Here we go again! After a great anniversary edition last year, where Tuska Open Air was celebrating its 20th birthday, we’re back at the holy grounds of Suvilahti for another serving of great heavy music. Having looked forward to get to enjoy one of the nicest “family” metal and rock events of Finland, we geared up and went very excited towards great bands, wonderful atmosphere and lovely people… The following is what took place…

The band that got to open the festival was the Danish Baest (****). Not really knowing what to expect, I got blown away with their high energy and groovy show of old school death metal. The guys were clearly excited to be at Tuska and came to show everyone that was there this early a damn good time! Especially vocalist Simon went out of his way to get the crowd more riled up by going bonkers on stage, waving his arms around like a madman and jumping down to the speakers in the photo pit to get closer. Definitely a band to keep an eye on, because these guys might be going places! A nice discovery and a friggin’ great start of the weekend!

While Baest was still destroying on their stage, I quickly went to have a peek in the Inferno stage at what was going on there. The Finnish black metal outfit Gloomy Grim (***) was there, bringing a dark ritual of Finnish symphonic black metal. The band around the hooded and caped Agathon stood mostly static with mainly the frontman going back and forth, on the knees and eventually ending up at his altar set up with candles and a skull. And that skull ended up being a cup for the blood he was about to drink and pour over his chin. All of which got replaced by the sacrificial girl on the altar later on.

The band taking up the task to open the main stage was the American sludge metal outfit Crowbar (***1/2). With long hairs (and beards) in a very strong wind and the constant threat of rain, their doomy music infused with hardcore punk found its perfect setting. Great gig, though I’m already looking forward to see them on an indoors stage where they might pack an even harder punch than what we got to witness yet.

Of course as preparation for the festival weekend, I checked out some music on beforehand and the Helsinki-based hard rock band Hard Action (**1/2) caught my attention. I’m always up for a good rock ‘n’ roll show brimming with energy and passion, so I went to check them out at the small stage. To be honest, I left with still a hunger for said energy and passion. The band didn’t play bad at all, but I didn’t feel that rock ‘n’ roll vibe radiating from them. It all felt a bit uninspired and plainly boring… too bad!

There’s been a lot of positive criticism all over the metal community about the Swedish band Tribulation (****) and especially about their last release Down Below. And I have to admit that their mix of heavy metal, occult rock and touches of black & death metal is definitely a formula that seems to work. Throw in their interesting visual aesthetics and energetic performance and you’re in for one hell of a heavy metal show. Another new band to add to my list to follow!

After having a nice chat with Justin Pearson from Dead Cross, I was just in time to catch part of the Turmion Kätilöt (****) show. Despite having seen them quite a few times by now, they always deliver a decent performance and know how to start up a party with their disko metal! After a few shows that were a slight bit disappointing earlier, I was happy to see that they (literally) brought the fire back in their show. Including a flamethrower that Shag-U operated with a maniacal grin on his face that constantly balanced on the line between crazy psycho and elated little kid that gets to play with fire!

The next band I managed to catch was one of the few that I had been really looking forward to: Dead Cross (****) on the main stage. The supergroup with members of many influential bands delivers a chaotic and eclectic version of hardcore that is simply mind-blowing. Especially frontman Mike Patton brought a certain dangerous energy to the stage with his almost psychotic stare and almost aggressive remarks towards the people in front of him. The only reason I’m not giving them a full score is because I had the feeling that the true magic only happens when you put these guys in a dirty, dark and small venue where band and crowd can feed on each other’s energy.

Norwegian progressive band Leprous (**) is a very popular outfit at the moment. With some very successful albums they’ve outgrown their status as formerly being Ihsahn‘s live band and are always something to look forward to when you want some high quality music. But for me personally, this didn’t do the trick. Their music is damn good, yes. But for now, it seems to me more like music to play at home while sitting on your couch to really focus on it. Too much of the intricate music got lost on me and to be honest, their new work gets me bored easily at live shows.

On the small Inferno stage, The Charm The Fury (***1/2) took over the building and absolutely pulled us in with their groovy blend of metal and metalcore. The guys lead by the fiery red haired frontwoman Caroline really brought the house down. Caroline jumped around brimming with energy and has a damn impressive vocal range going from singing like a sweet girl to growling like a hungry beast. A top performance by rising stars!

Seeing melodic death metal mastodon Arch Enemy (****) twice in less than a year is nothing to complain about. After their extensive tour to promote their latest release, they did a pretty intense run at the European Summer festivals. Musically it was tight as hell again and of course was the ever charming Alissa White-Gluz was in top form, growling like a beast and seeking for connection with her fans. The cherry on top was that since they were playing on the main stage outside, they could crank out the pyro and light up the stage!

The Swedish progressive extreme metal outfit Meshuggah (****1/2) got to close the Helsinki tent stage for the day. And what a closer it was! As soon as the guys came on stage, they blasted us with their complex and poly-rhythmic music combined with a epilepsy-inducing light show. The wall of obliterating sound steamrolled over everyone present in the tent and left us all blown away.

Anticipation for the last band of the day had been steadily building up for me. And then it was finally time to welcome Body Count (*****) to the stage. Ice T and his buddies tore it up: they’re still angry about how shit goes wrong in the world, all the while being a bunch of great dudes that show their love constantly. The mix of thrash metal and rap still works and even the old songs stay relevant.

They opened up with a cover of one of the reasons why they started the band back in the day: their love for Slayer. The well-known riffs of Raining Blood blasted through the speakers and immediately set the mood. And when they changed into Postmortem, original Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo showed up to quickly switch places and play the drums for the rest of the track. A great little treat for any metal fan!

The rest of the setlist existed out of a combo of new tracks from their latest release Bloodlust and older work, that perfectly matched with each other in heaviness and relevance. Going from Black Hoodie and No Lives Matter to classics like Manslaughter, Talk Shit Get Shot and of course Cop Killer, everyone from the band to the crowd was having the time of their lives. Body Count is simply a band you have to see whenever you get the chance. What a great way to end the first day…

For more pics, go to our photo coverage here.