10 Dream Heavy Metal Tour Line-Ups
Fantasy bills to wrestle the money from your wallet.
In heavy metal, there’s nothing quite like seeing a dream tour line-up come together. That feeling of logging in to Facebook or Twitter and seeing that your favourite band has announced a continent-wide trek with your other favourite band is second to none, and regularly promises an evening of good times and unwavering excitement in the near-future.
But with metal being arguably the largest genre in music today, it feels like we have only reached the tip of the iceberg with regard to pant-wettingly exciting tour bills. It only takes the most minuscule amount of digging for a metalhead to quickly look up and go, “Wait, why the hell haven’t these two hit the road together yet?!”
As a result, this list is going to detail ten dream heavy metal tours that, given the opportunity, have the potential to sell-out venues all over the world. Whether it’s to use established names to elevate underground up-and-comers, celebrate a genre-defining scene with all of its big players under one roof, or just an elaborate excuse to get two similar and magnificent names in the same spot, these are ten line-ups that the metal world needs to experience.
(NB: We’re only working with bands that are currently active. No reunion tours allowed!)
10. Ihsahn & Møl
The Norwegian pioneer Ihsahn and the acclaimed Danish upstarts Møl would be a perfect dream team out on the road, as both condense heavy, melodic and twisted black metal into surprisingly pop-like song structures.
With the 2018 release of their debut album, Jord, Møl instantly became one of the most talked-about rock acts of the entire year. Their ability to combine the ambience of Wolves in the Throne Room and Deafheaven with the incendiary brutality of Burzum in tight, direct anthems has made them a quintessential feather in the cap of Holy Roar Records and blackgaze as a whole.
The quintet’s concise approach to experimental extremity would make them the perfect opener for the eclectic Ihsahn, whose post-Emperor solo career has seen him inject hallmarks of electronic, hard rock, orchestral music and prog into his black metal repertoire. With successful songs like “Arcana Imperii”, “NaCl”, “Mass Darkness” and “Misanthrope” all having the same punchy appeal as Møl, the beloved titan could also expand upon the first act with a select handful of lengthy slow-burners like “Celestial Violence” and “The Grave”.
Together, Ihsahn and Møl’s on-the-nose take on black metal would easily make for a powerful and energised showcase.