Viborg Metal Festival is an annual heavy metal festival held at Paletten in Viborg, Denmark. Established in 2014, it began as a one-day event focused largely on Danish bands before gradually developing into an international festival. The programme covers a broad range of metal, including death, black, thrash, doom, folk, progressive and traditional heavy metal, with established touring acts appearing alongside newer Danish bands. The festival is organised by the Viborg Metal Festival association and has close ties to local music organisation Musikforening OLM Viborg.
The first edition took place on 3 May 2014 at Paletten and featured an entirely Danish line-up with Dawn of Demise, Malrun, Corpus Mortale, Vanir, Ferocity and Deus Otiosus. International bands were introduced the following year, when Unearth from the United States and Polish death metal band Hate appeared on the bill. In 2016, Viborg Metal Festival expanded from one to two days for the first time, with Vader, Illdisposed and Dew-Scented among the performers.
The festival has remained closely associated with Paletten, although the venue moved from Vesterbrogade to new premises at Tingvej 20 in 2021. The current Paletten has a capacity of around 500 people and is located in Viborg’s stadium area. The first Viborg Metal Festival at the new venue took place in 2022 in cooperation with Tinghallen. The sold-out edition featured Paradise Lost, Bloodbath, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Týr, Baest, HateSphere and Mercenary.
Later editions have continued to combine international and Danish metal. Artists appearing at the festival have included Katatonia, Pestilence, Borknagar, Ensiferum, Batushka, Cytotoxin, Tankard, Gutalax, MØL, The Haunted, Illdisposed and Defecto. The 2020 edition was the last before the COVID-19 shutdown, with the festival returning in 2022 after missing 2021. By 2026, eleven editions had been held.
In 2027, Viborg Metal Festival is scheduled to expand from two to three days, running from 4 to 6 March. The new Thursday programme is being developed together with younger members of Viborg’s metal community, while the festival continues its mixture of emerging bands and established artists. From its beginnings as a local one-day event, Viborg Metal Festival has grown into a regular fixture on the Danish metal calendar.
ADDRESS:
Tingvej 20, 8800 Viborg, Denmark
Upcoming artists at Viborg Metal Festival
No upcoming gigs listed yet.
Missing any artists? Log in to submit them.
Back to Viborg.