Hellsinki metal Festival in 3rd edition

The line-up for the third edition of the Hellsinki Metal Festival was certainly not bad, offering a wide variety and some heavy metal highlights, but it was not enough to match the previous year's results. The number of visitors was obviously lower than in previous years, although no public statement has been made. On Saturday, there was no Finnish crowd puller like Moonsorrow on Friday, who rounded off the first day of the festival with a great performance.

Lotta Ruutiainen, Luna Kills

As usual, local bands from Finland opened on the outdoor stages on Friday and heated up the day, as did the finest death metal from Kanonenfieber and the doom metal band Candlemass. Forbidden paved the perfect way for Fear Factory and King Diamond, who both delivered, but caused chaos when the press photographers were allowed in. In the dark ice rink, the music was as dark as ever. The Chileans from Decessus kicked things off and passed the baton to the following bands, until finally the aforementioned pagan metalheads from Moonsorrow brought the evening to a close.

Venom on Stage with pyrotechnics

Luna Kills kicked off the second day of the festival with a great performance. They have thus justified their commitment to the Wacken Open Air 2026. Despite their age, Napalm Death still have the power they had in the old days, as does Michael Schenker. Enslaved played with great joy, and Hatebreed are always reliable. The US hardcore metalheads are able to transfer the fun from the stage to the audience and encourage them to join in an evening workout with big balls. Without Venom, there would be no bands like Metallica, Kreator and Slayer, they say, because many bands were influenced by their aggressive and raw style. They may be getting on a bit, but they've still got it. The loyal audience thanked for the pyrotechnic-filled show.

Indoors, the Belgians from Brutal Sphincter got things off to a powerful start and the Scottish party band Cannon lived up to their name. The Japanese band Sigh delivered a beautiful exotic performance before Cult of Luna initially had problems with the stage setup, but were able to overcome them after a while. Me and That Man's rock metal was a little too ‘bright’ for the dark crowd, but Blood Fire Death, the last band of the festival, brought things back on track.

Despite all current criticism, it should also be noted that the organisers took the previous criticism seriously and optimised the security concept. For example, the emergency exits were now very clearly marked. We are looking forward to 2026 and hope for a high-quality line-up.