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Steelfest Open Air 2014 - Day I - 5/16/2014 - Villatehdas - Hyvinkää (FIN)

Unlike previous years, this time the focus was almost only on black metal, when there had been also thrash and death metal in a bigger role. The third Steelfest began for me with Hautakammio. A relatively inexperienced band, they really didn’t have anything that could distinguish them from the masses of black metal. The Swedish Valkyrja at least had something else in their songs than constant monotonous blast beats, bringing some variety and solos to the table. As a general trend, not unexpectedly, most bands’ stage performance ended with applying corpsepaint, choosing to instead just stand around expressionlessly playing their instruments, which is not really interesting to look at. Maveth had instead chosen to apply blood to their faces, and had definitely more than a passing touch of death metal in their music. Having three huge upside down crosses on stage, and some incomprehensible speaks they fully embraced metal’s cliches, but they managed to be entertaining nevertheless.

Baptism / Hautakammio


Maveth / Valkyrja


Norwegian Aura Noir was the highlight of Friday with their black/thrash. A new band to me, I really enjoyed the combination of black metal’s ferociousness and vocals with the headbanging feel of thrash metal. Hells Fire was especially a memorable song. Goes on my nigh-infinite list of bands I really ought to check out, eventually. Nifelheim, on the other hand, will not be joining my list. The only band not to be on schedule, they started almost twenty minutes late, screwing up the rest of the evening’s schedule. They had an ear-splitting sound, which was mostly painful to listen to. They at least did their best to connect with the audience, and the crowd seemed to enjoy what they had to offer. To me it just sounded generic and boring, but to each his own. Being dead tired, the last band for me was Deströyer 666. I had expected some real energy and presence on stage, but it felt like I wasn’t the only one tired. It sounded mostly indistinguishable from the other bands that day, and was a disappointing end to a mediocre day.

Aura Noir


Nifelheim



Deströyer 666


Inquisition sure has been gaining popularity with their latest releases, and their new “Obscure Verses For The Multiverse” is a pretty damn good record. So the duo gains the spotlight as the headliner of the indoor stage, in a setting dominated by blue, slow moving lights, and two scarecrow-goat-like figures standing on the side of the stage (I guess part of the reason is so that it doesn’t seem too empty?).
Dagon seems less inclined to wonder on the stage in comparison to the latest Finnish appearance of the band, so not much moving around, but the audience is nonetheless enchanted by the distorted melodies and rough vocals produced by the two guys. If visually the show is not certainly eye-catching, the songs from the new record and its predecessor are particularly appreciated by the people gathered in the front row, some headbanging and some attentively listening to the notes pervading Villatehdas.

Inquisition


Inquisition came out as strong, intense, and with that little twist that makes you really love their music. Or hate it, depending on the taste. But most of all it was a very wise choice to have them close the evening, as the atmosphere would have been totally different in case they would have played outside, or even worse with the daylight. Time to check out the bands at the after-party and then gather a few hours of sleep before the second, more intense day of this third Steelfest!
(Inquisition by Marco Manzi)



Photogallery links:
Friday all bands: Steelfest - Friday 16.05
After-party: Maiden Hell + Kyöpeli
All festival: Steelfest Open Air 2014

Report a cura di Markus Karppinen - Photos by Marco Manzi, Nikky Holmes