In the middle of the Australian outback, where red rocky ranges tower over quiet bushland, not much disturbs the silence, other than the occasional scampering of wildlife.

But for one weekend a year, heavy metal music is blasted through the ranges and into the starry night sky, for hundreds to headbang to below.

The Blacken Open Air festival draws metal fans from around the country to the Red Centre, with some travelling from as far as Europe to attend.

Though heavy metal and the heart of Australia may not seem like a likely combination, it's one that's working very well.

Now in its seventh year, for the first time the festival is being held at Ross River Resort, about 80 kilometres east of Alice Springs.

Spyke Jagerkrieg has come from Melbourne to volunteer at the festival. ( ABC News: Katrina Beavan )

One of the organisers, who goes by Pirate, said that was the goal the team had been aiming for since the event began in 2013.

"The goal was to create Australia's first camp-out heavy metal festival, it had never been done in Australia before," he said.

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"We slowly built it up from a one-day event with ten bands, three years [in] it was a two-day event, and then [for] number seven we brought it out here, it was the goal since day one."

Festival goer Sarah Morris, who travelled from Melbourne, said it was the weekend's setting that pushed her to come.

Despite the swarming flies, she said it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to rock out in the red dirt.

"It's just an amazing space to be in right now, if people haven't been, you need to come," she said.

"It's absolutely perfect, you have the echo, you have the amazing crowd, it is the greatest place to be."

As for her tip to avoiding a sore neck from excessive headbanging, she said the key was practice.

Japanese and Aboriginal metal bands rock out

Pirate said having travelled to world-famous metal festivals like Wacken Open Air in Germany and other similar events in Europe, the natural step was to introduce an Australian version.

"It makes sense to do it in Australia where there's such a camping culture already, an awesome music scene and amazing landscapes like this," he said.

Band members Blackheart and Vile from Altar Defecation. ( ABC News: Katrina Beavan )

Ms Morris said despite the smaller scale of Blacken, it was competing with the larger European metal festivals.

The event featured 30 bands, including an international act for the first time, the well-known Japanese band NoLA.

The line-up also featured rock veterans Cosmic Psychos, as well as Disentomb and Witchgrinder.

The roaring crowd also welcomed once again local act local act Southeast Desert Metal, who hail from the remote central Australia community of Santa Teresa.

Southeast Desert Metal band from Central Australia. ( ABC News: Claire Campbell )

Pirate said this year was the biggest interstate turnout the festival has had.

"The word about the festival's just been growing all around the country, we know there's people all around Australia that want to come and be a part of it," he said.

"There's people who have come over specifically from New Zealand, and Switzerland."

That traveller was Eugene Wiebe who said he had come from Zurich for the concert.

He enjoyed it so much he was hoping to return in the future to perform at Blacken, he said.

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'Bigger and better'

The Ross River site is usually home to the annual Wide Open Space festival this time of year, a very different type of music event.

But as Wide Open Space was taking a break this year, to return in 2020, it was the perfect opportunity for Blacken to step in.

"It's just a beautiful site and an amazing bit of a country, and strategically really functional," Pirate said.

Now it's onwards and upwards for the festival.

A young heavy metal fan at Blacken. ( Facebook: Blacken Open Air )

"We've just built the template, and this formula is proving successful so we're just going to push it harder, [to be] bigger and better," he said.

News that is sure to be music to the ears of metal around the country.