Photo Reports

People are coming together in Lille, from both France and Belgium, to enjoy music and experience a true masterclass in extreme metal from the legends that are Meshuggah. Special guest Zeal & Ardor overwhelmed everybody with their melancholic songs and harmonic singing. Meshuggah destroyed the venue with heavy bass vibrations, coarse singing and thundering guitars.

The summer festival season has finally properly started after 2 years of barely anything! And while the established festivals all seem to be returning, there’s always room for new guns. And if they come with a cool and different concept like Hellsinki Metal Horizons, we can’t help but get excited. With a truly eclectic mix of both extreme, progressive and straight out left field bands, they were aiming to attract a similarly eclectic crowd and widen people’s horizons. Which seems to have worked admirably.

The summer festival season has finally properly started after 2 years of barely anything! And while the established festivals all seem to be returning, there’s always room for new guns. And if they come with a cool and different concept like Hellsinki Metal Horizons, we can’t help but get excited. With a truly eclectic mix of both extreme, progressive and straightout left field bands they were aiming to attract a similarly eclectic crowd and widen people’s horizons. Which seems to have worked admirably. We ended up missing out on both Omnivortex and Kalmah, only catching the last song of the latter, but that didn’t change our excitement on what was to come still…

Before the brand-new Hellsinki Metal Horizons festival got its first proper day, they held a kickoff at On The Rocks in Helsinki that would become one of the most memorable nights of the year! With the legendary Canadian thrash metal band Exciter, an explosive show was to be expected, but added to that local thrash heroes The Hirvi, grindcore wackjobs Cannibal Accident and the future of heavy metal Satan’s Fall, to basically have something for everyone! And a banger of a concert it most definitely was…

When a band as out there as Imperial Triumphant comes in your neighborhood, you don’t hesitate and make sure you get to that show. So when these US avant-garde black/death metal mysteries had a stop in Helsinki on their ‘Mother of Greed’ Europe tour, that’s exactly what I did. And with just recently announced a new album coming, maybe there would be some new masterpieces getting thrown at us for the very first time live. Reason enough to exchange a sunny Monday evening for a couple of hours of pure and utter darkness and music madness.

Despite a lot of things not working in favor of this event happening like Iron Maiden pulling a lot of people away from Helsinki to go see their show at the annual Rockfest and Crucify the Faith not having their vocalist nor drummer there due to some health issues, they still moved on with it and turned it into a great night with 3 Finnish up-and-coming bands for those who were there.

Opening the night, Crucify the Faith didn’t let it get to them that their vocalist wasn’t there, motoring on with a special fully instrumental show that had Aku Karjalainen from Atlas as their temporary drummer. A show that proved their music is so solid that it even works perfectly without the usual vocals.

Secondly, we got treated by the electronically enhanced grooves from Khroma. Their fascinating blend of electronica, hip hop and metal brings an intense and energetic show that not every band can pull off and they killed it every time I caught them live.

King Satan came to showcase their occult industrial tunes and especially their latest release ‘Occult Spiritual Anarchy’. While they usually pull in a way bigger crowd than what they had this time, they played as if they were in front of a packed venue for the dedicated fans that did show up this night and it absolutely was a blast! King Satan is most definitely one of the more fun and entertaining bands the Finnish circuit has to offer at the moment.

Steelfest 2022 is 4-day celebration of devil`s 10 year path.
50 bands in 4-Days full of un-compromised metal terror.

We’ve been steady supporters of the Steelfest events and now finally after 2 years of delays and much drama, the 10th year anniversary edition of Steelfest was happening! With twice the amount of days than normally, way more bands and a couple of more surprises along the way, this is simply a festival you didn’t want to miss out on if you’re any bit into underground metal without compromises!

3 days behind us, 1 more to go! This anniversary edition has been insane! Luckily this last day was a bit shorter than the other ones and it had the extra ‘Steel & Fire Fest’ and barbecue bacchanal to kick things of in a relaxed, good way. But that didn’t mean that this wasn’t an intense day still with performances of Blood Chalice, Alfahanne, Kalmankantaja, Valkyrja, Antimateria and Taake!

Steelfest 2022 is 4-day celebration of devil`s 10 year path.
50 bands in 4-Days full of un-compromised metal terror.

We’ve been steady supporters of the Steelfest events and now finally after 2 years of delays and much drama, the 10th year anniversary edition of Steelfest was happening! With twice the amount of days than normally, way more bands and a couple of more surprises along the way, this is simply a festival you didn’t want to miss out on if you’re any bit into underground metal without compromises!

What a day it was to travel to Flint, MI and pay a visit to the world famous and iconic Machine Shop! Headlining their SOLD OUT show for the night was the one and only NONPOINT with support from The Lonely Ones. 

Upon arrival, we were greeted by multiple friendly faces of The Shop‘s crew. From start to finish, The Machine Shop is a finely oiled machine with a phenomenal team. From the door crew, to the bartenders, to security keeping everyone safe and to the owner Kevin being a great leader throughout the night-The Machine Shop is a top notch venue!

The Lonely Ones got things started for the night. They are a 4 piece rock band based out of Columbus, OH and consist of members Marty McCoy [guitar/vocals], Tommy Johnson [drums], Jymmy Tolland [guitar/vocals] and Tru Payne Robert [bass/vocals]. 

NONPOINT (Elias Soriano [vocals], Robb Rivera [drums],  Jaysin Zeilstra [lead guitar], Rasheed Thomas [rhythm guitar] and Adam Woloszn [bass] ) brought the house down headlining for the night! This was our 2nd time seeing them perform in 2 months and they came with the same amazing energy! You can really tell they love playing at The Machine Shop and consider the team at The Shop their family. From the first riff to the last, NONPOINT’s set was non-stop energy. The guys once again absolutely CRUSHED it!

Revivalist rock night at the Backstage in Munich with the average age of 40. The opening band The Sore Losers may be newcomers compared to the rock veterans Therapy?, but they know how to rock and have a promising long future, musicians of great quality and enough attitude to be successful.

Therapy?, the band from Northern Ireland is an institution in the alternative scene and their followers are loyal, proving in Munich that they are always on their side. Presenting several classics that have marked these last three decades, the Munich public, who were very active during the whole show, had the privilege of hearing a new song and also the cover song “Breaking the Law” by Judas Priest.

It feels good to watch a Therapy? show, they prove that there are still bands doing things in a genuine way and that everything they present live is true and meaningful. In our opinion an underrated band, but as they sing in one song “Screw that, forget about that”!