GALLERY: 15.5.2026 Steelfest – DAY 2 @ Villatehdas, Hyvinkää

August 1, 2026

Friday was arguably one of the strongest line-ups of this festival in the recent past, especially given the performances in the final part of the day, with BEHERIT, FORTERESSE, AKHLYS, CONCRETE WINDS, not giving any moment to breathe to their fans. The weather has also been quite nice with a good cover, so not too sunny but also not rainy, which was great to enjoy the festival at its fullest.

We began today from the indoor stage with HIISI. The festival has a habit of resuscitating bands for the old Finnish past, and this was the case with these guys, in a live line-up that featured local familiar faces. An honest and solid opening act for the day, and given the time and the weather, there was still a decent crowd to observe these guys playing their short set. A real blast from the past for those who were familiar with the band’s material beforehand.

A staple of nearly any Finnish extreme festival, DEATHCHAIN was the first to perform under the sun of the outdoor stage. They are one of those bands that are always guaranteed to deliver live, and a good dose of death thrash definitely didn’t hurt at this hour to get everybody going with their blood pumping and fists up in the air. Picking most of their set from their acclaimed “Deathrash Assault” record, you could feel the sweat from the energetic show they put up for their audience. Tight as ever, they certainly had a positive impact on the atmosphere in these early stages of the day. As a bonus, Mynni (HORNA, BEHEXEN, etc.) had a brief appearance as a guest vocalist later in the set.
ANTIHUMAN INDUSTRIES was one of the best surprises of the weekend. Not the most traditional Steelfest act, given the industrial nature of it (not that there haven’t been some weirder bands), but this supergroup made of Corvus (KORGONTHURUS, ex-HORNA, ex-TOTALSELFHATRED), Spellgoth (HORNA, SARGEIST, CHAMBER OF UNLIGHT, etc.) – this time in a full gimp suit at keys duty – VnoM (HORNA, CHAMBER OF UNLIGHT), and Syphon (TRUE BLACK DAWN, BAPTISM) was truly refreshing and entertaining to watch, listen, and for some even dance to. Something like “MYSTICUM meets DARKSPACE” is a pretty accurate description of their music, and we’ll certainly want to hear more from them live, now that they have released their debut “Accelerated Death Impulse“. For part of the show, only Corvus and Spellgoth performed as a duo, which gave a more industrial / EBM vibe. A truly enjoyable show, if you missed it, keep an eye out for any upcoming gigs!

The following band was pretty exotic in origin: Thai-based black metal act SURRENDER OF DIVINITY, for the love of all the fans of this 30 years old asian act, which reformed a few years after the hiatus that followed the death of their then bass player. In all their asian weirdness and enthusiasm, it felt a bit hard to connect to their show compared to – for example – the previous two, which was a bit of a pity as we think the band deserves better recognition if anything, due to their historical contribution to the scene. There were, of course, some crazy fans in the front row, so at least that helped. Back inside, we met again Lord Sabathan, this time as the bass player of Belgian HEINOUS (which includes in its ranks also DEMONCY and former SARGEIST guitarist VJS). A relatively new band from navigated musicians, they have only one full-length under their belt, which was obviously the focus of their set. Their show wasn’t particularly mind-blowing, but rather an honest display of good old satanic black metal, which fits like a glove in such an event. At this point the festival’s pace was still pretty fast, thus – sooner than expected – it was already time for the next band.

Moving once again far away on the world map, this time to Latin America – even though the band has long relocated to the US – THY ANTICHRIST was by far the most colorful act to step on Steelfest‘s stages during this year. The band is led by their frontman and sole founding member, Antichrist 666, who showed up on stage wearing a red cape in full-body corpsepaint (at least the visible parts) and holding some kind of voodoo-like skull scepter with South American motifs matching the decorations on his belt. This alone should give a pretty good idea of how visual this was compared to most of the other shows. Fake blood and other gimmicks were added to the live performance, at least if you are into this kind of sensationalistic aspect, but one could definitely not say that this wasn’t entertaining to watch. The combination of shrieks and growls, fast, chaotic tempos combined with more melodic parts mixing Latin and Scandinavian black metal, made for a sound from which one can easily see the appeal to a broader black metal audience.

A completely different mood and feel was brought by SEVEROTH, much beloved by the Steelfest audience following his first performance at the festival. The front of the stage was off-limits because of the very dangerous foam, which was used during the show to simulate snow (all of the members of the audience who got covered in it seemed to be still alive and well after the fact). It was a heavily winter-themed show after all, as expected by the Ukrainian-relocated-to-Poland artist, and for a moment the whole indoors felt much smaller and intimate as people were really emotionally connected to the performance, which made it a little bit more special.

Things accelerated suddenly when CONCRETE WINDS blasted their “aggressive noise terror” onto the crowd on the outside, marking the beginning of the most intense-packed part of this festival day. We have said so much on several occasions to highlight the impressive impact that this trio has when playing live, and how they sound EXACTLY like their name, hitting the fans with a granite fist of concrete, relentlessly pushing from start to end. Sadly, this time there were some technical difficulties that interrupted that flow, so the overall gig suffered a bit from that, but it was nonetheless the same super-intense, raw, smashing live we are used to see from these guys born in Åland. If there is one band we highly recommend to never, ever miss live, that’s them.

We witnessed the force of AKHLYS live when they played a couple of years ago at Beyond the Gates in Norway, and we have been impressed since. They were a force to reckon with also tonight at Steelfest, with the band truly showing off why their name has been hailed far and wide for their brutally intense shows. The masks – or rather more like some kind of “demonical muzzles” worn by the band members add a certain touch, and maybe a bit of mystique as you can’t fully see their faces. This is one of those bands we feel is at its best when playing in front of an audience, and having them perform right after CONCRETE WINDS kept the adrenaline levels sky-high, so that by the time MAVORIM was going to play next, we would have been ready to brawl against the world.

The Germans represented a bit of a “break” in that sense as things slowed down, with the tone shifting more towards pagan/ambient atmospheres (and the bulk of the German audience making themselves heard in front of the stage). Their set was not too heavily centered on the latest record, but rather touched a bigger slice of their recent material, which the fans seemed to appreciate quite a bit. The vocalist especially seemed to enjoy the performance, and inciting the audience during their set.

Not sure why it somewhat came as a bit of a surprise that FORTERESSE did a really, really good show next on the indoor stage, as it was kind of expected, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the festival, which maybe was more than we thought, given the overall lineup. In pure spirit with their lyrical themes, they sported the flag from Quebec, attached to the vocalist’s mic stand, and needless to reiterate how they crushed it with their aggressive yet atmospheric sound, immersing people in this powerful atmosphere imbued with history and passion for their land. Apparently, they made an equally stellar impression in their other European performances this year, also a sign that the recent lineup changes (with their bass player taking vocal duties and the addition of an extra member at the bass) have been quite effective for their shows. Paraphrasing Agatha Christie: “… if two clues are a coincidence, three make a proof”.

Back to more familiar faces concerning the Steelfest microcosmos, we met once again with the Norwegian AETERNUS, who came here to celebrate (almost) 30 years of “Beyond The Wandering Moon”. The stage was set up and decorated for the occasion, and the wooden Xs with barbed wire that had been around the whole weekend were removed at least this once, and the band performed their debut record from start to finish. It was a nice throwback to the old Norwegian black metal, which hasn’t been as well-represented this year as much as in earlier editions, and definitely appreciated by the most enthusiastic fans of the genre.

Finally, it was time to witness what most people – especially from abroad – flocked here for on this second day: BEHERIT. Revered as the most iconic staple of Finnish black metal (with good reasons) and having influenced bands far and wide over the decades, the band started to perform live once again on a selected capacity a couple of years ago, and now made their way to headline what is one of the most significant festivals worldwide for music of this kind. Surrounded by camouflage nets and engulfed in smoke, shrouding the band in a thick veil of mystery, they started their show with “Axiom Heroine”, and immediately, the venue – completely packed – went wild. Out of the shows we saw of them so far, this felt by far the most complete in terms of atmosphere, music, and amount of crowd, with their mainman Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance occasionally strolling on stage in his trademark sunglasses and hood among the cheers of the band’s fans. A very strong, in-your-face set that we enjoyed from afar in the hall. It has been some time since we saw this many people gathered from start to finish for the last band of the festival, and this was well-deserved. The nature of the set, very much going back to the roots of the band, was absolutely fitting and the proverbial cherry on top of a day that will be remembered as one of the strongest in Steelfest‘s history. “Unholy Pagan Fire” closed the night, but many people were still lingering around the festival area and its surroundings for a long time, or at least those who didn’t have to catch their connection to whatever accommodation of their choosing. One day still left, which came with a disappointing surprise for quite a few of the Saturday attendees, but more on that in the last part!