Savage Lands has announced a three-year strategic partnership with Brutal Assault, one of Europe's premier heavy music festivals — and both organizations are using the occasion to issue an open call to the wider cultural community.
Savage Lands was born after co-founders Sylvain Demercastel and MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren witnessed the threat of deforestation first-hand in Costa Rica. The result is the world's first environmental non-profit powered by the metal community: a 501(c)(3) organization that has run biodiversity initiatives around the globe alongside members of METALLICA, GOJIRA and HEILUNG, vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, and partners including Hellfest and the Jane Goodall Institute. Every music royalty the organization generates goes toward protecting biodiversity through land acquisition, ecological restoration and permanent sanctuaries.
Brutal Assault, held each summer inside the historic Josefov Fortress in Jaroměř, Czech Republic, brings its own environmental track record to the table. For more than six years the festival has run Brutal Forest, a long-term reforestation initiative that has already planted over 12,000 trees across the Czech Republic. Under the new partnership, Brutal Forest gains international reach while Savage Lands expands its operations across Europe. The next planting event takes place this autumn in the Hradec Králové region in partnership with Lesy ČR.
The rollout is staged across three years. 2026 brings official Army Of The Trees × Brutal Assault merchandise, dedicated Savage Lands eco-cups and festival-wide awareness campaigns. In 2027, as Brutal Assault marks its 30th anniversary, the festival will host Savage Lands' newly launched Biodiversity Tour — a limited international run of performances in which every concert directly funds a conservation project in the country hosting it. 2028 and beyond will see new joint conservation projects and further expansion of Brutal Forest.
"Savage Lands is thrilled to join forces with Brutal Assault in the fight for biodiversity. Through this partnership, our organization is crossing a threshold by expanding our international operations," Demercastel said. "The biodiversity crisis is bigger than any one organization. It demands new ideas, new alliances and new forms of leadership. On behalf of Savage Lands, I invite every festival, every artist, every cultural organization to support this movement and join The Army Of The Trees."
Brutal Assault founders Martin "Shindy" Brzobohatý and Tomáš Fiala framed it as a question of legacy. "For decades, festivals have shaped music, inspired generations and created unforgettable memories. Today, we have an opportunity to create something even greater: a lasting legacy through the ecosystems they help protect. Today, Brutal Assault is proud to answer the call."
The festival's own statement put it more bluntly still: the next great legacy of music festivals may not be the stages they build, but the forests they leave behind.
Full details on the partnership are available at brutalassault.cz, and tickets for Brutal Assault 2026 are on sale here.