There are festival line-ups that announce a few big names and leave you wondering what else might be coming. Then there is Brutal Assault!
The Czech festival has begun revealing its 2027 line-up, and with the announcement currently sitting at 28% confirmed, there is already an impressive amount to get excited about. Taking place from 4th – 7th August 2027 at the historic Josefov Fortress in Jaroměř, Brutal Assault is once again building a bill that reaches well beyond straightforward extreme metal.
And perhaps that is the most interesting thing about the announcement so far.
There are major names here, plenty of extreme metal, some genuinely unusual bookings and several special performances that could make individual sets into festival highlights.
THE BIG NAMES ARE ALREADY HERE!
For fans of classic and extreme metal, the first announcement has plenty of heavyweight names – EMPEROR, MERCYFUL FATE, CARCASS, DESTRUCTION, DISMEMBER, HYPOCRISY, BENEDICTION and DEVILDRIVER are among the established names already confirmed. There is also CHILDREN OF BODOM, alongside black metal favourites MGŁA and AZARATH, death metal from GRUESOME, and the crushing modern sound of SHADOW OF INTENT.
Then there is DETHKLOK, bringing an entirely different kind of spectacle to the bill.
The breadth of those bookings is important. Rather than building the 2027 festival around a single strain of metal, Brutal Assault is already moving between thrash, death, black, doom, groove, melodic and progressive territory.
That genre-hopping is very much in keeping with the festival’s identity. Brutal Assault itself describes its line-up philosophy as one designed to broaden musical horizons, with metal as the dominant force but with a deliberate emphasis on breaking down genre boundaries.
The special sets could be some of the most intriguing – Several of the announced performances go beyond a standard festival appearance.
BELPHEGOR are confirmed for a special set, while Czech black metal pioneers MASTER’S HAMMER will perform Ritual in its entirety alongside new material.
That Master’s Hammer appearance has particular significance. The band are celebrating 40 years since their formation and 35 years since the release of Ritual, with Brutal Assault describing the performance as one of a limited number of exclusive shows.
There is also a very different kind of special performance from JOHN BUSH, who will be celebrating the songs of Anthrax from 1993–2003.
For anyone interested in the history and evolution of heavy music, these are exactly the sort of bookings that make a festival line-up more than a collection of touring bands.
THE LINE-UP ISN’T AFRAID TO GET WEIRD
One of Brutal Assault’s strengths has always been its willingness to put less conventional artists alongside established metal names, and that approach is already obvious for 2027.
IGORRR brings experimental metal and electronic influences. PLEBEIAN GRANDSTAND occupy the avant-garde black metal, mathcore and hardcore end of the spectrum, while PERCHTA combine black and folk metal.
There is also INSANITY ALERT, MUCKY PUP and PEELINGFLESH, adding crossover, hardcore and slam influences to the mix.
And then there is THE SISTERS OF MERCY.
Their gothic rock and post-punk sound might initially look like an outlier on a bill featuring Emperor, Carcass and Dismember. In reality, it illustrates precisely what makes Brutal Assault’s programming interesting. The festival is not simply asking whether something fits neatly into the definition of metal. It is looking for artists with the right atmosphere, intensity and attitude.
MODERN METAL GETS PLENTY OF SPACE TOO
The announcement isn’t purely a celebration of established names.
BRAND OF SACRIFICE, LEFT TO SUFFER, MAKE THEM SUFFER, MALEVOLENCE and SYLOSIS represent several different strands of contemporary heavy music, from deathcore and metalcore to progressive and melodic territory.
That balance matters.
A festival can easily become dominated by nostalgia when it books too many heritage acts. Brutal Assault’s current announcement suggests that the organisers are continuing to put newer and more contemporary artists alongside bands with decades of history.
It means a 2027 visitor could potentially move from a classic thrash performance to a modern deathcore set, then into experimental territory, before ending the night with gothic rock or black metal.
That is a pretty good definition of a festival designed for discovery.
There are also several acts marked by the festival as first-time appearances at Brutal Assault, including Defleshed, Dethklok, John 5 and the Creatures featuring Wednesday 13, John Bush, Kanonenfieber, Left to Suffer, Make Them Suffer, Mucky Pup, PeelingFlesh, Perchta, Plebeian Grandstand, The Sisters of Mercy and Towards the Sinister.
And that is only 28% of the line-up!
So what comes next?
That may ultimately be the most interesting question.
With four days of music plus the warm-up party, Brutal Assault is targeting around 125 shows, meaning there is still a substantial portion of the 2027 programme yet to be revealed. The festival’s format also includes its experimental KAL club, alongside art exhibitions, horror cinema and other elements within the Josefov Fortress setting.
The setting itself remains one of Brutal Assault’s defining characteristics. Rather than taking place in a conventional festival field, the event occupies an 18th-century military fortress, creating a network of stages, bars, squares and spaces within the historic walls.
With Emperor, Mercyful Fate, Carcass, Dethklok, The Sisters of Mercy, Igorrr, Master’s Hammer and a long list of extreme and contemporary acts already confirmed, the 2027 edition is beginning to take shape as another deliberately unpredictable chapter in the festival’s history.
And with 72% of the line-up still to be announced, the obvious question is not whether Brutal Assault has enough names already.
It is who on earth are they going to announce next?
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