In short
- Leo Jiménez headlines the first edition of Desolation Metal Days, twelve heavy, power, thrash, death and folk metal bands, with Azrael celebrating 35 years.
- There are only 350 three-day passes, at €35 plus fees, on sale through RockingTicket: that is the capacity of a club, not an open-air festival.
- It takes place from 4 to 6 December at the Marearock venue in Alicante, over the bank holiday weekend, with four bands a day; the day-by-day line-up and stage times have not yet been published.
Alicante gets a new metal festival over the December bank holiday weekend. Desolation Metal Days brings together twelve bands from 4 to 6 December 2026 at Marearock, with Leo Jiménez as headliner and capacity limited to 350 people, all with a three-day pass costing €35 plus fees.
Leo Jiménez, Azrael and ten more bands
The official poster puts Leo Jiménez at the top, the singer who fronted Saratoga, Stravaganzza and 037 before going it alone under his own name. Below him are Azrael, who celebrate their 35th anniversary (1991-2026) in Alicante, and ten more bands across a wide range of styles:
- Hard rock: Jolly Joker.
- Symphonic power metal: Opera Magna.
- Thrash: Injector.
- Folk metal: Salduie, Hadadanza and Sovengar.
- Melodic death metal: Bloodhunter, presenting ‘Sons of the Abandoned’, and Death & Legacy, with whom they are touring.
- Groove and progressive: Minos and After Lapse.
According to Metal Hammer, the twelve bands are spread over three days with four performances per day. Which day each band plays, Leo Jiménez included, has not yet been announced.
A €35 pass and only 350 places
Tickets are sold through RockingTicket, the ticketing platform listed on the poster. The three-day pass costs €35 plus booking fees, which works out at less than €12 per day, and there are 350 in total: no day tickets have been announced.
With that capacity, anyone who is sure they want to go should not wait for the day-by-day line-up. Sales opened in April, when the line-up was announced, and the event page on the ticketing platform shows whether passes are still available.
The Marearock venue and who is organising
Marearock is at calle del Comercio, 10, in Alicante. The festival is organised by the venue itself, the promoter On Fire Rock Promo and Live For Metal Productions, according to the poster and the specialist press, which announced it in April.
For metal fans in the province, the big festival is still Leyendas del Rock in Villena, in summer. Among the metal festivals already announced for 2027 is Z! Live, with Symphony X and Battle Beast, and you can keep up with the rest in our metal festivals section. What is on over the bank holiday weekend is in the December festivals guide and in the December listings.
Sources: Metal Hammer, 8 November 2026; Metalcry, TNT Radio Rock and The Sound of the Embryo, 8 April 2026; La Ganzúa; official festival poster.
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