This year, Hellsinki Metal Festival kicked things off with a warm-up show on August 8th, 2024, featuring Finnish folk metal legends FINNTROLL and power metal maestros BEAST IN BLACK. Since we hadn’t seen the power metal band in Helsinki for ages, it was high time we checked out their show. We were promised one of the band’s biggest-scale productions in Finland, and boy, did they deliver.
The evening began with FINNTROLL, who decided to make a dramatic entrance by starting their set fashionably late. We’re not sure what the delay was about, but it seemed like the technical gremlins were out in full force. During the first few songs, the backing track vanished into the ether a few times, and Mathias’ vocals struggled to be heard at times. Fortunately, after a few tweaks and a bit of techno-jiggery-pokery, the sound issues were sorted, and we could finally groove to classics like “Trollhammaren” and “Ormfolk.”
Next up were BEAST IN BLACK, who promised to bring their biggest production to the stage of Ice Hall—and they absolutely did not disappoint. The band’s Japanese-themed stage design, complete with a lion’s head, pyros, and all sorts of other flashy gimmicks, transformed the venue into a miniature Tokyo. They played an epic 20-song setlist, which was quite the workout for vocalist Yannis Papadopoulos. I was thrilled to hear “Zodd the Immortal” live, a track they rarely perform due to its vocal intensity. But Yannis nailed it, delivering a top-notch performance that left us all in awe. Naturally, the band also had to play their hit-song “One Night in Tokyo,” which saw a lot of people jump up and down. The band also played their new standalone single, “Power of the Beast,” which made its live debut in Helsinki. The crowd went wild for it!
Despite not being a sell-out, the hall was packed with enthusiastic fans who were clearly ready to rock. It’s safe to say that the audience was thoroughly warmed up for the festival—literally and figuratively. Check our photo gallery of the evening here…
Finntroll
Beast In Black
Photos by Laureline Tilkin
