When it comes to heavy metal festivals, are you thinking about mud, rain, tents, camping and cold temperatures? Now think about coconut trees and a swimming pool, 30 degrees Celsius and sunshine with a perfectly light breeze. Add a very comfortable bed at a 5-star resort while listening to the main stage soundcheck from the comfort of your balcony.

Royal Orchid Resort garden

View from Royal Orchard Hotel balcony, pool to the left, stage up front listening to the soundcheck

What sounds like a heavy metal dream turns into reality at Indian’s largest heavy metal festival: Bangalore Open Air! The 12th edition of BOA took place at the Royal Orchid Resort in Yelahanka, north of Bangalore on February 8th, 2025. In contrast to European counterparts like its sponsor WOA (Wacken Open Air), it is the perfect escape from the cold European winters and the reason more and more Europeans combine their vacation on the beaches of Kerala or Goa or a visit to the Taj Mahal with a trip to Bangalore Open Air.

For 4000 rupees, about 45 Euros you get to experience a full day of diverse metal shows, served with Indian beer, biryanis and snacks, affordable metal merch, a fancy jewelry vendor, face painting and much more.

You may want to consider upgrading your experience to Eddie’s VIP bar located on a platform, overlooking the crowd with perfect view onto the stage, express top up and bar service including free snacks and food. In addition to the one-day BOA festival on Saturday, I highly suggest staying for the entire three-day experience by attending both the Wacken Metal Battle for the Indian sub-continent on Thursday as well as the preparty on Friday at the fancy Gilly’s Redefined Fandom Club in the Koramangala suburb, southeast of Bangalore. So, let’s start chronologically!
 
Day 1, Thursday: Wacken Metal Battle Indian Sub-continent

Besides a stage with upper floor, bar, restaurant, rooftop terrace and smokers’ terrace, the Fandom Club entrance features a rarely seen very cool 70s red lightbulb floor, catapulting you in a Saturday Night Fever kind of mood, only to be disrupted by live metal sounds behind the next door. The Wacken Metal Battle shows featured eight finalists that had previously won local battles in major cities across India and the sub-continent, including Nepal and Bangladesh. Kolkata’s PanchaBhuta, integrating Indian instruments such as a clay pot (ghatam) and sarod, were blending metal music with traditional Indian Vedic chanting. Their professional stage presence included a Shiva-influenced trishul mic stand while wearing black Aghori-like lunghis. Their high-level performance not only captured the audiences and jury’s ears, eyes and hearts, but surely stood out from the other mostly growling contestants. Well-deserved, PanchaBhuta won the contest and will represent India at the International Metal Battle in Wacken in August 2025. Absolutely looking forward to seeing them again on the holy grounds in Germany!

PanchaBhuta

Day 2, Friday: Warm-Up Party

The official preparty on Friday, again at Fandom Club, featured Saudi Arabian Metal band Dusk, Skreen 6 from Kochi (India) and Kryptos, Bangalore’s beloved longstanding 80s trash metal legends. Kryptos have been around since 1998 and are no strangers to European stages and festivals, actually being the first Indian band to play Wacken Open Air in 2013. Definitely two fun nights with quite an international audience!

Dusk from Saudi Arabia

Bangalore’s homeboys Kryptos

Day 3: Bangalore Open Air

Festival Entrance

Welcome to the Royal Orchid resort in India’s capital for IT, innovation and start-ups, Bangalore! You immediately experience the difference just by ordering a beer as you get served a “smart beer”.

Eddie’s VIP bar

A funky high-quality cup featuring the alien BOA design was served with a rubber band (later to be used as a wristband memorabilia) and carabiner to safely store your cup. Wouldn’t you want that at just any festival?

Smart Cups

The smart brain behind BOA festival is promoter Salman, a local from Bangalore who is living his dream and, in the meantime, has moved to a tiny village named Wacken.

Promoter Salman

After establishing BOA with support from Germany, he is now actually working for the mighty WOA. It was therefore no surprise to run into several authentic Wacken residents…in the middle of BOA! What a small world, metal truly unites.

WOA tribute @ BOA

On the Ronnie James Dio stage embedded in lush palm trees, Peekay, a female fronted band from Hyderabad, India opened the festival in the early afternoon. Dressed in angelic white, looking all innocent, hardcore singer Pranati Khanna performed a wake-up call for what BOA had coming that day. The vocalists initials actually led to the name Peekay (translating as “drunk”), which, by the way, also sounds like a homage to the Indian movie PK with Aamir Khan, this author’s favorite Indian Bollywood movie, a religious satire definitively worth watching!

Lush palm trees sidelining the infield

Next up was Demonic Resurrection, a symphonic blackened death metal band from Mumbai. Formed in 2000, the band has released five studio albums. Indians sure love their mosh pits!

Onsite face painting for all Black Metal fans

Merch

Suicidal Angels, a long-standing trash metal band from Greece obviously enjoyed their time on Indian soil and announced “an immediate return” on their Facebook page.

Death metal band Necrophobic from Sweden have been around for 25 years, a genre that seems very popular in India, given the fans reactions and number of growling bands performing at the Metal Battle two nights earlier.

US American Cynic had reinvented themselves after having suffered from double personal tragedy with the death of their former drummer and bass player. Their performance a contrasting program with progressive spheric elements and, as previously described by Metal Hammer, “otherworldly”, a recurring theme in BOA’s alien mascot.

Everyone was very relieved for Ukrainian progressive hardcore headliners Jinjer to actually attend after visa issues had been sorted out prior to the festival. Dressed in US cheerleader clothes Tetjana Schmajljuk sang and growled, headbanged and celebrated their very first show in India.

Other bands playing the second indoor stage included Midnight Danger from Sweden playing their synth-pop to a full house, as well as Inner Sanctum and Kasck from India.

Left: VIP platform with Eddie’s bar, Right: second indoor stage

While Metal might not be popular in all parts of India (yet), it surely is on the rise, working its way from the major cities to the countryside. Metal fans from all over India, far away states such as Assam and world travelers have found their way to this one-of-a-kind festival. Many Europeans and Australians encountered have attended BOA several times, combining a cultural trip or beach vacation with a stopover in Bangalore.

Rest assured that BOA 2026 is already in the making! Check out the official BOA website for details regarding next year’s edition.

For a full BOA 2025 recap, watch popular India-based Youtuber Karl Rock’s Vlog!

I Went to India’s BIGGEST Metal Festival – Could You Handle It?

Words, photos: Äfa Angelhardt