One band to conquer them all! Down to the final five bands from across the country, the national final for Wacken Metal Battle USA was held this past Saturday, June 22 in San Diego, CA at the Brick By Brick with regional winners Cascade Effect (San Diego), WarTroll (NorCal), Versipul (PNW), Prime Prophecy (East Coast), and Father Wolf (Texas).

Judged by an industry panel that included Rod Kukla (Silver Lining Music), Craig Goldy (Dio), Derek Engemann (Scour, Phil Anselmo And The Illegals, ex-Cattle Decapitation), and Patrick Stone (Adler's Appetite, Budderside), the band that reigned the stage and proved themselves worthy of gracing the holy land of metal at Wacken Open Air in Germany is crowned 2024 champion, San Diego's Cascade Effect.

As this year's crowned USA champion, Cascade Effect will now move on to perform as the only independent American band at the International Battle at Wacken Open Air (July 31 – August 3), one of the world's most prestigious and largest metal festivals (Attendance of over 80,000 people in Wacken, Germany for over 30 years).

Cascade Effect joins the list of previous WMBU national winners, San Diego’s Fadrait (2023 - San Diego) Mythraeum (2022 - San Diego), Monarch (2019 - San Diego), Voices of Ruin (2018 - Anaheim) and Corpse Hoarder (2017 - Philadelphia).

2024 battles were hosted in the following cities: New York, NY, Clifton, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Bay Area, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Orange County, CA, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, Austin, TX, Dallas, TX, El Paso, TX, Houston, TX, San Antonio, TX.

For the last 5 years of battles (2017-2019, 2022, 2023), Wacken Metal Battle USA has hosted battles across the country to send one independent metal band to perform at the world’s largest metal festival Wacken Open Air in Wacken, Germany. 2019 saw the festival celebrate its 30th anniversary, but due to Covid, the 2020 and 2021 editions were both canceled. As the metal community regains its strength, Wacken Open Air 2024 will be the 33rd edition of the festival and will be held from July 31 – August 3. The 2024 event is already sold out with a line-up that includes Scorpions, Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian, In Extremo, Pain, Beast In Black, and many more. Details here.