The penultimate day of any festival, especially one such as Hellfest is a somewhat dreaded day. It is on this day that we start to get that sinking feeling and realization that the festival is almost over and soon, we will have to go back to our boring, routine lives. On the other hand, there is a sort of reinvigoration within ourselves due to this, which makes us want to enjoy the lasting moments of the festival even more. That was the intention anyways, but fate and the weather had other plans, as it rained heavily on the festival grounds and we were forced to missed a few bands in order to seek shelter wherever we could. Eventually, it all calmed down and we were able to return to the second Main Stage to catch Eternal Champion, who were playing a very special and emotional set in memory of their fallen comrade Brad Raub. Despite playing in the middle of the day, the Texan epic metallers delivered a very competent performance that included songs such as “Ravening Iron”, “The Armor of Ire” and “The Last King of Pictdom”. After a short pause for lunch, we went straight to the Altar stage for a good dosage of chugging death metal brought to us by the Ohioans Sanguisugabogg. This was a fantastic and hilarious show, with vocalist Devin Swank introducing songs like “Dragged By A Truck” and “Face Ripped Off” as being songs about… well, being dragged by a truck and having your face ripped off. That’s the kind of dry humour we live for. An outstanding performance by one of the most exciting death metal acts out there today. The atmospheric black metal outfit Wayfarer followed suit at the Temple stage with their sound that is three parts Wolves In The Throne Room and two parts Wovenhand. A blistering, albeit repetitive performance. Back to the Altar stage, it was time for Legion of the Damned, who were dead set on presenting their latest release, Poison Chalice, without forgetting some of their classic such as “Werewolf Corpse” and “Doom Priest”. Afterwards, we split up for a bit, as one of us went to check the enormous pretentiousness of Yngwie Malmsteen, who played horrifyingly bad from the start – call him a virtuoso if you want, we would rather carve out our ears and never listen to a single note played by him for the rest of our lives.
The other half of our team was much smarter, as they checked out the Norwegian black n’ roll group Kvelertak, who gave a much better and more energetic performance than Malmsteen could ever dream of. As the rain started pouring again, the team continued to be separated – one part went to see the magickal queen of industrial goth Chelsea Wolfe, who was presenting here brand-new record, She Reaches Out To, and the other went back to the Altar stage for another death metal injection performed by Kataklysm. The Egyptian-themed, brutal death metal masters Nile were up next on that very stage, and despite the lack of guitarist and founder Karl Sanders due to a sudden illness, the remaining trio of drummer George Kolias, vocalist and bassist Dan Vadim Von, and vocalist and guitarist Zach Jeter managed to deliver a massively powerful performance, which included a taste of their upcoming record, The Underworld Awaits Us All, as the band performed the incredibly long-titled, “Chapter for Not Being Hung Upside Down on a Stake in the Underworld and Made to Eat Feces by the Four Apes”, and a few classics such as “Sacrifice Unto Sebek”, “Kafir!” and “Black Seeds of Vengeance”.
Over at the Valley stage, at the very same time, the newly-reignited Mr. Bungle were giving a class on experimental death/thrash metal. Presenting their latest release, “The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny”, the group delivered a performance that was both chaotic and awe-inspiring, with Mike Patton and company proving once again why they are some of the most hard-working musicians out there – and funnily enough, Patton was sporting bunny-like dreads akin to the aforementioned record’s artwork. Our team finally reconvened back at the Valley Stage to see the magnificent Julie Christmas. Accompanied by members from band such as Cult of Luna, Spotlights and Ken Mode, and dressed in an outfit covered by lights that were constantly changing colours, Christmas delivered an intense and highly-emotional performance, presenting her extraordinary new record, Ridiculous and Full of Blood, almost in full. This was by far one of our favourite shows in the entire festival and it was the perfect sendoff before returning to our tents. A rest before the final day was much-needed indeed.
Words by Filipe Silva
Photos by Alexandra Ramos
