Watch this world record attempt at creating the biggest 'wall of death' ever

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Hellfest in France was the scene of what some are calling the biggest 'wall of death' ever

Illustration of the audience atmosphere during Hellfest - Day One extreme music festival on June 27, 2024 in Clisson, France.
(Image credit: Photo by Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)

A world record attempt at creating the biggest 'wall of death' ever took place at the Hellfest extreme music festival in France this week.

Thousands of fans lined up and charged at each other as deathcore outfit Slaughter To Prevail performed on the Main Stage at the four-day event in Clisson.

A video showing the attempt can be viewed below. The video posted on Instagram includes the caption "biggest wall of death", suggesting the festival consider the world record to have been set.

The clip shows thousands of metalheads waiting for the instruction to charge, before chaos reigns and the audience becomes a swirling mass of bodies.

Slaughter To Prevail frontman Alex Terrible told the Hellfest crowd after the 'wall of death': "Next time, wall of death will be bigger. France, you are not pussies. I like it!"

Hellfest runs from June 27 to June 30 and is headlined by Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, Machine Head and Foo Fighters.

It's not the first time Hellfest has tried to smash the world record. In 2014, a spectacular attempt took place during French band Dagoba's set. There was also a less successful go at it in 2019.

While it cannot be confirmed that Hellfest's attempt is the world's biggest example of a 'wall of death' ever, it certainly beats this weak attempt from Kentucky, USA, last year.

Other bands headlining the various stages at Hellfest 2024 include The Offspring, Saxon, The Prodigy, Dropkick Murphys, Enter Shikari, Body Count, Suicidal Tendencies, Mr Bungle, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Fu Manchu, Dismember and Pain of Salvation.

Stef Lach

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.