Ragnarök Festival, Germany's biggest pagan metal festival, is going to celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2008. Once again organizer Ivo Raab has arranged a lineup of bands which is certain to please any pagan metal fan's desires. Compared to the previous year's edition the variety of the bands has expanded a lot and so we don't only get black and pagan metal, but also death metal with Unleashed and Killing Spree, power metal with Norther and Alestorm, gothic metal with Agalloch and Winterdome, symphonic metal with Haggard and Elexorien and of course once again lots of top-notch black, folk and viking metal bands. Two more highlights in the lineup certainly are Arkona, who are going to play their first concert beyond the Iron Curtain, and Vreid who will deliver a "special show" - no specific details have been announced, but it is to be expected that they will play a set with a lot of Windir material; the organizer has also pointed out that there will be "something for the eye". The full lineup can be seen below, a preliminary running order can be found here.

The festival is once again going to take place in the town hall of Lichtenfels in Northern Bavaria, located between Coburg and Bamberg. You can easily get there by car, train and plane. Trains from the directions Nuremberg, Coburg, Saalfeld, Bamberg/Würzburg and Bayreuth/Hof pass through Lichtenfels at least once per hour. Furthermore the InterCityExpress (ICE, the German high-speed train) on the route Berlin - Nuremburg (- Munich) stops in Lichtenfels every two hours. For time-tables visit the site of the Deutsche Bahn.
The next international airport is located in Nuremburg, from where you can get to Lichtenfels via train. For airlines and destinations check out Wikipedia. If you're coming from across the Great Pond, you might want to get in touch with me (Promonex), maybe I can pick you up at Frankfurt International Airport. You can also try your luck at the official forum to find people to travel together with.
For car routes you might want to consult Map24 (destination: Schießanger, 96215 Lichtenfels, Germany).

As for accommodation, you can either camp directly at the hall (which might be a bit cold in March) or sleep at one of the two sports halls in Lichtenfels. One is directly next to the town hall, the other is 2 km away - the earlier you book your place the higher the chance you'll end up in the first mentioned. Two nights with breakfast cost 10 euros, and you can also take a shower there - tickets for these sleeping halls can be acquired in the festival's online store. If you need a bit more comfort, you can also get in touch with one of the local guesthouses. You can find a list of apartments, hotels and guesthouses at the festival's website.

Further readings:
[url= http://www.metalstorm.ee/pub/article.php?article_id=202]Article on Ragnarök 2006[/url]
[url= http://www.metalstorm.ee/pub/article.php?article_id=337]Article on Ragnarök 2007[/url]