70,000 Tons of Metal has confirmed its final lineup ahead of the January 29 sailing from Miami aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, cementing the event's status as the world's largest and most unique heavy metal festival. The four-day floating metal festival will feature 61 bands performing over 120 sets across four stages on the open seas — a format that has made it one of the most coveted experiences in the global metal community since its 2011 inception.
The confirmed acts represent a commanding cross-section of heavy metal's many facets. ANTHRAX bring their legendary thrash to the high seas, while AMORPHIS and DARK TRANQUILLITY represent the Scandinavian melodic metal tradition at its finest. BEAST IN BLACK and RHAPSODY OF FIRE offer bombastic power metal grandeur, while SOILWORK and ELUVEITIE blend melodic death metal and folk metal respectively with arena-level energy. KAMELOT's progressive power metal and PARADISE LOST's gothic doom add further diversity to a lineup that caters to virtually every shade of heavy.
One of the cruise's most anticipated events will be Dutch death/thrash band IZEGRIM celebrating their 30th anniversary with exclusive reunion shows aboard the vessel — performances that cannot be seen anywhere else, embodying the festival's commitment to offering unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. These exclusive sets have become a hallmark of the 70,000 Tons experience, with previous editions hosting similarly momentous performances.
Beyond the music, the cruise offers an intimate fan experience unmatched by any land-based festival. With roughly 3,000 passengers sharing the ship with the performing artists, encounters between fans and musicians are a daily occurrence — whether at the pool deck, in the dining hall, or at the ship's bars. The informal atmosphere has produced countless memorable interactions and has built a fiercely loyal community of repeat attendees.
The festival also includes artist-hosted events, meet-and-greets, and the famous "Belly of the Beast" stage in the ship's theater, where performances take on an intimate, almost club-like atmosphere despite the vessel's massive scale. Cabins for the 2026 edition sold out rapidly, underscoring the festival's enduring appeal.