Every nation in the world has its own hymn and now one of the biggest metal festivals gets its own one as well. This year, the Wacken Open Air celebrates its 20th anniversary and therefore a new song called "We Are The Metalheads" has been written exclusively for the festival.

German metal queen Doro Pesch will sing the new song which was written and produced by Olaf Stern (SternEntertainmentProductions). "The lyrics and the music of the song really reflect the ideas and the life of heavy metal fans," says Stern. "Heavy metal means more than just listening to music — heavy metal means to be free and it is about true feelings and values."

Wacken boss Holger Hübner adds: "Doro will sing the new song live on July 31 in Wacken. She will perform it with SKYLINE, the band my partner Thomas Jensen was in a couple of years ago. They will reunite for this special and unique show. Doro really is the best person to sing the song as she embodies everything the song is about. She is a great singer and her voice will give the new hymn a unique touch. The fans will surely get shivers up and down their spine."

Doro is honored to sing the track. "It is a great song," she says. ""I hope the fans will love it as much as I do. I can't wait to play it live for the fans at the Wacken Open Air."

Those of you who didn't get a ticket for the festival (it is sold out since December 2008) will have a few more chances to hear the song performed live. Doro will play live at the Wacken Rocks festivals in Aurich and Rieden/Kreuth, Germany in August where she will sing "We Are The Metalheads" as well.

The 20th Wacken Open Air metal festival has been sold out for months already. But fans who couldn't get a ticket shouldn't despair, because the event will be streamed live via the music portal Rockalarm.de in collaboration with Tempodome.

The transmission begins in the morning and goes on until the early morning. Gigs happening simultaneously on two separate stages will be filmed and broadcast one after the other. In addition to experiencing the concerts in top sound and picture quality, online fans will also be able to chat, vote and headbang in their own four walls. And the virtual road to the festival is well paved too: Tickets for the big weekend are on sale for various prices at www.eventim.de/wacken. The three-day pass guarantees at least 40 hours of live programme and costs 6.90 euros until May 15 ("Early Metalheadz" ticket), 10.90 euros from May 15 May to July 15 ("Wacken Rulez" ticket) and 15.90 euros from then on ("Headbangers Heaven" ticket).

The organizers of the Wacken Open Air have joined forces again as they did last year to offer the live stream of the festival together: CTS Eventim AG, Europe's ticketing market leader, is handling the live stream tickets; the interactive live stream specialist Tempodome.com is responsible for the Internet broadcast; and Rockalarm.com, the portal for all fans of hard rock, will be presenting the stream exclusively on its web site.