Def Leppard’s debut and Sventevith’s resurrection: Wacken day two

If day 1 was a mix of genres and a full-throttle sprint from gate to headliner, day 2 breathed a little easier — most of the big names weren’t due until late afternoon, which meant a slower start and, for once, some actual time to recover from yesterday’s dust. And if you’ve been reading me for a while, you already know I’m a black metal fan at heart, so there was no way I was missing Craft as the first band of my second day. The genre only has a thin footprint on this year’s bill, so getting a proper black metal set this early on felt like a small gift.

Craft

Seeing a black metal act at 16:15 hit differently. The Swedish black metal band Craft, formed in Norrköping in 1994, plays second-wave black metal filtered through an unusually melodic sensibility, and they’re reclusive enough that any Craft show counts as an event. Their most recent album, “White Noise and Black Metal” (2018), arrived after a seven-year silence and remains the easiest way in for newcomers to the genre. Their show at the W:E:T stage was raw and powerful, the kind of energy that only comes from a band who knows exactly what delivering an honest, no-frills set means: no theatrics, no crowd banter, just stark staging and total conviction. Craft kept the black metal flag flying high on day two, setting the tone nicely for what was still to come from the genre.

Photo: Peterson Marti.

Firespawn

For those of you who’ve studied music history — specifically Swedish extreme metal — you’ll know why this was a must-see for me. The show opened with footage remembering L-G Petrov of Entombed, marking his death in 2021. Petrov leaves behind a huge legacy, including his work with Firespawn. For some reason my expectations were too high, but the show didn’t quite deliver what I was hoping for. It all felt a little weird onstage — the band members seemed almost like they were still rehearsing, like nothing was truly improvised. It’s okay, I guess, but maybe the smaller crowd didn’t help either.

Photo: Peterson Marti.

Spectral Wound

After Craft, Spectral Wound kept the black metal flag flying high as well. They delivered, as they always do, a set pulled from their strongest material — raw and completely committed. Different from other shows I’ve seen, the Montreal band, which has grown so much lately, was pure, visceral energy. Live, they’re controlled fury — and when I say controlled, I mean they feel like they could explode at any second. There’s nothing crazy about their stage presence; that’s not what their show is about. And again, Wacken isn’t really the place for black metal, but for the few of us who do appreciate and love the genre, the Headbangers and W:E:T stages are exactly where you want to be, even if it doesn’t feel as intimate as a classic black metal show

Photo: Peterson Marti.

Europe

It was interesting to be there waiting for a band that’s been inspirational to so many, though the opening act felt a bit odd, I’ll admit. Why was there someone covered in bandages, with words written around them, on the big screen? This is how Europe‘s show started — for some reason the screens kept cutting to this mummy-like figure wandering backstage, almost like a way of showing the musicians behind the scenes, but it just didn’t land, at least not for me. Anyway, the band need no introduction, of course: Joey Tempest remains a commanding frontman, and guitarist John Norum is still underrated for how much he’s doing under the radar. The same “mummy” character showed up again during the sixth song and jumped off the stage to greet people in the front row — again, not quite sure what the purpose was, but sure, why not. During “Rock the Night”, Joey walked out into the space between the two stages and had the whole field singing along with him — that’s the kind of moment you only get when a frontman still means every second of it.

Photo: Peterson Marti.

P.O.D.

Right as the clouds showed up, P.O.D. took over the Louder stage at 19:45. Frankly, they weren’t originally on my list for the day, but as showtime got closer, I started to feel the FOMO and wanted to be there, even if just for a few songs. Opening with “Boom”, it was clear early on that their songs are all built for festival sing-alongs. As I anticipated, it turned into an extremely powerful show, the kind that has you shaking and banging along whether you meant to or not.

Photo: Peterson Marti.

Savatage

I have to say, I’ve been waiting for this one — Savatage was one of my personal highlights of this year’s bill. Jon Oliva wasn’t there in person, and the show did hit differently, of course, but singer Zak Stevens delivered a stunning performance, commanding the stage in his own right. The whole show felt like an emotional journey, and I couldn’t hold back when the piano rendition of “Believe” played out at the end, recorded and streamed in — a genuine connection for everyone present, with Jon’s warmth carrying through even from a distance. Apart from the astonishing opening, with video graphics taking over the main screens, there was a moment when they played “Chance” and country flags lit up the screens — no one expected people to actually raise their own flags during the show, but they did, and that was a touching moment. And of course, they closed with “Hall of the Mountain King” — a fitting way to end a night that had already given so much.

Photo: Peterson Marti.

Def Leppard

It’s still hard to believe a band like Def Leppard never played Wacken before, but here we are — their debut, decades after they started filling stadiums. The Sheffield band, formed in 1977, hit their commercial peak with “Hysteria” (1987), still one of the best-selling rock albums ever made, and drummer Rick Allen’s return after losing his arm in a 1984 accident remains one of rock’s most remarkable stories. Even now, with 2022’s “Diamond Star Halos” showing they’re still writing new material, Joe Elliott’s voice is still delivering, and the band played like no time had passed at all. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” in front of a full Wacken field is the kind of moment that works on everyone, whether or not you came for it. Don’t tell me you haven’t sung the song in your head, just reading that.
The show was also blessed by the first rain of the festival — hopefully it’ll settle some of the dust.

Photo: Dario De Marco.

Sventevith

Closing out the night was Sventevith on the W:E:T stage at 23:00, a joint project from Nergal of Behemoth and Misþyrming — not a standalone set, but a 30th-anniversary tribute to the 1995 recording that laid the foundation for Behemoth‘s rise from underground act to one of extreme music’s biggest names. Performed live for the first time as a full conceptual work, it paired Nergal with the raw intensity of Misþyrming, a band reshaping the modern black metal scene in its own right. Combining the two was pure, raw madness — Misþyrming is a war machine, and the perfect choice to bring this to life. They even surpassed the original album, in my view, thanks to the twist they brought to it. I enjoyed every bit of it, and to be fair, I wanted more.

But hey, the night needed the right way to end, and it got exactly that. Goodnight for now.

Photo: Peterson Marti.