Photo Reports

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”!

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!

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! The first day featured already an impressive collection of stellar bands from Finland, Belgium, Serbia, Germany and Poland:

Except for her work with MaYaN, we haven’t heard from Merel Bechtold anymore since she stopped with Purest Of Pain and also left Delain…. until now! Together with Joey De Boer (also ex-Delain, on the drums, who, unfortunately couldn’t play this show because of an injury)  she looked for (and found) David Pear, to join them as a singer in their new metalcore band Dear Mother!

Their first album, Bulletproof, was independently released on July 16, 2021, but thanks to corona we had to wait until now to hear it live. Only 2 shows to officially show it to the world, one in Belgium and one in The Netherlands, but I’m sure more will follow soon!

They pulled off a great show, until their last song. It started off solid but didn’t last long. Problems with the electricity meant that after about ten seconds we could only hear the drums anymore, until the drummer realized that he should stop too. The electricity had gone out, the whole venue was in the dark… It was quickly fixed, but it came back also quickly! Up to 3 times they tried again but each time the power went out. Unfortunately they had to stop like this, it promised to be a great finish, but there was nothing they could do about it… that’s the risk if you play on a Friday the 13th I guess?

Warm up act was none other than the Belgian band Cellar Twins! Founded in 2014 in Namur, they are also very promising! We recently had the chance to see them live on the Durbuy rock festival, and next year they will be at the ‘Apocalypse in the desert metal festival’ in Las Vegas! No need to doubt it, we will be hearing more from them in the future!

I had a very memorable night from the legendary British band Skunk Anansie, showing that they are still a blast of live energy, in a rarely used venue in Munich with a beautiful atmosphere. Warming up the crowd was the Canadian/British post-punk band Shelf Lives.

As a closer for the 9 years GRIMM birthday week, none other than Hexa Mera was back on our stage!

A welcome guest, certainly not the first time in Asgaard, but for sure the first time in the new Asgaard in Gentbrugge! Just like all the other bands we received this week, they were also happy to be able to perform live again and you could feel that in all the energy they emitted (not that we expected anything else from them)! Preceded by warm-up band Hunter, they gave the best of themselves during a successful closing of our anniversary special.

Afterwards, the party continued with a (metal) karaoke where (among others) Yannick (singer of Hexa Mera) was once again unstoppable on the stage! It has been a great week with a great closing and accompanying after party until the early hours!