GALLERY: 11.5.2025 LUNA KILLS @ Club Hell, Diest

As a Belgian expat living in Finland, few things get me as excited as stumbling across fresh music that actually slaps. A few years back, that was me discovering LUNA KILLS, the alt-metal powerhouse that recently dropped their newest ear-splitting masterpiece, DEATHMATCH,” under none other than SharpTone Records. Not only is it a killer album (literally, with that title), but they’re also the first Finnish band ever signed to the label.

So, when the band announced they’d be playing a show in my home country, on Mother’s Day, May 11th, 2025, no less, my reaction was somewhere between “shut up and take my money” and “sorry mom, but metal calls, we can celebrate in the evening.” Thank you, Ryanair, for your impossibly cheap tickets (and also for the existential dread your flights always induce).

While my mandatory first stop was obviously the frituur [where one gets Belgian fries]. I made my way to Club Hell in Diest for an afternoon show. Diest is the kind of town I would otherwise never visit unless I got lost or forced into a scavenger hunt of some sorts (we jokingly call it part of the marginal triangle where I’m from), but here we are! Surprisingly, LUNA KILLS were scheduled for an afternoon slot, which is something I think more bands should consider, honestly. Matinee shows are kind of underrated. You get all the energy and excitement of live music without having to stumble home at 2 a.m. It’s loud, it’s fun, and you still have time to grab a late dinner and actually sleep like a functional human being. Win-win.

Despite this being LUNA KILLS’ first time setting foot on Belgian soil, the turnout was solid. The crowd was a good mix of die-hard fans (hi, it’s me), metal-curious locals, and that one group of regulars who looked like they’d been physically glued to the bar stools sometime during when King Albert II was still reigning. But by the end of the afternoon, even the latter were headbanging and converted to LUNA KILLS fans.

LUNA KILLS came out swinging and absolutely obliterated the stage. They tore through most of their new album “DEATHMATCH,” and tossed in bangers like “deep cuts,” “BULLET,” and “we were born to die.” They kicked things off strong with the atmospheric “hallucinate,” and somewhere in their set, treated us to my personal fave, “love u.”

Faces were melted. Mosh pits were summoned. And for a brief, glorious hour, Diest became the capital of Finnish metal heat, which made us, for a brief moment, forget we were in a town where the biggest attraction is probably the nearest Aldi. Graspop Metal Meeting 2026, are you listening? The stage is set. The fans are ready. Let’s do this! Check our photo gallery here…

Luna Kills

Photos by Laureline Tilkin