Soon it’s that time of the year again we’ve been looking forward to: Steelfest Open Air opens its doors and starts the Finnish festival season. The second edition of SteelChaos satisfied our needs somewhat (for our report go here) and we recently got the little Easter treat from the organisation under the form of Watain at Nosturi (for our report go here). But on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th of May 2019 the main event takes place again: the place to be for a healthy dose of underground, dark and obscure the metal scene. The line-up consists out of some of the best national and international (mostly) black, death and doom metal bands gracing this planet.

Line-up

This year’s line-up showcases again a list of extreme metal bands that’ll get anyone with a love for the darker side of live very excited:

Lets start with the headliners this year: on Friday the legendary American death metal band Immolation will destroy the outdoor stage while Mysticum will close the indoor stage that day with a mindbending experience of pioneering industrial black metal. Saturday we see a couple of returning heroes taking over the Steelfest stages: the Polish masters of misanthropy and nihilism, Mgła are closing the outdoor stage while the Swedish blitzkrieg called Marduk is back yet again, this time to set the indoor stage on fire with a World exclusive one-time show celebrating the 20th anniversary of their iconic Panzer Division Marduk album!

Besides those there’s a wide selection of really interesting names of all spectra of the extreme underground metal scene. One show you just can’t miss out on, is the very first ever live appearance by the local one-man outfit Vargrav. The project has delivered 2 massively impressive symphonic black metal releases in a short amount of time and promises us to be in for quite the show.

Of course there are more Finnish legends to be found like Horna, …And Oceans and Trollheim’s Grott to just name a few. Other eyecatchers are easily Gaahls Wyrd, Evil, Deletere, Arkhon Infaustus and Monarque. But there is so much more to discover, just have a look at it yourself and be blown away with this solid line-up!

Schedule

On Friday the doors open at 14:00 and on Saturday they open at 12:00, both days closing at 3:00.

For those who can’t wait until the official festival days, they can travel to the local craftbeer bar Crafters for a pre-festival show by Havukruunu and Kalmankantaja. Only 200 meters away from the festival gates!

Location

It takes about 30-40 minutes to get from Helsinki-Vantaa international airport to Hyvinkää. The venue itself is an old wool factory (Villatehdas, Kankurinkatu 4-6) in the center with a capacity of about 1500 visitors, about a good 10 minute walk from Hyvinkää’s railway station. There will be an indoor and outdoor stage set up in this gloomy and atmospheric environment, perfectly fitting the underground nature of the bands that are performing there.

Accommodation

To spend the night you have a few options: either you get a combi ticket which includes accommodation set up by the organization themselves at a close-by school with security, showers, toilets and 24h access. You’ll have to bring your own mattress and sleeping bag though, but this might be the most interesting option for the budget traveler.

On the other hand you could book yourself a room at a hotel for a few nights. I have to warn you though that the nearest hotel in Hyvinkää itself is hopelessly sold out by now. There are still options though in other cities that are quite easily reached by a train travel of 5-12 minutes.

New this year is the camping located just 300 meters from the festival gates in center Hyvinkää. You can put your own 4 person tent there from Friday to Saturday for the price of 49€, including security, toilets and showers:

Food & Drinks

Of course you’re not allowed to bring your own alcoholic beverages to the festival, security will check you on this. You are allowed though to bring an unopened, see-through plastic bottle of non-alcoholic drink or an empty plastic bottle per customer to fill up with water which should be freely available. Though, since the festival is limited to 18+ visitors, this is one of the few Finnish events you can actually take your (alcoholic) drinks you get at the bars with you to enjoy the show closer to the stage than usual at the indoor stage. Last year there was a bar section outdoors, but also the indoor stage had a bar set-up there. Be warned though: you might have to repeat your order a few times indoors due to the music blasting through the speakers…

For food you should have tons of options. Last year there were some really nice stands/food trucks present at the festival site with for instance more fancy (and in some cases spawned-from-the-depths-of-hell-spicy) burgers for reasonable prices. And if you’re not happy with the food that is offered on the festival grounds itself, the venue is conveniently located right across the mall which has several restaurants (also shops and ATM). And if you’re willing to take a 10 minute walk, you’ll find a McDonalds, Hesburger and Amarillo quite close-by the railway station…

Be warned though: Steelfest has the one time entrance policy, so once you’re in you can’t just go back and forth!

Tickets

Tickets are quite limited since there’s a capacity of only 1500 people at the venue. At the moment the tickets are running out quickly. Get your tickets here.

For our report from last year’s edition go here and for the photo coverage here.

We’re eagerly awaiting the darkness falling over Hyvinkää and hope to see you there…