KUALA LUMPUR, December 22 – Local metalheads, listen up: a new heavy metal festival with a pretty stacked lineup is set to take over KL next year. 

The inaugural two-day festival, Metalverse Music Festival 2026, is going to take place on April 30 and May 1 next year at Mega Star Arena in Sungei Wang Plaza and they will be featuring a total of six top beloved international acts.

Although the full lineup is yet to be revealed, the four confirmed acts include American metalcore band from Ohio, Miss May I and popular emo-band the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus who are best known for their multi-platinum single Face Down.

They are followed by California-based post hardcore band A Skylit Drive as well as metalcore group Blessthefall who had just released their comeback album Return to Form last September. 

This lineup will also be coupled with several other exciting local acts that will also be announced soon. 

Talking to Malay Mail, the founder of Vox Nation Live Shawn Chang, who’s also the festival organiser, said that he is most excited to be bringing a fresh new festival in the country and hopes that this could be the beginning of a new era for local metalheads. 

“We already have a pop-indie based festival which is Good Vibes Festival and honestly they are amazing and I really hope they can continue. 

“Which is why we’ve settled for a metal festival instead – especially seeing that Malaysia has never had a metal festival featuring top international lineups before,” Shawn said. 

Shawn also said that he purposely includes other local bands that might not be from the metal genre as he wants festival-goers to enjoy the variety of our local music scene too. 

He also admitted that this lineup mirrors the Indonesian heavy metal festival Hammersonic 2026, who will be celebrating their 10th anniversary in May next year, which is why he decided to include other names that are not performing at Hammersonic 2026. 

Shawn added that he plans for Metalverse Music Festival to also become an annual music festival that Malaysians and others in the region can look forward to. 

At the time of writing, all of the international acts are confirmed while there will be several more local acts to be announced in the coming months.