We were really excited for the party line-up of this first day! Let’s do this!

FRIDAY

GENERAL INFO – THURSDAY – FRIDAY – SATURDAY – SUNDAY – AFTERMOVIE / NEWS

HELSOTT

The opener of the first day of this festival was the American pagan death metal act Helsott. Coming from the vicinity of Palm Springs it is surprising but joyful to see that te USA also has an interest in Pagan Metal and their interpretation of it. As one of the more “brutal” acts we were curious to see if the translation of pagan metal will hold up to the more extreme metal sound. The guttural vocals did not quite streamline with the music on stage, it seemed to us the band did too much of a blending in style.

Maybe it’s just our opinion but the mix of American metal with an interpretation of European pagan sounds seems a bit overzealous, but a good experimentation in the evolution of the genre as a whole. The stage performance was on point, but we had to conclude that the sound at Theater Of Grace was not on par with the sound of the Wackinger Stage on the Open Air festival in the summer, way too loud and a drumsound that deafened all the fans standing inside the room, too bad that experiencing a band is more comfortable from the outside than front row.

TROLLFEST

The real party started early on friday at the Ice Palace. Trollfest from Norway is gaining a lot of momentum these past few years and boy do they earn it, culminating with their tour alongside Turisas and Korpiklaani. They just released the album “Norwegian Fairytales” and and are truly conquering the hearts and minds of folk/viking and pagan metalheads.

The stageperformance was one of the highlights of the weekend, bringing a more comedic metal act. Just like Alestorm this band want to see people laugh, jump, crawl and dance troughout their show. The crown of the King was a big bundle of ballons and truly a sight to see. A very clever way to get people’s attention and making sure they will never forget the show, the bass player was all over the tent with some crowd surfing, making a conga line with 600 people and jumping on and of stage. The little details on the dresses and the lights on the instrument make this show a feast for the eyes.

The setlist is quite unpronounceable for those who do not speak the language so we wont bother with it, we can say that the sound of the band is really refreshing and we see them becoming a headline act for smaller festivals in the future, go check them out now!

ARKONA

As one of the household names in the pagan/folk metal genre Arkona is always a force to be reckoned with and doing so for 17 years already. Singer Masha yet again proved she is one of the Metal Queens out there, always giving it all on stage and making sure everybody is invested in their performance.

As for the sound it could not be more on point at this show, and everything was perfect from the lighting to the vibe on stage. Although it was still early in the day we yet again witnessed one of the highlights at this festival, and there were sure more to follow.

SKILTRON

The festival has big German look and feel to it, but we could not hope for a more international lineup than this year’s edition. The next band we could see at the Theater Of Grace was Skiltron. This Folk Power Metal act was founded in Buenos Aires and is constantly seeking gigs in Europe since it has the biggest market for them.
Yet again we have to admit that the sound was not optimal at this stage and even with earplugs it was hard to watch the whole show inside.

As for the act of the band we got plenty of bagpipes and Scottish references to the Scottish highlands on top of a great heavy metal sound and vocals a lot of heavy metal singers could learn a bit from. A great band to put on a festival bill any time.

HEILUNG

After a quick bite (some delicious Käse Spätzle) we are ready to get in touch with mother nature in the form of the “band” Heilung. Although the Opening Ceremony is not the best of openers, the vibe turned rather epic after a couple of minutes. When looking around in the big tent we saw 2 kinds of people: the first kind is the metal fan who has never witnessed this kind of performance and wonders when the guitars are coming on stage and then there is the majority of people who are just entranced by this performance, just like us.

The dancing, the vibe, the drums and the Neo Folk sound is not something to forget easily and we are glad that a lot of (metal) festivals booked them as soon as they got the chance. Watching Heilung live is gathering wisdom. A strange thing to say but it is true, their shamanistic ways on stage really make you think and let you get connected with older and simpler times. A must watch show!

APOCALYPSE ORCHESTRA

After we got entranced to Heilung it was time to for Apocalypse Orchestra. Belgians already got the chance to see this band play its first Belgian gig at Asgaard earlier this year and they left a mark. We did not want to miss the chance to see them live again and rushed to the Theater Of Grace.

The show was just like we remembered in Asgaard, very atmospheric and heavenly doomy, the sound of the hurdy gurdy gives this band a more medieval sound that really connects with the slow riffing of the guitars. The clean vocals go well with the sometimes sudden but beautiful grunts that shake your existence.

TURISAS

This exciting band is always a energetic beast on stage and seeing the great succes of their tour with Korpiklaani and Trollfest was surely no coincidence. As we have waited long enough for new music from Turisas we got a surprising extra with some acoustic music at the end of the show. Crowd pleasers like “Stand Up And Fight” and “Rasputin” were accompanied with a live version of the song “Fields Of Gold”. It is not often that people get the chance to see Turisas live and the Ice Palast was packed with Folk and Viking loving metalheads who enjoyed every second of this performance.

Sadly violinist Olli did not make it with this tour but we got to know a new electric-violin superstar Caitlin De Ville who suited the band well on stage. The storytelling again was very compelling and Turisas manages to really grab the vibe of wonder and exploring in the age of the Vikings.

Go explore them live if you have the chance!

KORPIKLAANI

It is not surprising that Korpiklaani got the headline show at the first day of the festival. Korpiklaani really transformed themselves from a Hoompa party metalband to a more serious and all top headline act for all kinds of metalfans. The show was brought very professionally and the singing of Jonne was much better than the last time we saw them on the Alcatraz festival in Belgium. It still is an act that performs much better indoors than on an open air stage.

As we are close followers of the bands it is obvious that they play more of the recent released music and promote the latest album “Kulkija” and not much of fan favorites “Spirit Of The Forest” and “Tales Along This Road“. Which is not suprising because they’re on their 10th album already.

A very professional and good quality show, their hard work is paying off!

Pictures & videos by Wacken Winter Nights.