Hellfest 2022 Review

 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. 

Napalm Death - Polluted Minds

They not only pollute the air
They pollute our minds
They're destroying the earth
And destroying mankind

Polluted minds
Kill mankind

They don't give a shit
Long as profits are high
They don't give a shit
If people die

Polluted minds
Kill mankind

Rotten Sound - Colonies

The expensive labor of the North makes the Western World to calculate that costs to be less elsewhere.
World War III will not be what we have foreseen; it won't be a nuclear winter, but a fight for survival in the world within.
Your corporation is moving to the South and the East: it rules their industry and makes your management filthy rich.
This planet cannot take the burden from the South; it can't bear the growth and the greed of the North.
All this kills nature, changes the climate, consumes vitality and reveals the last crisis.
Prophecies of doom will finally come true; the apocalypse will be revealed.
World War III will not be what we have foreseen; it won't be a nuclear winter, but a fight for survival in the world within.

Phobia - Wars With Us

different classes and different faction
what's the point of view?
nothing gets done
just over run by the enemy
we're supposed to subdue!!!
wage war!!! this war with us!!!
we kill ourselves when we kill our creed
this wars with us!!!

Napalm Death - From Enslavement To Obliteration

Committed to a life of slavery
In the factories our own hands have built
Where we must work twice the graft
Before gaining the goods we've already slogged to create

To consume all things material
Stands above human compassion
As we compete with our fellow man
In the bid for a stronger position

In our ruthless search for prosperity
We become the tools of our own oppression
Forming the backbone of a society
That thrives on mass division

From enslavement...
To obliteration...

Malignant Tumour - Fuck The NATO

Hey, we're missing a liberty
We can't acknowledge the system here
Because it's not a freedom but slavery
Though we're not the extremists because of our thoughts
We just have our own opinions
But you would like to have us in your palms?
You'll never able to, because the first one,
Who wants to limit us, will get a stone thrown to his head!!!!!

Brutal Truth - War Is Good

War is good
Can't you feel the prosperity
Breath success
Knocking on the door
Handing out all the blood soaked money
Our future world collapsing in the infrastructure

Killing survival

Killing survival
Once you drop and break your silence
Killing survival
Our future world will explode
Killing survival
A life based on random crime
Killing survival
Would you rather educate

Kill or survive it does not matter
As long you do not educate

Total Fucking Destruction - Kill the Jocks and Eat Their Brains

broken crosses, broken heads 
nazi punks can fuck off dead 
fagbashers bashed, white power faces smashed 

kill the jocks and eat their brains 

zero tolerance for intolerance 
come together 
zero tolerance for intolerance

Mumakil - Mass Murder Institution

Hundreds deaths per year,
That's not enough for them
And for their traditions,
They would do anything

Neutral country
But necessary war for you,
You're given warfare
That you keep at home

In spite of many warnings,
Our government denies any responsibility,
In the slaughter to be perpetrated.
A decimated family, Massacred citizens
That's not enough for them
To finally change that

Sayyadina - The Holy War

The holy war, who started it?
Does it even matter?
Who will suffer and who will win?
Does it ever matter?
Starvation and poverty continues on and on
The holy war fighting an unknown

I'm holding on to individual thoughts
Not a collective hateful mind
The threat is colored red, white and blue
Tanks, guns and b-52s

The holy war, who started it?
Does it even matter?
Who will suffer and who will win?
Does it ever matter?
A threat to your sick values of world domination
A one way ticket to hell

I'm holding on to individual thoughts
Not a collective hateful mind
The threat is colored red, white and blue
Tanks, guns and b-52s

More lyrics: http://www.lyricsmania.com/the_holy_war_lyrics_sayyadina.html
All about Sayyadina: http://www.musictory.com/music/Sayyadina

Spawn from Deceit - Worldwide Suicide

We are relentless towards each other
We rule the land we inhabit
But which we do not own
Worldwide suicide, serve mother earth
The only solution is to extinct
We say we work for progress
There's really nothing to do
We don't spill the oil we burn
This world is already spoiled
Atleast we did care
Worldwide suicide, I hope we extinct

Misery Index - Unmarked Graves

Lost in the annals of time long past over,
Deep in soil, shallow and unkempt,
Brothers and sisters, in ground hallowed sacred,
Their blood, this earth, we will consecrate,
Their eyes once boiling with life,
Their hearts bursting with passion,
With dreams they carried forever,
Through days that promised the world,
Then came the black winds burning,
The beasts with fire in their hands,
The execution squads surrounding,
And their children in pieces at their feet,
...and who stood watching?
From El Mozote to Amritsar,
From Nanking to My Lai,
From Srebrenica to Algiers,
From Wounded Knee to Sabra-Shatila,
From Tiananmen to East Timor,
From Warsaw to Darfur,
From Guernica to Halabja,
Their spirit lives in defiance of it all,
Graves of our fathers vanquished,
Entombed in their furrowed prisons,
Soldiers programmed, show no mercy,
Following their orders from tyrants that hide behind politics
...and the world stood watching,
Regret, nausea and rage,
"Never Again" was the phrase,
Lest not our conscience we betray,
...as we stand passive in our guilt.

Rotten Sound - The Guard Of The Paradise

A distressed mind
Takes over your head
The better one, the most beautiful
The raw shit

An insane dictator
The little Adolf Hitler
Is boiling your mind
Cooking your lamb wool brain

A distressed mind
Takes over your head
The better one, the most beautiful
The raw shit

An insane dictator
The little Adolf Hitler
Is boiling your mind
Cooking your lamb wool brain

An insane dictator
The little Adolf Hitler
Is boiling your mind
Cooking your lamb wool brain

Insect Warfare - Manipulator

the ignorant believed your lies, you used them up to win your prize.
they got shafted, you got rich, falling for the bait and switch.
don't care who you fuck over, climbing up the ladder.
secret agents, fbi is protecting your web of lies.
you can only push a man so far, then he'll see you for what you are.
once our countries leader, politicians are all scum.
fucked them over to earn their votes, now they want to cut your throat.
the public won't be fooled again, you can't talk your way out this mess.
to pay the piece for what you've done, the blood of you and your first son.
two presidents sentenced to death, a dark conspiracy put to rest.

OceanO - Persuasive Oppression

[Feat. Nick Arthur Of "Molotov Solution"]

Infiltrating defenses and evolving with every strand, the contagion shall continue to spread

Stranded in a devastated wasteland of contaminants, the population is slowly depleting in distress
What remains of a helpless civilization is depleted by an invisible threat

So government drastically exerts its power
Through the provision of new laws and enforcement of home invasions to search and extract those infected

Containment camps are erected for protection under the "Anti-contagion act"
A document that holds no truth within its pages and provides no real solutions

This is a persuasive attempt to further oppress you

This is corruptive

Witness a greater vision
To purify the nation of its ailments, human rights are compromised, marshal law is put in effect to suppress public action and freedom of speech
Politics swiftly evolve into a fascist tyranny

Witness a greater vision

Infiltrating defenses and evolving with every strand, the contagion shall continue to spread
This is a greater vision a long awaited master plan, which will begin and end in your oppression

Magrudergrind - Rejecting The Militant Promise

recruitment has existed a parasitic
scheme feeding on the youth
distortion of the truth
promising a future
that guarantees an end
blood spill in the sand in a foreign land
stop handing me your pamphlets
I'll bomb your fucking office
you'll never see iraq
laid up in walter reed
center of recruitment
turned into abu graib