Written By Lucien Drake
For more than two decades, Maryland Deathfest has built its reputation by dragging the heaviest, strangest and most uncompromising corners of extreme music into Baltimore. The 2027 edition is already stacked, and the festival has just added another wave of bands to the carnage.
Organizers have announced 17 new additions to Maryland Deathfest XXII, led by blackened industrial extremists Anaal Nathrakh, Oregon doom heavyweights YOB, French death-grind veterans Benighted, and German thrash mainstays Exumer.
The latest additions are Anaal Nathrakh, Benighted, Blood Vial, Brodequin, Devangelic, Exumer, Grave Infestation, Guineapig, Hong Kong Fuck You, Human Effluence, Lamp of Murmuur, Lathe, Lucifer, Mortal Wound, Replicant, Ruby the Hatchet, and YOB.
They join a lineup already spanning several generations of underground metal, with Candlemass, Autopsy, Enslaved, Voivod, Insect Warfare, The Kovenant, Akercocke, Exhumed, Demolition Hammer, Onslaught, Obscura, Panopticon, Naglfar, Sabbat, Vreid and dozens more already confirmed.
Several artists are bringing special sets to Baltimore. Enslaved will perform Vikingligr Veldi, while Exhumed will revisit Gore Metal and The Kovenant will perform Nexus Polaris. Akercocke are set for a Choronzon performance, while Insect Warfare will mark the 20th anniversary of World Extermination.
Autopsy will celebrate 40 years of what the festival describes as “gut churning death metal,” while Canadian prog-metal mutants Voivod are promising a set built around old-school deep cuts.
Maryland Deathfest XXII takes place May 27–30, 2027, across several Baltimore venues, including Market Place, Power Plant Live, Nevermore Hall, Baltimore Soundstage and Angels Rock Bar. A Pre-Fest is scheduled for May 26.
And despite the festival still having more bands to announce, tickets are already getting scarce.
Organizers say fewer than 100 four-day passes remain. Once those are gone, fans who missed the full-festival passes will have to wait for single-day tickets, with single-day and VIP options expected to go on sale in late August or early September.
Twenty-two editions in, Maryland Deathfest isn’t surviving on nostalgia. A bill that can put YOB, Anaal Nathrakh, Candlemass, Insect Warfare, Voivod and Brodequin under the same filthy umbrella is a pretty convincing explanation for why people keep making the pilgrimage to Baltimore.
Maryland Deathfest XXII Lineup Announced So Far
Akercocke (UK) – Choronzon set
Anaal Nathrakh (UK)
Ancient Death
Autopsy – Celebrating 40 Years of Gut Churning Death Metal
Barren Path
Benighted (France)
Black Breath
Blood Vial
Brodequin
Candlemass (Sweden)
Cerebral Effusion (Spain)
Ceremonium
Coscradh (Ireland)
Crawl (Sweden)
Cruciamentum (UK/US)
Crud
Demolition Hammer
Desolus
Devangelic (Italy)
Disharmonic Orchestra (Austria)
Enslaved (Norway) – Vikingligr Veldi set
Exhumed – Gore Metal set
Exumer (Germany)
Fake Dust
Fermented Mess
Fire Magic
Fleshless (Czech Republic)
Funebrarum
Goratory
Gorerotted (UK)
Grave Infestation (Canada)
Guineapig (Italy)
Hong Kong Fuck You
Human Effluence
Immortal Suffering
Ingrowing (Czech Republic)
Insect Warfare – World Extermination 20th Anniversary
Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors
Killing Addiction
The Kovenant (Norway) – Nexus Polaris set
Lamp of Murmuur
Lathe
Lucifer (Germany/Sweden)
Martyr (Canada)
Mizmor
Mortal Wound
Naglfar (Sweden)
Night of the Vampire
Obscura (Germany)
One of Nine
Onslaught (UK)
Panopticon
Raider (Canada)
Replicant
Ripping Remains
ROT (Brazil)
Ruby the Hatchet
Sabbat (Japan)
Sadistic Intent
Satan’s Revenge on Mankind (Germany)
Saturnus (Denmark)
Stabbing
Temple of Void
Thulcandra (Germany)
Unholy Altar
Visceral Disgorge
Voivod (Canada) – Old School Deep Cuts
Vreid (Norway)
YOB
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