar, Rotting Christ, Primordial, Dark Funeral, Borknagar and Samael. The festival is organised as a non-profit operation and has throughout its history relied heavily on volunteers from Kristiansand’s metal community.

The festival continued annually for most of the period from 2002 to 2020, with the 2005 edition cancelled. The 2020 event was considerably reduced, featuring four Norwegian bands at Håndverkeren, after which Southern Discomfort entered a five-year hiatus. It returned in October 2025, moving back to Caledonien Hall for the first time since 2003. Belphegor and Thyrfing headed a bill that also included In The Woods…, Trail of Tears, Afsky, Beaten to Death, Bismarck and Diskord.

In 2026, Southern Discomfort celebrates its 20th edition at Caledonien Hall. The anniversary line-up continues the festival’s broad approach to metal, with Taake, Vintersorg, Imperium Dekadenz, Kvaen and Ram-Zet among the bands appearing. More than two decades after its first edition, Southern Discomfort remains one of Norway’s longest-running metal festivals and an important recurring event for the metal scene in southern Norway.

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