CoolHead Brew has been an excellent location to experience some live music lately in Helsinki. On July 21st, 2023, the venue was home to the performances of two power metal bands: METAL DE FACTO and BEAST IN BLACK. We decided we couldn’t miss all that power metal extravaganza and headed to Viikki on Friday evening.
METAL DE FACTO recently underwent a lineup change, with singer Aitor Arrastia joining the band’s ranks. This was the vocalist’s first-ever performance with the band, so reason more to show up early to catch their set. There was a bit of a fuck up when the intro started playing, which in true METAL DE FACTO-style turned out to be quite a funny moment where the tech loudly apologized when the backing track ended abruptly, however, the band didn’t seem to care, and reprised their roles as kick-ass power metal heroes on stage almost instantly. Due to being the opening act, the six-piece only was able to play 5 songs, but we got to hear fan favorites like “The Conqueror,” “Bacchanalia,” and even a new song from their recently announced upcoming album, “Land of the Rising Sun.”
The festival summer has been packed for BEAST IN BLACK, having been at some of Europe’s biggest festivals. The detour at CoolHead Brew was their only headlining show this summer, so it was a lot of fun to see the band play longer than the 40-minute allocated festival slot with lots of songs that we have missed hearing live this summer. The show’s production was packed with fire and explosives, amping up the heat among the crowd. Fans had the opportunity to listen to songs coming from all three albums, with classics like “Blind and Frozen,” making the audience really excited and a song like “One Night in Tokyo” had them jumping up and down. Altogether, the band played a lengthy setlist of 15 tracks, singer Yannis Papadopoulos announced that they wouldn’t be playing an encore, so “End of the World” marked the end of a fantastic, dynamic set. Altogether, we enjoyed attending this power metal extravaganza!
Metal De Facto
Beast In Black
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
