GALLERY

GALLERY: 16.5.2025 Steelfest XIII – Day 2 @ Villatehdas, Hyvinkää

July 13, 2025

After the shorter first day — still including some very good shows — things started to heat up both weather-wise and in terms of bands on Friday. So after a good lunch in one of the nearby restaurants, we headed with our stomachs full toward Villatehdas for the second day of this thirteenth edition of Steelfest.

There weren’t yet many people in the sun by the outdoor stage when VULKAN GRIT began the day with their set. The band from Finland is quite new in the black metal scene and heavily nods to IMMORTAL, as well as early BATHORY, among their influences. The time of day and strong sunlight hitting the stage were not ideal, but the guys endured the heat in their heavy (and spiky) clothing to perform in front of the early crowd.

Moving indoors to the other stage, BIOLOGICAL WARFARE was set to play next. An interesting mix of black metal with noise, grind, and electronics, the Korean band attracted attention more for their sound than the show itself, which was less focused on the visual aspect and more in-your-face than the previous one — letting the music do the talking while working as a good soundtrack for people to gradually get into festival mode.

VULTYRIUM brought us back into the sunlight with this one-man project by the ex-WARMOON LORD member The Vultyrian, enlarged for the live setting and providing the audience with a more traditional Finnish black metal sound. The Lahti-based band did well performing the songs from their self-titled debut — in what was also their debut gig — amid the curiosity of the audience, some of whom seemed to enjoy the first glimpse of summer with a drink in hand. (This year there was also a limited batch of official Steelfest beer in three different styles, improving on the offer from past editions.)

It was then NIGHTSIDE’s turn to show some black metal made in Turku, promoting their new “Death From the North,” the first release since their comeback following the COVID pandemic. They played some even newer material than that, as well as a cover of SLAYER‘s “Seasons in the Abyss.” The imposing vocalist got the fans progressively more involved in the show as things were starting to heat up.

There were quite a lot of familiar faces when NIGHT SHALL DRAPE US made its live debut here today. The undeniable charisma of the frontman, combined with the quality of the other band members, certainly made this feel less like a first show and more like a new chapter in their musical careers. Having released only one record so far, the set was obviously focused on “Lunatic Choir,” whose songs the band delivered with unwavering professionalism and energy — despite the sun still shining on their corpsepaint.

Coming from Greece, NAER MATARON is a longstanding name in the Hellenic extreme scene — one that can be more divisive than the more popular colleagues such as ROTTING CHRIST, but which has still had a prolific career over nearly a quarter-century of existence. Their concert was followed with enthusiasm by some of the more fanatical fans, although the crowd inside the venue was not as packed as it could have been — possibly because more people were waiting for KORGONTHURUS on the outdoor stage. The band, led by Corvus, delivered a solid set, and their crowd responded in kind. For only being halfway through the day’s schedule, the atmosphere was already great. Of course, their frontman is one of the most magnetic vocalists in the Finnish black metal scene, but the whole band has usually been sharp at every appearance in recent years — they’re always a good act to catch live.

OLD TOWER felt more like something between an intermezzo and an intro for the more intense part of the day. Having seen the band perform as a duo last summer at Beyond the Gates — where they were the perfect closing act of a very intense festival day — it felt a bit strange to have a dungeon synth/dark ambient band play at this hour. Yet the Dutch artist’s set somehow worked, with people able to chill and — the lucky ones, at least — sit down to these background melodies played by one guy on top of a platform, behind a big table covered in a black cloth with the band logo. The lights also worked nicely for the occasion: while they’d been mostly the same patterns indoors throughout the event, these dim red and yellow tones contributed nicely to the ambience.

After this little break from all the fast-paced chaos, it was time for IMPIETY. We hadn’t seen the Singaporean band since their tour with WATAIN and NIFELHEIM back in 2008, so this was long overdue — and a welcome return. Time hasn’t dulled the enthusiasm of the band, who gave their fans a strong performance with some old classics, keeping the fire alive just as the temperature was starting to cool down.

Another change in rhythm came with SEVEROTH‘s atmospheric black metal. The Ukrainian artist — now based in Poland for obvious reasons — was one of the positive surprises of the festival. With two other members of KRODA (which Severoth himself joined two years ago) on stage, this gig worked extremely well live, really bringing the right setting to life for the music of this very prolific artist (six studio albums in less than a decade, not to mention a pandemic and a war in between). In the days following Steelfest, SEVEROTH has been one of the most played bands in our rotation.

Even better — and easily the most impactful band of the entire weekend, despite having performed here just last year — MISÞYRMING simply blew our minds. They’ve always been an incredible band to see live, but this time they outdid themselves to the point that we’re still smiling just writing about the show. They owned the stage from the moment they came out, unleashing violent waves of anger with rarely seen intensity. This was also the first time we saw them perform outdoors, after many shows at both festivals and clubs indoors. They really released something extra this time, and everything worked so perfectly. If the band had played an additional hour, we certainly wouldn’t have minded.

As one of the most famous Finnish black metal bands, SARGEIST sure has a solid following and remains popular among fans young and old. It still feels a bit strange to see Shatraug as the main vocalist (not that it wasn’t the case when the band started), as he clearly has a different stage presence compared to the singers who came in the period in between. But regardless of the shake-up that led to half the band changing last year, they’re still doing their thing — and Spellgoth (on bass) with his backing vocals certainly helps. It was hard to fully focus on this show, though, when still reeling from the awesomeness just witnessed outside.

Another very important band in the Finnish scene, ARCHGOAT delivered a brutal performance that proved they are going strong even after three and a half decades — making us hope they don’t stop anytime soon. A very tight set, with those infernal vocals pervading Hyvinkää as if coming from the depths of hell itself, made this another highlight of the day. Now that darkness had fallen on this Friday, they made the crowd go wild for the entire duration of their gig. Glad to see yet another strong showing from the twins and their drummer Goat Aggressor, showing the youngsters how it’s done.

Suddenly, we were already at the last band for today, when Proscriptor McGovern, accompanied by the guys from ZEMIAL, brought to life the 30th anniversary of ABSU’s The Sun of Tiphareth. Leaving drum duties behind and focusing only on vocals, the frontman — in an outfit that resembled a mash-up of King Diamond and Freddie Mercury — was the lead actor of the show, almost dancing around while performing this classic in all its glory. For many, this was certainly the highlight of the day, and hopefully it met their expectations. The rest of the band did their job in supporting the frontman, although one could argue that, while the band is essentially him, it might have been more appropriate to call it Proscriptor + ZEMIAL rather than ABSU (something we actually got to see again the following day).

With the first full day of Steelfest now ending, we tried to gather our things and head back as quickly as possible to rest our backs, have some very late dinner and a good drink, and get some well-deserved rest. Still happy about that damn good MISÞYRMING gig!