Asgardsrei festival

{{short description|National Socialist black metal rock music festival held in Ukraine}}

{{Infobox music festival|name=Asgardsrei|genre=National Socialist black metal|organizer=Militant Zone|location=Moscow, Russia (2012–2013)

Kyiv, Ukraine (2014–present)|years_active=2012–present|founders=Alexey Lyovkin}}

{{Nazism sidebar}}

Asgardsrei festival (Norwegian: 'The Ride of Asgard', i.e "The Wild Hunt") is an annual National Socialist black metal (NSBM) festival in Kyiv, Ukraine.{{cite web|url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2019/02/15/defend-the-white-race-american-extremists-being-co-opted-by-ukraines-far-right/|title="Defend the White Race": American Extremists Being Co-Opted by Ukraine's Far-Right|last1=Kuzmenko|first1=Oleksiy|date=February 15, 2019}}

As a NSBM and white power music festival, it is one of the most popular events for far-right and neo-Nazi extremists and a meeting ground for white supremacist networks and organizations across Europe and America.{{Cite web |last=Hume |first=Time |date=13 December 2019 |title=A Black Metal Festival in Ukraine This Weekend Is the Neo-Nazi Networking Event of the Year |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/dygg9j/a-black-metal-festival-in-ukraine-this-weekend-is-the-neo-nazi-networking-event-of-the-year |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=Vice}} Several of the organizers and bands regularly playing at the club Bingo during Asgardsrei festival have been convicted of murders, assaults and other hate crimes, and belong to organizations classified as terrorist groups by several{{who|date=April 2024}} European courts.{{cite news |last1=Hagen |first1=Freddy |title=Lige nu samles højreekstremister fra hele verden til festival i Kiev • POV |url=https://pov.international/militant-black-metal-i-denne-weekend-samles-hojreekstremister-fra-hele-verden-i-kiev/ |access-date=12 April 2020 |work=pov.international |date=12 December 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://wroclaw.wyborcza.pl/wroclaw/7,35771,24279192,wroclawscy-neonazisci-jada-do-kijowa.html?disableRedirects=true|last1=Harlukowicz|first1=Jacek|title=Wrocław neo-Nazis are going to Kiev for a festival gathering right-wing extremism from all over Europe|date=December 14, 2018}} It is named after the mythological Oskorei, also known as the Wild Hunt, which also was the name of a 1999 album by Absurd, which was seen as influential to the National Socialist black metal scene.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/heavy-metal-confronts-its-nazi-problem|last1=Moynihan|first1=Colin|date=February 19, 2019|title=Heavy Metal Confronts Its Nazi Problem|magazine=The New Yorker }} Such bands that are participating in the festival include Absurd, Peste Noire, Goatmoon, M8L8TH, and Nokturnal Mortum.{{cite web|url=https://www.bnr.de/artikel/aktuelle-meldungen/europas-nsbm-szene-sammelt-sich-in-kiew|title=Europe's NSBM scene gathers in Kiev|last1=Freieres|first1=Horst|date=November 30, 2018}}{{cite news |title=ASGARDSREI V – Nokturnal Mortum, Peste Noire, M8L8TH, Kroda (Kiev, 18.12.2016) {{!}} Militant Zone |url=http://militant.zone/ar2016 |access-date=12 April 2020 |work=Militant Zone {{!}} Militant Black Metal |date=18 December 2016}}

The festival is strongly connected to Alexey Lyovkin of М8Л8ТХ, and his "Militant Zone" label, who act as organizers and originally founded the festival in Moscow in 2012. Lyovkin and the Militant Zone used to be heavily involved in the Ukrainian nationalist Azov Assault Brigade and are now in the paramilitary Russian Volunteer Corps.