Wacken Metal Battle Africa 2026: Four bands heading into the Baileys Bedfordview heat

On 27 March, Wacken Metal Battle Africa hits Baileys Bedfordview with Ozias, The Burnouts, Human Nebula and All This For Nothing, plus Walk These Skies as special guests.

Ahead of the heat, the bands spoke about what taking part means to them, how they are shaping their sets for the night, what day-to-day band life actually looks like, and what people only really understand once they see them live.

“We’re just going to go out there, bring our absolute A-game, enjoy the night with everybody, and celebrate South African metal.”

For All This For Nothing, there is already a slight twist in the setup. They are coming in from Pretoria rather than Johannesburg, but Paul Gioia is clear about the feeling going into it: “We’re a band from Pretoria, so it’s interesting that we’re doing the Baileys Bedfordview heat. Even so, we’re very excited to take part, share our music with a new audience, reach more of a metal crowd, and have fun with it. We have no expectations. We’re just going to go out there, bring our absolute A-game, enjoy the night with everybody, and celebrate South African metal.”

The Burnouts are looking at the night from another angle. For them, this is less about chasing exposure and more about using the platform properly. “We’re not necessarily entering the Wacken Metal Battle to chase international exposure for ourselves. We hope to use it as a platform to get our message out there. It’s also a great opportunity to show that collaboration is possible across genres, between artists, organisers, and everybody behind the scenes.”

Human Nebula bring a mix of humour, gratitude and long-built-up release to the whole thing. “It’s a huge opportunity to express a lifelong love for the craft. Many years of effort, time, and passion have gone into our music, so having the chance to show why we missed all those braais and get-togethers may finally make our friends and family chill the fuck out. And of course, the mystery of what lies beyond our shores sweetens the deal.

“Playing alongside some of South Africa’s best local artists is a privilege, and we’re grateful for the chance to share the stage with such strong talent. We want to show our fans why they support us, and just how far that support has carried us. If Wacken helps expose our music to new ears, all the better.”

Ozias keep it direct: “It’s a massive privilege to be part of Wacken, even in a local capacity. It’s an excellent opportunity to potentially push our band onto an international stage, and it’s also a good chance to see what the local scene has to offer.”

Once the bigger picture is out of the way, the reality of the format takes over. Twenty minutes can disappear quickly, and each band is dealing with that in its own way.

All This For Nothing have had to cut with purpose. “Given the 20-minute time limit, we’ve had to edit some of our songs down and focus on making sure there are almost no breaks between songs. We tend to write longer songs, so we’ve chosen five of our most exciting and eclectic tracks for the set and we’re going to rip through them with no pauses or hesitation.

“We’ve been around for a long time, so stage performance is very important to us. We draw a lot of inspiration from the punk scene, so for us it comes down to intense energy, plenty of movement, and interaction with the crowd. Those elements have always been part of our set, and we’re going to bring even more of that on the night.”

The Burnouts are taking a simpler approach. They are not treating this as a separate kind of performance. “We’re not doing anything out of the ordinary, because we treat every performance as equally important and want to give people an entertaining show regardless of the event or venue.”

“A lot of careful thought and preparation went into the tracks
we chose, to make sure we deliver our best.”

Human Nebula are sharpening things without losing their own weird edge. “The allowed playtime is much shorter than we’re used to. So we’re focusing on songs that we feel show what each member brings to the band, without boring people to death like a rerun of Friends. Sound-wise, our guitarists have performed the sacred rites and dialled in tones that will surely make even the burliest bus driver’s thighs quiver.

“We like the music we make, so it naturally takes over in the way we express ourselves on stage. A lot of careful thought and preparation went into the tracks we chose, to make sure we deliver our best while staying within the rules of the event. We also wrestled quite a bit with whether this is the right platform to show something we’ve been working on. You’ll have to wait and see.”

Ozias are thinking in terms of flow and discipline. “We treat it much like any other set, just with extra emphasis on bringing something fresh. A lot of time goes into making sure we have the right run time, smooth transitions, and planned moments, with as little dead space as possible.”

That kind of preparation says plenty on its own, but the work behind a band always starts much earlier than a battle slot. In this lineup, the histories are very different.

“Because South Africa can feel a bit removed from the international scene, we feel we have to work twice as hard to get noticed.”

All This For Nothing have been doing this for decades: “We’ve been around since 1998 and we’ve played consistently since then, apart from a few years off while Paul recovered from a pretty serious hand injury. That’s long behind us now, and we’ve been performing, writing, and recording albums and singles ever since. We’re currently finishing our new album, which will be released in September this year, and we’re extremely excited about it.

“The day-to-day reality of building a band in South Africa is constant hard work, constant networking, and regular rehearsal. We try to rehearse two to three times a week, and it’s a never-ending cycle of hunting for shows, designing flyers and posters, designing new merch, networking with new bands, booking tours, servicing instruments, and constantly writing. Because South Africa can feel a bit removed from the international scene, we feel we have to work twice as hard to get noticed and to give the audience something solid. We also engineer and record all of our albums ourselves, so that adds another layer to the work.”

The Burnouts only started in 2024, but they have moved quickly since then. “We formed in the middle of 2024 as a two-piece garage punk band. Since then, we’ve added another member and kept playing shows in and around Gauteng, while writing new material and refusing to be boxed into one genre. As for what it’s like to build a metal project, our fellow metalheads on this heat can probably give you a better answer than we can.”

Human Nebula trace their start back to a specific moment, then back further into the friendships and overlap that came before it. “The short version is that a couple of us went to see Thy Art Is Murder and decided it would be poes cool to start a band, and Human Nebula was being discussed the very next day. But the truth runs deeper, because each member comes from a long line of incredible acts.

“Over the years, we’d crossed paths in our respective bands. Friendships grew, along with a shared love of progressive deathcore, anti-establishment ideas, space, and nerd shit, so it felt inevitable that we’d work together. This music isn’t easy. At least, I find it very challenging. That’s exactly what makes me want to do it even more. These lads have lost their fucking minds, and that’s what I enjoy most about making music with them.”

Ozias started from a more stripped-back place and built outward from there. “This project started with the vocalist and lead guitarist, driven by a shared passion for making heavy music. It later grew into a full band, starting out with mostly covers before moving into recording and performing original material. Day to day, it mostly involves band admin, working on production elements, and making new music.”

For all the differences between the bands, the last part is where things come back to the room itself. Studio recordings can tell part of the story. Live sets do the rest.

All This For Nothing point to the balance between technical playing and keeping the set alive in front of people. “A big part of our musical identity is how much melody and harmony we bring into our songs. We’ve been a dual-vocal band since the beginning, with interactive vocal parts and guitar harmonies playing a big role in our progressive punk rock sound.

“We’ve always drawn heavy inspiration from slightly more technical or progressive bands in the punk and metal scenes, so it’s physically demanding to play guitar and sing these songs at the same time while also changing patches, soloing, and giving people a proper stage performance, instead of just standing there staring at the necks of our guitars and obsessing over technical perfection.

“There’s a lot going on in our set from a technical point of view, and one of the things that makes us unique is how we pull all of that off while still seeming laid-back, staying engaged with the audience, and really throwing down on stage.”

“Our very high energy and intense anti-fascist message are probably best understood live.”

For The Burnouts, it comes down to force and intent. “Our very high energy and intense anti-fascist message are probably best understood live.”

Human Nebula describe the exchange between band and crowd in their own language. “The ebb and flow of energy. When people take time out of their lives to support us, it does something to us. It feeds us. It makes us give everything we’ve got. We send that back to the crowd as a thank you. They take it, grow it tenfold, and throw it right back around like some glorious, unstable hadron collider. We have a good time.”

Ozias put it plainly: “As with any band, it’s hard to capture the true feeling and soul of what we do in studio recordings. At the end of the day, nothing really compares to live music. Even with world-class studios, it’s impossible to capture the feeling and atmosphere of watching a band in the room.”

That leaves Baileys Bedfordview with a strong spread of bands going into the heat. All This For Nothing are bringing years of work and a set cut down for impact. The Burnouts are walking in with urgency and a clear political edge. Human Nebula are carrying technical weight, personality and a lot of live charge. Ozias are focused on control, flow and getting the most out of the time they have. On 27 March, that all lands in one room.

Wacken Metal Battle Africa’s Baileys Bedfordview heat takes place on 27 March 2026 at Baileys Bedfordview. Tickets are R150.