Hellsinki Metal Festival returns to Helsinki with Black Label Society, Accept, Paradise Lost, Opeth and more for a weekend of heavyweight riffs and Finnish metal talent.
HELSINKI
The fourth annual Hellsinki Metal Festival will take place across the Helsinki Ice Hall area over the weekend.
The festival, which attracted 16,000 visitors last year, has brought both international stars and more obscure performers to Finland—many of whom haven’t often visited the country. Read our reportage from last year here.
This year’s lineup includes heavy metal heavyweights such as Black Label Society, Accept, Paradise Lost and Opeth.
The current forecast for Friday and Saturday is sunny, with temperatures hovering above 20 degrees Celsius.
Friday: Melodic fire and metal thunder
A taste of Finnish melodic death metal talent comes from Horizon Ignited, who will open Friday with strong dual-guitar melodies and catchy choruses.
Based on early listening, one of the highlights of late afternoon will be IKINÄ & The Choir of Hecate: a heavy collaborative set in which the Finnish alt-metal group is backed by a choir of 15 female vocalists.
US groove-driven Black Label Society will seal the deal that evening, while German heavy metal pioneers Accept will call it a night with razor-sharp guitar riffs and anthems such as “BALLS TO THE WALL.”
Saturday: Gothic grandeur and prog-metal power
Finnish prog-metal group Numento will open Saturday as the official replacement for American Latin metal group Ill Nino, which is struggling with cancellations due to value conflicts and logistical challenges. Tommy Roulette’s growl will be replaced by Katri-Hiovain-Asikainen’s gutturals, in the spirit of Ukrainian Jinjer.
Paradise Lost may not need an introduction. The British Gothic metal pioneers, who have never been afraid to explore themselves artistically, are set to serve up a night to remember.
Opeth, the Swedish prog-metal juggernaut, will close the evening on the main stage, but the party will go on beyond midnight inside the ice hall with The Kovenant, a Norwegian metal band that mutates symphonic black metal with industrial undertones.
Hell awaits. Are you ready?
