The Chaoszine Hellfest 2024 report, day 3: Hell Bent for Leather!

Saturday’s program was full of stuff I was very excited about, with a lot of classic heavy metal acts taking over the mainstages. I get the feeling classic metal is often overlooked on these big festivals, which usually prioritise mainstream rock and novelty acts. The day started with some rain, which didn’t stop me from getting to the concert area around 10:30 AM to witness the Polish heavy/power metal attack of Crystal Viper, who had released their latest album “The Silver Key” on the previous day. Regardless of the early slot and the rain a fair amount of die-hard fans gathered to enjoy a masterclass of old-school metal with vocalist/bassist Marta Gabriel delivering the goods like no one else could. Their show was highly entertaining and resonated even more on me than their studio albums, which I already enjoy a lot.

Then came the one-two punch of American heavy metal heroes Sumerlands and the epic Eternal Champion (sandwiched by New Zealand’s Alien Weaponry), with both bands sharing the exact same set of guitarists. Both bands paid tribute to their late bassist Brad Raub, whom we sadly lost last May. I’m glad they decided to do the shows regardless of Brad’s passing; these became probably the most emotionally charged shows of the festival for me and I enjoyed every second of them. I was lucky enough to run into Sumerlands’ vocalist Brendan Radigan at the VIP area to thank him for their awesome performance and the glorious “Dreamkiller” album. I’m looking forward to their follow-up album and I wish Finnish promoters would be more enthused about NWOTHM bands when it comes to festivals and small club headlining shows.

By the time Anvil hit the stage, the sky was already clear and I thought we would stay dry for the rest of the day but boy was I wrong but more on that later. Rhapsody of Fire kept the power metal flame burning with their highly pompous epic anthems. The next true highlight for me would be another of Finland’s finest exports, Stratovarius. The Finns managed to conquer the audience’s attention and got them totally engaged with classic sing-along set closer “Hunting High and Low”. Mammoth WVH, Yngwie Malmsteen and Extreme also delivered strong shows which surely pleased fans of guitar shredding. By this time, thousands of people were already gathering around Mainstage 02 queuing for Metallica’s headlining set, so it was hard to walk around and the toilet lines were growing very long.

Next up was the teutonic terror of Accept, one of my favourite classic metal bands. This is the first time I see them live since they’ve been touring as a six-piece with three guitars and I have to say it looked a bit weird to see so many people running onstage and the mix sounded somehow oversaturated at times. The setlist was nevertheless flawless with a lot of classics and a couple of new tracks from “Humanoid”. Another highly anticipated show for me was Bruce Dickinson, who is in great shape vocally and addressed the audience with what sounded to me like perfect French, playing songs from all eras of his solo career. By then the rain was back with a vengeance so I had to find some kind of shelter which unfortunately didn’t allow me to get any closer to the stage, but it definitely sounded great from where I was.

But the main attraction of the day and actually the only mainstage headliner I was interested in was Metallica. I already saw them during their stadium two-night stopover in Helsinki last June so I was curious to see how this tour concept would translate into a single show in a festival setup. The band played a tight setlist mostly based on classic songs and new material from “72 Seasons”, but “Orion” will always be a pleasant surprise to hear live. Part of the show was still under the rain and Kirk Hammet had a lot of problems with his guitar but in the end it didn’t matter and the band left the stage in a triumphal fashion with a firework show. To wrap up this glorious celebration we had no other than NWOBHM legends Saxon, and the brits showed why they are still relevant today after so many decades waving the flag of heavy metal.

Although the way back to the camp was a bit tougher this time because of all the mud, I was very glad to notice that the tent had managed to keep my belongings free from the rain. A bit of rest was needed before the last day of the festival.
To be continued…