Friday
Heavy Weather, Heavier Sounds
Stray From The Path hit the stage with the kind of explosive energy that instantly wakes you up better than coffee ever could. It was still early, but they played like it was midnight and the world was ending. Their non-stop movement, tight grooves, and punk/metal-infused hardcore made it impossible to stand still. Seeing them so early in the day couldn’t have been better – they kicked off the mood with a bang and set the tone for everything that followed.
On Desert Stage, it started with Faetooth – a slow-burning, doom-laced wall of sound. Fuzzy riffs, ghostly vocals, and something oddly comforting in the gloom.
Then: Hatebreed. Zero subtlety. Just war-zone energy from the first riff. By the second track, I had mud halfway up my legs. And it was just the beginning.
Jinjer took the main stage next. Tatiana Shmayluk delivered her signature switch between growls and melodies like she was flipping a coin. The timing couldn’t have been more cinematic: few minutes before their first notes hit, the sky cracked open and dumped a biblical downpour on the crowd. It lasted only ten minutes, but it was chaos. And like nothing was happening, the show went on in time. After few minutes looking at each other and at the sky, we, photographers, finally moved on to the pit to do our job.
Cradle of Filth followed on Park Stage. Their set was gothic horror in sound and visuals – and the cenobite-looking figure Pinhead on stage brought back flashes of horror movies I watched way when I was young. Black metal can be overly theatrical – but when it works, it works.
Opeth brought contrast and calm. Long, intricate songs that invite you to close your eyes – even while standing in a muddy field surrounded by headbangers. Mikael Åkerfeldt’s dry wit between songs was the cherry on top.
And then came the old gods: W.A.S.P. and King Diamond.
W.A.S.P. were loud, defiant, and gloriously over-the-top – just as they should be. Blackie Lawless commanded the stage like a preacher at the altar of 80s metal, snarling through classics like “I Wanna Be Somebody” and “Wild Child” with fire in his voice and defiance in his eyes. The crowd roared every chorus back at him, fists in the air, happy to be here.
King Diamond closed the day on the main stage with the most elaborate stage setup of the entire festival – a towering, multi-level structure straight out of a nightmare opera. There was choreography, eerie lighting, macabre props, and that unmistakable falsetto slicing through the evening air like a scalpel. It was epic in the purest sense: a full sensory assault, part horror show, part metal ritual. The setlist pulled from the deepest corners of his concept albums, with a few sinister surprises from “The Institute“, and every moment felt meticulously crafted to haunt and thrill.
