The Hellfest is a huge Sushi Restaurant, which offers you a lot of different dishes you can chose after you have paid the entrance fee. 120.000 are free to create their own musical menue, surrounded by a decoration that gives you the feeling, that you´re welcome here on this place and you have to stay here. We noticed in talks with other hellfest visitors: they saw completely different bands than we did and all of them said: Wow, what a festival. You can easyly advance towards the first row at the Altar, Temple, Valley and the Warzone, even as a spectator you can take good fotos and you have a 105db/A-CD-Sound on every venue on 7 days. We were completely touched by the friendly spectators, the helpful and friendly volunteers all around, the technical perfection of every concert we saw. We had clean toilets, a good water supply and a clean festival ground for 7 days. This is more perfect than in a city with 120.000 inhabitants. And you even feel better at the Hellfest than in a usual city. Despite the 120.000 spectators, you can create your own community or meet your community which you already know.
Anyway, the French social problems don´t stop in front of the Hellfest. There were around 90-100 pickpockets who robbed among the audience in front the Mainstages and a lot more of visits at the camp sites. It is almost impossible to create an oasis of happiness in form of the Hellfest.
Finally they made it for the Hellfest. And they nailed it. Arvid stopped to use his voice effects so this classical trained voice filled the whole valley, Tommy fuzzed guitars and the unbeatable rhythm-section with Basse and Hans managed within half an hour to made the wohle Valley freaking out. A great start in this festival.
If a band with such complexe song structures and no catchy sing-along-parts and sometimes a slow and sludgy rhythm manage to make the crowd go wild, then it was a way better concert than in 2014. Impressing concert of ASG.
"Compendium", "In Procession", "Blind", "Dead Roots Stirring", "Sanctuary", performed by a well-reased rhytm section, Nick DiSalvo incredible guitar skills and his steadyly improving vocals. From the very first time in 2014 up to now, this bands showed a continously better performance on stage without losing the composition skills to write these amazing songs. This concert was really the best one we from this band.
Like Forrest Gump said, that life is like a box of chocolate. You´ll never know what you gonna get, so it is with Witchcraft aka Magnus Pelander. It became clear that a threepiece cannot perform songs out of "Legend" or the more complexe songs out of "Nucleus". So we got served by a coctail throughout the years, with "No Angel or Demon" and "Witchcraft, Take 1" as the highlights in a half-hearted concert.
Saw the for the first time after having discovered during the Covid Plandemie and the blew my head of with their mantraesque clerical Death Metal blended with harmonic chorus´, synthesizer effects and a full forward stage acting. The setlist was outstanding and the crowd went completely nuts. Great concert.
If a band misses to play their prophetical song "Stolen Years" after two stolen years, if a band just can offer pathetic spoken words over music and if the singer isn´t able to motivate an eagerly waiting audience to celebrate an unification and a kind of comeback, so it could be a quite disappointing performance, despite the perfect sound and the perfect light. I don´t know how long do I have to await for a proper performance of this band.
My son said it was a blast. He was right, we sat outside and were blown by the lights and the sound of that band. Same perfection as the first time here with Gina in 2017.
Duel is one of my absolute favorite band since their first release in 2016. NWOBHM, Southern rock, a bit of occultism, catchy melodies and hooks and Tom Frank´s voice which reminds me on Danny Joe Brown´s voice. This band gives me a permanent 1979 feeling, the year before Motörhead changed everything. And to get confronted for the first time with a band could mean to someone, it sent me shivers, goosebumps and tears in a 30 minutes stream. Great concert.
I saw them first in 2018 at the Helldorado in Eindhoven and those 15 minutes really impressed me: two men, roots music, cool. Here, the had to fill 40 minutes which became a more and more a tough affair for me. The charming frontman eased the blues and the musically boredom.
They opened with "Deny the absolute" so nothing could go wrong during this concert. Pelican manage to blend Progressive, Ambient and Heavy Rock in a way that it isn´t contradictionary. Organic, heavy and pounding songs performed by an incredible tight band.
Our son loves Messa, I liked the bass tone and sound and I don´t like Doom Metal. And I don´t like whispering voices.
A great setlist, a great tone of Mike Ness´guitar and pure Rock´n Roll during 60 minutes. But we left because we don´t like the tough guy image of Social Distortion. It was authentic in 1996, but not in 2022.
Inter Arma offered me "The long Road", my new favorite song for endless roadtrips through open landscapes. The rest of the show was an intense blend of Sludge, Doom, Thrash and Stoner, overlaid with an incredible voice and and incredible good band. The first highlight of this day.
Deez Nuts were a bit of passing time in our beloved Warzone before we returned to the Valley to see "Life of Agony". We are out of being angry like punks
Minna finally acheived to be Minna, Veronica Bellino is a beast and a powerhouse of a drummer, this concert passed in 2 minutes and will stay for 2 decades in our mind.