Date: 24 October 2026
The festival left Asakusa, and the name stayed
Asakusa Deathfest has always been named after a place, and this year it can't be held there. In February the organisers posted that GOLD SOUNDS, the festival's main venue in Asakusa, had shut down, that the search for a new room in the neighbourhood wasn't settled, and that any new venue would need more time to open even once it was found. Their answer was to book other rooms in Tokyo for the end of November and keep going. [1]
The result is five days across four live houses: Bushbash in Koiwa on 19 November, three days at MoonStep in Nakano from the 20th to the 22nd, and a final day split between Wild Side and Merry Go Round in Shinjuku on the 23rd. The organisers describe ADF as a low budget, DIY festival, small but underground, with death and grind fans flying in from around the world every year. That description matters for planning, because a DIY festival spread over three neighbourhoods rewards people who read the details before they board a train. [2]
Five days, day by day
Thursday 19 November is the warm-up at Bushbash, with doors at 17:00 and five bands: FECUNDATION, PUTRID VOMIT CHRIST, ABRUPT DEMISE, MORGUE BREATH, and NECROPHILE closing at 21:15. This night is door tickets only, at 4,000 yen plus a drink charge. [3] [4]
Friday the 20th moves to MoonStep, doors at 15:00, with GUT EXPLOSION opening at 16:00 and STOMA closing from 21:10. Saturday the 21st opens earlier, doors at 14:00, and runs eight bands from FUNERAL MOTH at 15:00 to ABIGAIL at 21:00. Sunday the 22nd follows the same 14:00 door, starting with CAASSIMOLAR and ending with ANATOMIA from 21:05 to 21:50, with SEDIMENTUM, RUDE, WRITHING, and WARP CHAMBER on the way. [3]
Monday the 23rd is the big one. Doors open at 14:30 and the two rooms alternate. On the Wild Side stage, INVICTUS starts at 15:25 and the night ends with INTESTINE BAALISM from 21:10 to 21:55, with CARCINOID, DIABOLIC OATH, and OXYGEN DESTROYER in between. Merry Go Round carries YxAxDx, WRITHING, DESTRUKTOR, and one more slot that the running order leaves blank. The two venues are both in Shinjuku 1-chome, at 1-34-13 and 1-31-3, so plan on walking between sets rather than standing still all evening. [3] [4]
If you can only do one or two days
Several bands play twice, which makes picking days easier than the full poster suggests. PUTRID VOMIT CHRIST, ABRUPT DEMISE, and MORGUE BREATH play both Bushbash on the 19th and MoonStep on the 20th. FECUNDATION plays the 19th and the 21st. REPUTDEATH plays the 21st and the 22nd. RUDE, WARP CHAMBER, and WRITHING play the 22nd and the 23rd, and DESTRUKTOR plays the 21st and the 23rd. If you are in Tokyo for a long weekend, Saturday the 21st plus Monday the 23rd catches a large share of the bill. [3]
Saturday is the day for doom fans. FUNERAL MOTH open it at 15:00, and their festival profile traces the band to autumn 2005, with a founding line-up that included Nobuyuki Sentou, formerly of COFFINS. The profile says they are preparing a third album and mostly playing songs from it live, which makes the early slot worth turning up for. DESTRUKTOR, an Australian black death three-piece active since 1997 and signed to Hells Headbangers, play later that night. [3] [7] [8]
Monday has the headliner and the most international bill. INTESTINE BAALISM, a Japanese death metal band formed in 1994, close Wild Side. CARCINOID, from Melbourne, describe themselves as a death and doom band with sludge, punk, and hardcore influences, and say this is their second time at ADF since 2019. [3] [9] [10]
Tickets: buy from the festival, not from a screenshot
The festival's own ticket post lists the prices. MoonStep on the 20th is 6,000 yen in advance and 6,500 yen at the door. MoonStep on the 21st and 22nd is 6,500 yen in advance and 7,500 yen at the door. Shinjuku on the 23rd is 6,900 yen in advance and 7,600 yen at the door. Every one of those adds a two-drink charge, and the post states there is no refund for line-up changes. Bushbash on the 19th is door only. [4]
Buyers outside Japan are told to email their full name and the date they want to the festival address. An EarlyBird pass for the four MoonStep and Shinjuku days was offered at 125 euros through PayPal only; check the festival blog before assuming it is still available. Buyers in Japan are pointed to the Harumagedo online shop run by obliteration records, which lists each day as a separate ticket alongside festival shirts. One limited INTESTINE BAALISM festival shirt was already marked sold out when we checked, so if merch is part of the plan, look early. [4] [5] [6]
Getting there, and what else is on
Three of the five days are at one room, so most visitors only need to learn one route. Music in Japan, our sister site, keeps a venue page for MoonStep with its address in Nakano, the walk from JR Nakano Station on the Chuo line, and the venue's upcoming schedule, which already shows the three ADF days. Bushbash is the outlier, out east in Minami Koiwa in Edogawa ward, so check your train home before the Thursday night: NECROPHILE are scheduled to finish at 21:50. [11] [4] [3]
ADF is also not the only heavy show in November. The same site's death metal page gathers upcoming shows by Japanese death metal bands across venues, and for November it lists Koiwa Death Fest vol. 99 at Bushbash on the 8th, CARCINOID with DESTRUKTOR and CAASSIMOLAR at El Puente in Yokohama on the 17th, and a DISGUNDER-presented night at ikebukuro CHOP on the 23rd that overlaps with the final ADF day. If you are flying in, those listings are a quick way to see whether the week before the festival is worth adding. [12]
One honest caution about using any calendar, ours included. Listings are built from venue schedule pages, and details such as prices can lag behind or differ from what the promoter announces. Use the calendar to find shows and plan the route, and when the two disagree, trust the festival's own posts for prices, running times, and ticket rules. [4]
The short version
Asakusa Deathfest 2026 runs from 19 to 23 November at Bushbash, MoonStep, Wild Side, and Merry Go Round. Bring cash for the Bushbash door and for drink charges at every venue, pick days around the bands that play twice, and confirm times on the running order the week of the show. Losing its home venue has pushed a small festival into three neighbourhoods, and the organisers kept it running anyway. Turning up on time for the openers is the easiest way to support that. [3] [4] [1]
Sources
[1] Asakusa Deathfest: 2026 venue announcement (February 2026)
[2] Asakusa Deathfest: 2026, five days at four venues in Tokyo
[3] Asakusa Deathfest: Running Order 2026
[4] Asakusa Deathfest: 2026 single-day tickets and venue addresses
[5] Asakusa Deathfest: 2026 EarlyBird 4-Day Pass
[6] Harumagedo Record Shop (obliteration records): Asakusa Deathfest tickets and merch
[7] Asakusa Deathfest: FUNERAL MOTH x Asakusa Deathfest 2026
[8] Asakusa Deathfest: DESTRUKTOR x Asakusa Deathfest 2026
[9] obliteration records on Bandcamp: CARCINOID x Asakusa Deathfest 2026
[10] Asakusa Deathfest: INTESTINE BAALISM x Asakusa Deathfest 2026
[11] Music in Japan: Moonstep, Nakano venue page and schedule
[12] Music in Japan: Death metal in Japan, bands, shows, and venues