The dust has barely settled on Reload Festival’s biggest edition yet, but the German metal festival is already looking firmly towards 2027.
After welcoming 20,000 fans to Sulingen for three days in August 2026, Reload has announced the first 30 names for next year’s festival, with ELECTRIC CALLBOY and HEAVEN SHALL BURN leading the way.
There is a particularly nice piece of festival history behind ELECTRIC CALLBOY’S return. The band first played Reload in 2012 as an opening act. Fifteen years later, they return as headliners, having gone from a cult German metal/electronic act to one of the biggest crossover bands in the European scene. Their last Reload appearance was in 2022, making the 2027 return something of a homecoming.
HEAVEN SHALL BURN bring another anniversary story of their own. The Thuringian metalcore veterans will celebrate 30 years as a band at Reload with a special anniversary show, making their appearance one of the festival’s standout moments before the full line-up has even been announced.
Then there is CHILDREN OF BODOM, whose appearance is likely to become one of the most talked-about sets of the weekend. Four of the band’s original members are reuniting, alongside Samy Elbanna of Lost Society, for a performance intended as a tribute to the legacy of Alexi Laiho and the music that influenced a generation of metal fans.
The rest of the first announcement shows that Reload isn’t putting all its weight behind the headliners. JINJER, SKINDRED, HAMMERFALL, CLAWFINGER, HYPOCRISY, ATREYU, MALEVOLENCE, CARNIFEX, SHADOW OF INTENT, MAKE THEM SUFFER, MADBALL, BEAST IN BLACK and KANONENFIEBER are among the confirmed acts, giving the 2027 edition a deliberately broad mix of metal, hardcore, punk and crossover sounds.
For KANONENFIEBER, 2027 will be a Reload debut, while The Butcher Sisters return for their third appearance with new material. JINJER will also make their third trip to Sulingen, following their 2022 headline performance.
And perhaps the biggest message from Reload is simply that 30 bands are only the beginning.
The 2027 festival takes place in Sulingen from 12th – 14th August, continuing the format that has helped Reload establish itself as one of Germany’s major heavy-music gatherings. After a record-breaking 2026, the festival now has plenty of momentum behind it.
If the first 30 names are anything to go by, Reload 2027 could be considerably bigger than the announcement suggests.
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