Hellfest promoters are very consistent in maintaining their status as one of the biggest festivals in Europe, having fast become an institution, with this year’s event taking place over June 15th-28th, 2023. After the double 2022 edition, promoters had big shoes to fill in order to top the previous year’s special edition. Fortunately, they didn’t desperately try to jump over the bar they set for themselves; instead, they invited an eclectic bunch of artists to their lineup in Clisson. The third day of Hellfest included bands like ASKING ALEXANDRIA, RIVERSIDE, BEAST IN BLACK, PUSCIFER, MYRATH, POWERWOLF, LORNA SHORE, FAUN, BLACK FLAG, and THE HU.
To start off our third day, we opted for something we knew was a safe option… The British rockers of ASKING ALEXANDRIA are currently still touring their latest release, “See What’s on the Inside,” which was released in 2021. The band seemed all pretty smooth-faced, but they can always go back to their roots and play some of their metalcore material, either way they are always killing it on stage.
One might say that Polish prog act RIVERSIDE begun with a sheer bit of bad luck, as it started raining. The band owned up to this in their own ironic way. Singer Mariusz Duda commented that, since the prog band entered the stage, the sky started crying. He also continued and mentioned that he had bad news for the audience: they are not a metal band, they play progressive music, and they won’t use any swear word in their songs. Naturally, fans didn’t have any issues with that. RIVERSIDE was a pleasant break between the metal rampage taking place on other stage and a safe choice. They are currently promoting their newest album, “ID.Entity,” which was released less than half a year ago. Due to their short slot, they were only able to play five songs, but we were thrilled that they added in “Post-Truth” and “Big Tech Brother.”
After the moody progressive tunes, we were in the mood for some beasty extravaganza and found our ways to Finnish/Greek/Hungarian superstars BEAST IN BLACK. The band is still promoting their latest album, “Dark Connection,” on tour and we were thrilled to have caught one of their shows. The festival set included songs from their three albums, although we were mostly excited about their hit “Blind and Frozen,” which seems to be an overall fan-favorite as well.
Next up, we went for something a little more eccentric. PUSCIFER probably thought it would be fun to make the mainstage’s aesthetics a little weirder by placing FBI agents and aliens on it. We’re not complaining though; in fact, we should be thankful for the fact that Maynard James Keenan has a creative outlet for most of his outlandish ideas; keep them coming (especially since we don’t hear a lot from TOOL or A PERFECT CIRCLE these days)! Visually, this was one of the most interesting shows of the weekend. The band released their re-wired edition of their latest album, “Existential Reckoning,” in 2023, which was actually released in 2020. It’s safe to stay they’re still promoting it.
When you see MYRATH on a lineup, we all know that the Tunisian “blazing desert metal” band honor their North African heritage by incorporating elements of traditional music in their songs and sometimes their live shows also include performative elements to add extra spice. It turns out we were in luck! This time, the stage included dancers, magic tricks, and fire! It was a fun and entertaining performance to watch and we highly recommend for you to check them out. The band is set to release a new album, “Karma,” sometime in September, but until then, we happily spin “Shehili“ (released in 2019) a few more times.
A festival without POWERWOLF is a sin! The German power metal band are definitely a must-see at any festival where they play, not only because of their theatrics, but also because their blend of high-energy music and the band’s overall solid performances… not to mention most of their material is comprised of catchy bangers that will not leave your head until the bitter end of the festival. The band’s recent album, “Missa Cantorem II,” was a vocal cover album on which eleven well-known international singers reinterpret the eleven songs from “Call of the Wild.” Despite them having worked with some pretty legendary vocalists on that album, we were glad to hear singer Attila Dorn sing Hellfest‘s setlist.
LORNA SHORE have been booming ever since the release of their latest album, “Pain Remains.” Naturally, we had to check out their set at Hellfest. One might not instantly love their symphonic deathcore, which to the untrained ear makes zero sense. Live, however, they don’t fool around and deliver a really strong, energetic, and powerful set. The band’s newest acquisition, singer Will Ramos, is really talented and delivered a solid performance, giving his all next to his bandmates.
Germany’s FAUN are a long-established name in the folk/neo-medieval music field. The band have been promoting their latest record, “Pagan,” which saw the light of day in April 2022. FAUN are perhaps not the kind of band that scream from the stage at the top of their lungs; their performances are a little bit more gentle than many of the other bands scheduled on this day. However, this didn’t get in the way of charming their fans. Altogether they had a solid show with a dynamic 11-song setlist.
BLACK FLAG is a band with a rich history – a layman could easily get confused about their lineup alone. They haven’t released any music recently, but they don’t really need to: people are rushing to see them based on their legendary status. We went to check out the band out of mere curiosity, and while we expected a little more raw action from them, there was something in Mike V‘s vocal performance that easily could hypnotize an entire audience.
Finally, we decided our last show would be from the Mongolian folk band, THE HU. The band’s mix of Mongolian traditional music, Tuvan throat singing, and metal music took the world by storm. While the band attracted an audience appropriate for the main stage, they were crammed into one of the smaller roofed stages – an odd choice made by the festival’s promoters. Getting there proved to be a really difficult task, as the crowd had the density of reinforced concrete, but we somehow managed to make our way through. Thank hell we did, because THE HU delivered a really strong show. The band recently released “Rumble of Thunder” and dedicated a lot of their setlist to the album, although we were the most blown away by “Shoog shoog.” Thus ended our third festival day with a bang!
Notes by Maria Sawicka, text by Laureline Tilkin
Photos by Maria Sawicka
