De Pankraker

07/07/2025

The Beast Is Back in Its Cage. De Pankraker Festival II Is Over (But Still Roaring in Our Heads)

It’s been nearly 40 hours since De Pankraker Festival II came to a close, and we’re still glowing. Still buzzing from a weekend drenched in scorching metal beneath a sun that dared to shine.
Two years ago, someone said that himself, yours truly and the sound engineer were De Pankraker Festival. A flattering thought, but dead wrong.

Let us tell you who that glorious beast really is:
It’s the fans.
It’s the marvellous bands and artists.
It’s our sponsor Pascal De Mol and his son.
It’s the top-tier crew of Go To Eleven (sound and light).
It’s the resilient professionals of Club Cuba (bless their ears).
It’s my partners at De Pankraker Magazine.
And last but not least, it’s the army of volunteers who brought this festival to life: the kitchen crew, stagehands, DJ, backline suppliers, the cashiers, the stand-in record seller… and of course, the über-volunteer and partner-in-crime, Jules Bossier.

We had a weekend we won’t soon forget.

The underground is about collaboration, friendship, a shared vision. It’s about selflessness. It’s about community.

Thank you all for your part in making that vision real.

Got a favorite memory? A show that blew your mind? A story worth telling? Drop it in the comments below. We’d love to hear what stuck with you.

Next year again?
We’ll see.
Join us in blootbath.

05/07/2025

Line-up update: Chevallier Skrog out, Matavitatau in

Unfortunately, Chevallier Skrog won’t be performing at the festival. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he missed his flight and despite every effort from both the artist and our team to fix the situation, there was no way around it. We’re already looking forward to having Chevallier on stage at a future edition. This story isn’t over yet.

Now for the good news: we’ve secured a killer replacement. Matavitatau, an old school black metal quartet hailing from Ghent. Their debut demo, Numen Nescio, dropped in February 2025 and made waves for good reason. Matavitatau delivers raw, poetic black metal hymns, entirely in Latin.

And here’s the twist: unlike many others in the genre, their Latin is flawless: no grammatical slip-ups, no half-baked translations. Every word hits with purpose. This is black metal with brains, blood, and bone.

This show will be Matavitatau’s very first live performance ever. For half of the members, it’s also their first time stepping onto a stage. Back behind the kit for the second time this festival, drummer Loimos is no stranger to the stage. Yesterday he brought the heat with Apovrasma, and today he's back for more.

Rawness, tension, and fire guaranteed. Be there when the beast first roars.

Listen here: https://matavitatau.bandcamp.com/album/numen-nescio

Buy tickets here: https://DePankrakerII.eventbrite.be

03/07/2025

Tomorrow we’re going all out. Moshing our balls off our pants. Just one more day. Less than 24 hours. And De Pankraker Festival II kicks off.

But that’s not all. We’re not just releasing the latest edition of Pankraker Magazine.
We’re also dropping a brand-new tape. And not just any tape: BLOED (Belzebub Laughs at Every Death) releases 't Regent. And they come to present the tape on our stage!

The band already scored a killer review from our brothers over at Addergebroed.

Volgers

Aanstaande vrijdag en zaterdag gaat in Gent de tweede editie van De Pankraker Festival door. Waarschijnlijk doen slechts enkele namen op de affiche een belletje rinkelen en dat is nu net het opzet …

03/07/2025

So much going on this weekend 🔥🔥🔥😎

A new De Pankraker Magazine will be released at day one of the festival. 200 copies. First chance for the Festival people. Afterwards the rest will go into the webshop.

30/06/2025

For those about to rock!!!

The schedule of De Pankraker Festival II on Friday and Saturday.

Small adjustments could be made.

Get you ticket here: https://DePankrakerII.eventbrite.be

29/06/2025

The Idea Behind the Festival

Get your tickets here: https://DePankrakerII.eventbrite.be

27/06/2025

De Pankraker Festival II - Band Announcement

Slutet

With only one week to go we present to you a special band!

Strange people and De Pankraker Festival belong together like fire in a church basement.
And in that spirit, we’re proud to bring Slutet to the stage: a band that has fascinated us for years, first brought to our attention by none other than Herr Levertraan. Slutet is part of the enigmatic entity known as The End Commune.

But rather than try to explain what that is, we’ll let their own words do the talking:
"The End Commune is an outsider art collective—an amateur passion tribe. The first dynasty ran from 2012 to 2022. The second dynasty began in 2025 and is ongoing.
They offer fiery words and sounds from Uppsala’s underground, calling themselves a proud child of the sewer. Their work is framed as experiments in authenticity and exercises in transformation.

The collective operates with no central agenda, no shared creed, no shared ideology, and no affiliations. They reject social activism, politics, genre loyalty, and trend-following."
Musically, Slutet comes (sometimes) closest to black metal, but refuses to be confined by the genre. Their sound is raw, unpredictable, and deeply personal. More invocation than performance.

And now, for the first time ever, Slutet will perform live in Belgium. For the first time on the European continent.

Grap your tickets: https://DePankrakerII.eventbrite.be

Listen to the magnificent band: https://psychedeliclotusorder.bandcamp.com/album/slutet

20/06/2025

Our friends from ONLY DEATH IS REAL are giving a big party tonight. You have to be there!!!

Volgers

18/06/2025

Weekend Schedule

It shouldn’t trouble you. Quite the Opposite, in fact…because it’s a testament to sheer quality. And remember, dear adventurer, there’s still so much to discover. But for now, one mystery has been unveiled:

The Weekend Schedule Has Arrived!
Which bands play on which day?
You’re about to find out.

Stay curious, stay bold and we’ll see you there.

Don't forget your tickets before it's too late: https://DePankrakerII.eventbrite.be

Volgers