The official countdown to Helsinki’s favorite festival has begun, less than two weeks to go until the heavy metal party can begin at Tuska Festival. Read this festival special to see what you can expect at Tuska Festival. This is the first part of our festival special, we’ll break it down for you day by day, band by band.
FRIDAY 29 JUNE 2018
KEOMA (FI) – Progressive Metal
Like every year on Tuska, we get to meet a lot of local talent from Helsinki and all around Finland. One of these bands this year is Helsinki-based KEOMA. Among the top 100 bands of the Tuska-Torstai band competition, organized by Bar Loose and Tuska, Keoma was one of those bands that managed to impress the organization. With their progressive ‘hybrid’ metal, fans of Leprous can already feast earlier the same day during the festival.
https://www.facebook.com/keomafinland/
https://keoma.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E76pUjPkios
FOR FANS OF – CMX, Primus, Mastodon, Karnivool, Devin Townsend Project, Animals As Leaders, Opeth, Sara, PMMP, Kingston Wall, Leprous
BAEST (DK) – Death Metal
In the Danish traditional death metal scene Baest is a rather new name. Founded in 2015 in Aarhus, the band managed to already rock at Roskilde Festival. At Tuska they are opening up the Helsinki Stage. BAEST plays hard hitting death metal on thrash guitars, heavily inspired by bands with the infamous ‘buzzsaw’ guitar tone played on the legendary BOSS HM-2 pedal. Pedal to the metal with this traditional death metal band known for its windmill headbanging skills and charismatic stage presence.
https://www.facebook.com/baestband/
FOR FANS OF – Bloodbath, Morbid Angel, Dawn of demise, Obituary, Entombed, Bolt Thrower.
GLOOMY GRIM (FI) – Black Metal
Horror Black Metal act GLOOMY GRIM, gas been around for a long time. They just woke up from their hibernation and now are ready to play at Tuska Festival. The band’s biggest inspiration comes from horror movie soundtracks and dark life itself. The band is releasing their upcoming EP “Obscure Metamorphosis” during summer 2018. Something to look out for!
https://www.facebook.com/AgathonTheBeast/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOT0G1kbJRA
FOR FANS OF – Thyrane, Barathrum, Alghazanth.
HARD ACTION (FI) – Rock ‘n’ Roll
Do you remember back in the days when rock ‘n’ roll was still going on strong? Do you feel nostalgic by the sound of nineties rock such as Hellacopters? Not to worry. HARD ACTION is there to play some oldskool traditional rock ‘n’ roll tunes for us during Tuska festival. Their new “Hot Wired Beat” album has gathered rave reviews all around.
https://www.facebook.com/hardaction/
https://hardaction.bandcamp.com/
FOR FANS OF – Hellacopters, Gluecifer, Backyard Babies, Hanoi Rocks, Thin Lizzy.
ARION (FI) – Power Metal
With their debut album “Last Of Us” Helsinki-based metal act ARION has managed to put theirselves on the maps of the power metal scene. The youngsters showed us what their sophomore album has to offer us by releasing singles such as “Unforgivable” and the duet with Elise Ryd “At The Break of Dawn”. While blasting their tunes on many festivals in Finland this summer, the place to be definitely is at their show during Tuska Festival. https://www.facebook.com/OfficialArion/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kq0AdjPUUU
FOR FANS OF – Nightwish, Stratovarius, Cain’s Offering, Sonata Arctica, Amaranthe, Kamelot.
MANTAR (D) – Sludge Metal
With their dark riffage and rolling thunder, the German duo MANTAR will please us with their Sludge Metal, inspired by Doom Metal and Punk on Tuska Festival. The duo shouldn’t be underestimated, as Mantar manages to sound even and heavier than most five piece bands you may know and listen to. Their upcoming album “The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze” will be released 24 August. If we’re lucky maybe we’ll get a little preview of it.
https://www.facebook.com/MantarBand/
FOR FANS OF – Conan, Monolord, Cough, Black Tusks.
THE CHARM THE FURY (NL) – Metalcore
Being a metalcore quintet from the heart of Amsterdam is not holding THE CHARM THE FURY back from conquering the world with their metalcore inspired by classic groove metal, taking the genre to a whole new level. Their latest album “The Sick, Dumb & Happy” is proof of that. For the first time at Tuska Festival, we’ll be able to listen to their songs live!
https://www.thecharmthefury.com/
https://www.facebook.com/thecharmthefury/
FOR FANS OF – Pantera, Spoil Engine, Jinjer, Miss May I.
TRIBULATION (SE) – Death Metal
With the release of their latest album “Down Below” TRIBULATION are making their way for a debut at Tuska Festival. The band immediately stood apart from an overcrowded death metal scene by their atmospheric dark sound.
https://www.tribulation.se/
https://www.facebook.com/Tribulationofficial/
SHIRAZ LANE (FI) – Hard Rock
At the forefront of Helsinki’s Hard Rock scene is Vantaa-based quintet SHIRAZ LANE. The band’s debut album was an immediate success and has taken them to Wacken Festival. Their latest sophomore album “Carnival Days” was received with raving reviews with singles such as “Harder to Breathe” and “People Like Us”. Are you ready for the carnival that Shiraz Lane will guide us through during Tuska Festival?https://www.facebook.com/pg/ShirazLane/
LEPROUS (NO) – Progressive Metal
What Prog lover doesn’t know Norway’s sweetheart LEPROUS? The music of Leprous is not an easy one to classify. Various genres are included, from progressive rock, to jazz, to pure metal. The vocals alternate between clean and growling, something which gives the music a heaviness it otherwise wouldn’t have. With their complex and unique sound, they will take over Tuska Festival on Friday evening, proof of that is their recent album “Malina”, which was worldwide received as a great success. https://www.facebook.com/leprousband/
MOONSORROW (FI) – Pagan Metal
MOONSORROW, a pagan metal band formed in Helsinki in 1995 recently released their seventh studio album “Jumalten Aika”. They will play in their hometown on Tuska Festival on Friday and hopefully will bless us with some new material along, as the new album was well received over the world. Musically, the band incorporates elements of black metal and folk metal into their sound.
https://moonsorrow.com
https://www.facebook.com/moonsorrowofficial/
TURMION KÄTILÖT (FI) – Industrial Metal
What is a party at Tuska Festival without TURMION KÄTILÖT? That’s right, the industrial metal act makes a comeback to Tuska. Turmion Kätilöt are one of those bands that are great performance, their show will guarantee a lot of fun and is definitely a must see when attending Tuska Festival.
https://www.turmionkatilot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/turmionkatilot/
CROWBAR (USA) – Sludge Metal
All the way from New Orleans to the capital of Finland. Sludge metal band CROWBAR is back. Their music is characterized by extremely slow, low-keyed, hardcore and brooding songs, it doesn’t get much heavier than this. Frontman Kirk Windstein went on to pioneer slow and heavy music with a unique vocal style, while being on of the most soulful guitarists from the South of America, an influence that is clear in his guitar sound. Crowbar’s latest album is ”The Serpent Only Lies” from a few years back and was an instant success.
https://www.facebook.com/crowbarmusic/
MESHUGGAH (SE) – Progressive Metal
Progressive metal act MESHUGGAH from Sweden, will be once again hitting the stage in Finland at Tuska Festival. It’s been a while since Meshuggah has done so. Their latest studio album “The Violent Sleep of Reason” has been out for a little while and there has been much anticipation for Meshuggah to tour again. Meshuggah, whose name is taken from the Hebrew and Yiddish word for “crazy”, aim for what they stand for, as their complex music offers The band’s style is most easily described as extreme/technical metal with some jazz influence. They use extended polymetric passages, polyrhythmic drum patterns, angular, dissonant guitar riffs, and harsh vocals. https://www.meshuggah.net
https://www.facebook.com/meshuggah/
ARCH ENEMY (SE) – Melodic Death Metal
Fans of Melodic Death Metal will rejoice as Tuska Festival, as one of Sweden’s melodeath-treasures is performing on Friday: ARCH ENEMY. When Alissa White-Gluz joined the lines with Michael Amott, the band heated up a notch and this lead to their recent release “Will To Power”, which already is a melodic death metal classic and lead to several sold out shows around the world. For those who missed Arch Enemy play in 2017, here is your chance to be a part of it now!
https://www.archenemy.net/en/
https://www.facebook.com/archenemyofficial/
DEAD CROSS (USA) – Hardcore
DEAD CROSS for hardcore fans, will be the most anticipated act that will make their Finnish debut at Tuska Festival. The band had shows scheduled before songs being written, fans were formed before any showed was even played. All that because of the band consists out of Dave Lombardo (Slayer) and Mike Patton (Faith No More). Dead Cross finally released their self-titled debut album last year and it was a great success. One of those shows you can’t miss on Tuska Festival.
https://deadcross.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/deadcrossofficial/
BODY COUNT ft. ICE T – Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT is a crossover thrash/rap metal band heading from the United States. They’re best known for being fronted by ICE T and causing a furor with the release of “Cop Killer” from their debut album Body Count. The band’s latest release is the highly acclaimed ”Bloodlust” album. Tuska-show will be Body Count’s first show in Finland, so a very historical moment. Let’s welcome Body Count to Finland properly.
https://www.bodycountband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bodycountofficial/
So the result? The first day of Tuska Festival will offer already plenty for everyone. From Progressive Metal to Thrash Metal to Norwegian Black Metal. Plenty of food for the hungry, and who knows maybe there is some new bands for you on the menu. Stay tuned for a preliminary report of day 2 and day 3. And especially for you we compiled a Spotify Playlist to accompany you with the heavy dilemmas of what bands you should go for and who to skip.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/3zs1cg6qos9evg23v9j4x7a28/playlist/7t66UUtReGbkqi5RAVNbuJ
