As always, there is a “Preclub” show with a couple of acts to get the juices going and ready for the beats that will hit you for 2 days without remorse. This time around it’ll take place at Kuudes Linja and we already get a nice taste from home with the Helsinki based synthpunk/EBM project Carnal Machinery and former Velcra vocalist now turned industrial goddess Jessi Frey.

Then getting to the first proper festival day at Ääniwalli, you can be looking forward to a killer show by the always explosive King Satan serving us all with their occult beats! We can promise you, this is a band you don’t want to miss out on!

On the second festival day, the main stage will get kicked off properly with Finland’s very own version of Rammstein that has become its very own legend by now in their country: Ruoska! Also this day you will get swept away by the weirdly captivating Nestruction bringing their “pixel metal” to the HIF 2022 stage, using traditional metal instruments to play arcade tunes…

The preclub show will also bring UK-based ESA (Electronic Substance Abuse) to really get the party started early, don’t miss out!

On the first proper day of the fest, we’ll get a real proper serving of great international acts like the Viennese Div Mod performing and creating mindblowing industrial music with just a Game Boy, the Greek industrial duo Siva Six, Hellsinki Industrial regulars Freakangel with a different line-up and supposedly some more surprises, the drum ‘n’ bass based industrial act Mechanical Vein, the German cyberpunk misfit Faderhead, German dark elektro group System Noire and last but not least our very own Belgian pride in the aggrotech scene, Suicide Commando!

The 2nd day of HIF 2022 will get a proper start with UK based industrial musician Matt Hart, the German Antibody who will throw some killer beats your way with his mix of industrial, power noise and hardstyle/hardcore, followed by the rather legendary German aggrotech outfit Agonoize, the Norwegian goth/industrial act Gothminister that is coming to present their latest album ‘Pandemonium’, the bass will get cranked up seriously with US artist Moris Blak and last but not least, we see the Viking industrialists of Centhron making a glorious return to squeeze the last bits of energy and life out of you!

Hellsinki Industrial Fest is highly attractive to people who love to get pummeled by some proper beats and bass, but it seems like for this year’s edition they ramped up things even more. With the tagline “Times are hard. Beat is harder.” you can expect yourself some good heartbeat-altering experiences that’ll make your feet move like there is no tomorrow.

And if acts like suicide commando, Centhron, Agonoize or Faderhead are not enough yet even though they have some really hardcore, killer tunes, you can always get another serving through the DJs who will continue the party till late in the night (or early in the morning depending how you look at it)…

Both days will bring Eugenia Antimony to kick off the afterparty, with on the Friday night also Hexexen, a DJ-set by Matt Hart and Oppressor, while the Saturday afterparty will bring some international DJs with Emanon b2b Mole IX and NIbi besides HIF regulars Noizu (ft. Anni Dohlen) and MInzeru!

Hellsinki Industrial wouldn’t be Hellsinki Industrial without the organized meet-n-greets throughout the whole event. If you want to meet your favorite artist for a quick chat, some pictures and signatures, HIF 2022 is the place to be with literally every single artist having a time slot scheduled. Not that you won’t come across many hanging out at the bar or outside having a smoke, but still, don’t miss out on your shot to exchange some words with them!

Last but not least, we want to say something about the location of the festival. Earlier we had a hard time imagining Hellsinki Industrial Fest to take place anywhere else than the legendary, now demolished, Nosturi venue. The industrial looking venue was simply the perfect home for a festival like this. However, when we attended to last years Hellsinki Industrial Fest 2021 (check out the reports here and here, photo reports here and here), the first one to take place at Ääniwalli, we kind of fell in love again. Ääniwalli has a somewhat similar industrial vibe to it and somehow the flow works really well between the Club Stage and the Main Stage even though it’s clearly smaller than what Nosturi was. But the smaller size also brought along some more atmosphere and personality somehow. That together with staff that always been good to us throughout the weekend and the rather informal vibe with artists popping up in the crowd checking out their colleagues or having a drink at the bar, really sold us on the new location!