GALLERY

GALLERY: 15.5.2025 Steelfest XIII – Day 1 @ Villatehdas, Hyvinkää

July 12, 2025

Back in Hyvinkää for the XIII edition of Steelfest Open Air, this year held from May 15th, 2025, until May 17th, 2025, the festival once again offered a solid and varied line-up with a mix of familiar and new bands, attracting metalheads to Villatehdas from all over the world—as every year—in the otherwise pretty anonymous town of Hyvinkää.

Removing a small number of bands from the line-up allowed the festival to begin later in the day on Thursday, which seemed like a very smart move considering many people were still working in the early afternoon.

Opening the festival was supposed to be LANTERN‘s duty; instead, this fell on the all-too-familiar AZAZEL, who filled in the spot left by their Kuopio-based colleagues. While not too many people were in the area yet, the question we got asked most often about this gig was, “How drunk was Satanachia?” I guess he has been in worse shape, as he was still holding it together while mixing alcohol and Jaffa. The band also offered a preview of their upcoming “Ave Dominus Luciferi.” Definitely not the most horrible experience—maybe to the disappointment of the ever-present German fans in the audience—and it was quite a short set after all, being the first band of the day.

Not to be confused with the Russian, more folk-ish band of the same name, Polish combo ARKONA was up next. As the sun kept intermittently hiding behind the clouds, the band was the first to perform on the outdoor stage, with the two guitarists wearing white hoodies, as opposed to the vocalist’s black outfit. Promoting their latest “Stella Pandora,” they did a nice job of warming up the audience further with their crushing black metal.

Back indoors, we found two guys carrying a torch each towards the stage, only to put the fire out inside a bucket full of water as soon as they walked past the barrier. Confusing. This was the prelude to the HELLWIND & VRITRAHN collaboration show, recreating live their work “The Grand Glorification of Satan to Honor Him with Praise and Worship by Execution of Devilish Work in Thy Flesh and Blood” (not the shortest of titles, I know… BAL-SAGOTH would be proud!). Joining the band on stage was also Natalie Koskinen (SHAPE OF DESPAIR, THE ABBEY, PAARA, …) on guitar and backing vocals, which was a pleasant surprise. Vritrahn (WHITE DEATH) took most of the spotlight, even though nothing particularly weird or harmful (for the audience) happened this time around. The show ended with the two artists, Hellwind and Vritrahn, cutting themselves and sharing their blood, in a symbolic closure of a cycle that began with their collaboration album, culminating in this live show. Too bad that from the audience’s point of view, this was pretty hard to see, given the stage was fully lit by an intense red backlight that made it difficult to notice what was going on.

Returning into the sun, it was time for TROLLHEIM’S GROTT, who made a comeback already seven years ago—despite it feeling like much less time has passed. Led by the Rytkönen brothers, we expected nothing less than a powerful live set (and a lot of hair rotating in the air from bass player Pyry Hanski, of course), which delivered exactly what the audience wanted, before heading back to the indoor stage for THE TRUE WERWOLF. This longstanding project of SATANIC WARMASTER‘s frontman Lauri “Werwolf” Penttilä was a bit like the odd beast of the day so far, especially due to the exclusive nature of the set that saw the band perform anything but their own albums, all with their own twist. Must have been a fun gig to play for them—at least as much as the most hardcore fringes of their fans present at the front of the stage were excited by it.

It was time for something more traditional, with URN and their black/thrash combo that got people banging heads from the get-go. The band is always entertaining to see live, and they had a good dose of energy today as well. Promoting their new album “Demon Steel,” the gig was as no-nonsense and in-your-face as usual—perfect for people who wanted something with more impact but still direct.

BARSHASKETH, originally hailing from New Zealand before relocating to Europe, was a pleasant surprise, blasting their modern take on black metal and hitting the audience like a violent punch, leaving them reeling in the aftermath. “Antinomian Asceticism,” their newly released fifth full-length, is a pretty solid record, and those songs played live took on a very intense turn, definitely capturing the attention of the crowd without a moment to catch one’s breath.

After ARKONA earlier in the afternoon, another Polish band today was DEUS MORTEM, who we saw last year at Turku Saatanalle. They continued to deliver the same kind of strong performance we witnessed back then, offering a taste of their latest effort “Thanatos,” which came out last autumn. This was clearly visible in the response from the audience, who seemed really into their gig.

Soon after, inside the gym hall, it was time for WARMOON LORD—our first time seeing them since the addition of Necrosis (DEATHCHAIN, CHAMBER OF UNLIGHT, AJATTARA, CHAOSWEAVER) as a live vocalist. It seems to us that this was a very good choice, allowing the band to grow further in their live delivery and unleash the full potential of their music, becoming even more engaging than before. With “Sacrosanct Demonopathy” coming out in less than two weeks, they also had the opportunity to showcase some of the new material, which was well received by the crowd. The fact that the band got a major spot on the line-up is further testament to their quick growth.

Last band on the outdoor stage, AURA NOIR immediately conquered the crowd with their anthem “Black Thrash Attack.” The raw intensity of their live shows never ceases to amaze. We saw them last summer in Bergen in a late-night club show, and that was absolutely epic—but even in a festival setting they held their ground magnificently and were definitely our highlight of this first day. Their ability to consistently deliver with such quality makes them the kind of band you absolutely don’t want to miss, and as we banged our heads and raised our fists in the air throughout the show, up to the final “Condor,” we barely even noticed the temperature had dropped as the sun went down.

It was time to wrap things up with TAAKE, who performed the whole “Hordalands Doedskvad“—along with a couple more songs to fill their slot—in celebration of the 20th anniversary of that acclaimed record. After the long intro, Hoest showed up in a hoodie, wearing the corpse paint from back then, and as the band went through those classics one by one, it felt both exciting and somewhat nostalgic for fans to hear the record in full. The band still sounded tight, though it was hard to follow up a show like the one from their fellow Norwegians. Luckily, this time there were no issues and all members of the band were able to perform—it would have been strange to see TAAKE missing a guitarist again, like three years ago at this same festival. The setlist wasn’t in the same order as on the record, which of course, was noticeable, but definitely not a problem unless you’re bothered by that sort of thing.

We left a bit earlier than the end in order to collect our things and head back to the accommodation early enough to still get in a few hours of sleep. Although, to be honest, this first day didn’t feel as tiring as expected—perhaps because the event started mid-afternoon. The next couple of days would be more intensely packed, but there were also a lot more shows to look forward to—and even warmer weather!