A hell of an experience.
After 2 years of intermittent lockdown and virus spreading, it was time for the bands to hit the stage and for their fans to headbang in front of them and what a better place for that than Clisson, France, the small town of Hellfest, the biggest metal festival in France and one of the biggest in Europe.
Even if the tickets are sold out in a few hours after their online offering, I had the chance to purchase a ticket through the official app 'Tickets Swap' months later and as I'm living 30 minutes away from Clisson, I couldn't miss the chance to go see many of the bands I love.
I will mention in the following, some of the bands I've watched:
- The Great Old Ones: A Post Black Metal band from Bordeaux - France. Recommended.
- Opeth: the great progressive metal Swedish band. Although, I'm not a big fan but I found their live show much better than album recordings. I thought that their music was more calm, but I was surprised by the growling of Mikael Akerfeldt.
- Rotting Christ: The Greek legends with their black metal infused with oriental melodies. Essential.
- Primordial: The best show for the first day was with the Irish black/folk (Celtic) legends, with their specific lyrical style, the hegemonic presence of Alan "Nemtheanga" and Irish flags in the crowd.
- Five Finger Death Punch: I like their groovy/alternative metal style, but I found their live show an imitation of Slipknot style. I didn't like their lead vocalist Ivan Moody and his wardrobe's changing constantly, but their guitarists are astonishing.
- Deftones: I'm a big fan of this nu metal band, but I didn't find the live show as per my expectations. Chino has always his own performer style.
- Heaven Shall Burn: The best show for me in the second day. In the afternoon with 40 Celsius degrees, firefighters were spraying the fans who were in front of the stage. Circle pits, Walls of death and heavy riffs accompany the left-wing lyrics of this German metalcore / deathcore group.
- Megadeth: One of the Thrash big 4 with their legendary lead vocalist Dave Mustaine's sound and his guitar playing. To satisfy those who couldn't watch Metallica in the 2nd weekend.
- Sepultura: A great mistake by the organizers was to program the Brazilians on the Altar stage. This show deserves to be on a mainstage, as a respect to the history and the big crowd, as well as to the performance of Derick Green and his bandmates.
- Ghost: Not a big fan of the Swedish rockers and their pope/s, but their melodies and their eccentric on-stage presence is worth-watching.
- Lacuna Coil: the Italian Gothic leaders with the beautiful Cristina Scabbia offered a good start of the 3rd day and up to the expectations.
- Regarde les hommes tomber: An emerging post black metal band from Nantes-France. Also recommended for those who don't know them yet.
- Counterparts: While the Ukrainians Jinjer were playing the mainstage, my first trip to the Warzone was to watch this Canadian hardcore band and it seems I'm gonna be listening to their music more frequently. A fine discovery along with the Americans Knocked Loose.
- Dying Fetus & Misery Index: Known for their technical death metal/ Grindcore and their left-wing lyrics, their shows were energetic with a continuous crowd surfing in the Dying Fetus show and an continuous Circle pit in the Misery Index show.
- Korn: As its my 2nd time, seeing them, I watched only some songs of the Korn show who was heavily crowded as expected and its always a great opportunity to see Jonathan Davis performance.
- Walls of Jericho: In parallel to the French post-black metal band Alcest, I had to choose the Walls of Jericho breathtaking show. The metalcore band with their female led vocalist Candace Kucsulain ruled the warzone. Also, a fine discovery of the festival.
- Gojira : The final act of the first weekend was with the French most known metal band in history Gojira with their visuals show and their eco-friendly lyrics.
Apart from that I couldn't watch completely the Judas Priest and Deep Purple for older fans. But in the end, due to logistical reasons, unfortunately I missed final concert by the black metal legends Watain.
As a conclusion, Hellfest a pilgrimage that every metal fan should do.
