One band to conquer them all! After multiple battles with bands from across the country, Wacken Metal Battle USA announces this year's 2024 national final with regional winners Cascade Effect (San Diego), WarTroll (NorCal), Versipul (PNW), Prime Prophecy (East Coast), and Father Wolf (Texas).

These final five bands will meet in San Diego, California on June 22nd at the Brick By Brick with special guest headliners, 2023 WMBU champions Fadrait. Each competing band will be judged by a panel of music industry professionals where one will be crowned the 2024 champion and move on to perform as the only independent American band at the International Battle at Wacken Open Air (July 31st – August 3rd), one of the world's most prestigious and largest metal festivals (Attendance of over 80,000 people in Wacken, Germany for over 30 years).​

Wacken Judges for 2024 National Final:​
Rod Kukla (Silver Lining Music)
Craig Goldy (Dio)
Derek Engmann (Scour, Phil Anselmo and the Illegals, ex-Cattle Decapitation)
Patrick Stone (Adler's Appetite, Budderside)

2024 WMBC National Finalists:
Cascade Effect (San Diego, CA) 
​WarTroll (NorCal - San Francsico, CA) 
​Versipul (Pacific North West - Puyallup, WA) ​
​Prime Prophecy (East Coast - Brooklyn, NY) ​
​Father Wolf (Texas - El Paso, TX) 

2024 WMBU National Finalists Playlist on Spotify.

To date, the battle has sent five previous bands to perform on metal’s most holy grail of stages. 2023 witnessed San Diego’s Fadrait crowned champion, following previous winners San Diego’s Mythraeum (2022), San Diego’s Monarch (2019), Anaheim’s Voices Of Ruin (2018) and Philadelphia’s Corpse Hoarder (2017).

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 31st – August 3rd. 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.

Wacken Metal Battle USA is part of an international competition that sees bands from across the country battle each other for the chance to win their spot among 30 other countries’ champions, and represent the USA in an international battle of the bands at the world’s largest outdoor metal festival: Wacken Open Air. The battles have been hosted at the festival for over a decade and give independent bands the opportunity to showcase their talents to an international audience along with the chance to win multiple prizes.