The COPENHELL 2026 festival poster is close to being complete with the announcement of ALESTORM, ICE NINE KILLS, GAEREA and BLACK OAK COUNTY, delivering everything from wild pirate parties and crushing metalcore to bleak black metal and melodic hard rock
Some bands build their identity on darkness, enigma and seriousness. And then there’s ALESTORM that has instead based their entire musical universe on drinking, sea battles, and swearing and cursing. You can look forward to a pirate metal show rooted in both folk metal and power metal, where punchy shanty choruses and lyrics about booze, sea monsters and general moral decline are met by an always wildly enthusiastic audience that simply loves making noise together in a collective sailor’s bender – and becoming part of something big and wonderfully silly.
ALESTORM’s songs are cut simply and effectively, and their entertaining music invites everyone to take part in a massive audience party filled with rolling waves, glorious singalongs and a fantastic atmosphere. Their music is heavy, catchy and soaked in humour and cheekiness. Hoist the flag, raise your mug and set sail for COPENHELL’s main stage when the mad Scotsmen unleash chaos and keelhaul everyone!
Many metal bands borrow liberally from horror aesthetics – and ICE NINE KILLS has chosen to move into it permanently. Think metalcore meets slasher films: violent, theatrical and extremely well-produced metal with brutal breakdowns delivered as effectively as jump scares in a horror movie.
ICE NINE KILLS has built their identity around horror’s stories, icons and techniques, packing their razor-sharp songs with film references and delivering a disciplined, overpowering stage show. The band’s outstanding combination of heaviness and accessibility makes them one of the most prominent names on the modern metalcore scene, and we are proud to welcome them to COPENHELL for the very first time.
GAEREA represents a newer generation of black metal, where the genre is pushed forcefully forward with a focus on intensity, dynamics and emotional substance. The songs are constructed as long journeys that constantly shift between aggression and desperation. GAEREA works deliberately with contrasts between explosive outbursts and slow, almost meditative passages that allow the music to breathe before pulling the listener back down into the darkness.
Live, GAEREA delivers a peerless music experience, drawing the audience deep into their wall of sound. This is music with raw nerve – demanding and consuming, yet rewarding with a relentless and intense concert experience that lingers in the body long after the final note has faded.
The Danish melodic hard rock powerhouse BLACK OAK COUNTY kicks the door down and opens the Hades stage on Saturday afternoon with massive riffs, huge choruses and a live energy that hits like a West Jutland right hook straight to the face.
The award-winning hard rock quartet, with ten years under their belt and millions of streams, has toured Europe extensively, and they’re not here to dance. They floor the accelerator and never look back. BLACK OAK COUNTY has cemented their melodic sound with hits like Kill The Pain, Save Your Breath and Boom Boom Baby, and you can look forward to high-octane riffs, big choruses and plenty of party-ready devil-may-care energy!
If you are looking for a place to stay for Copenhell Festival 2026 then check out our interactive accommodation map below. Just add in the dates you want to stay and the venue and you will be able to see what’s available nearby!
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