Vader Festival 2022 Hitting Auckland and Wellington In October

Aotearoa's metal-loving denizens will rejoice at the news Polish Death Metal masters Vader are headlining their own touring festival in October 2022 — leading a triple pronged assault on Te Whanganui-a-Tara's Valhalla and Tāmaki Makaurau's Whammy. Originally formed in 1983 with a formidable back catalogue encompassing a dozen official long players, including 2020's Solitude In Madness (Nuclear Blast), Vader are still fronted by co-founder Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek. They'll be joined for both sonically extreme extravaganzas by Kraków industrial metal unit Thy Disease, plus one more European act waiting in wings to strike our shores this spring. Grab tickets for these heavy hitting events before it's too late...

UPDATE: New dates have been announced for Vader Fest, now happening in May 2023 — all tickets remain valid and UTR ticket holders have been emailed direct with details (check your promotions and spam folders)...

Vader Fest 2023
With Thy Disease and another European band to be announced

Saturday 27th May – Valhalla, Wellington
Sunday 28th May – Whammy, Auckland

Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Experience the searing intensity of Vader's 'Into Oblivion' from their latest album Solitude In Madness...

Watch the video for Thy Disease's 'Aluminium Cities' from their 2019 album Transhumanism...

Press release:

Three international bands, all with different flavours of metal, all on one epic bill! This little metal festival is what NZ wants. Vader to headline, with supports from Thy Disease plus one more international TBA.

Polish Death Metal legends' Vader is the embodiment of death metal. Over their 37 year history, they have transcend from plying super-aggressive thrash, under the watchful eye of Communist Poland... signing a worldwide deal with popular UK indie label Earache Records... to touring the globe (after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, of course) and enjoying a near-maniacal fanbase, there’s no stopping the Piotr “Peter” Wiwczarek-led outfit. Their riffs, blast beats and soul is metal. If Vader’s death metal isn’t technically excellent, provocative, hard working, and intense then what is death metal. Thy Disease is a Polish industrial metal band from Kraków. Their lyrics generally deal with nihilism, apocalypse, and war. Thy Disease’s discography explores gloomy tones and atmospheres, infusing elements of Death Metal, electronic sounds, and organic instrumentation. The band was formed in 1999, by musicians formerly active in bands like Sceptic, Anal Stench and Crionics.