The Hellsinki Metal Festival, which has impressively established itself in just a few years, took place on 7–8 August at the Helsinki Ice Hall, also known as Nordis. Over two days, the event drew 16,000 metalheads from around the world.
In addition to its diverse extreme metal lineup featuring both major acts and rising underground bands, the festival offered visitors a wide ranging side program. Highlights included the Dark Art Gallery exhibition, the Inkferno tattoo booth, live wrestling shows, the playful RIP area complete with a bouncy castle, and numerous companies and communities dedicated to metal culture. This year, Hellsinki Metal Festival also raised funds for Mieli ry, which promotes mental health, and Naisten Linja, an organization supporting women affected by violence.
Across three stages, a total of 32 bands delivered unforgettable performances.
The first day of the Hellsinki Metal Festival delivered a powerful mix of international metal talent and culturally significant highlights.
Finnish melodic death metal band Horizon Ignited opened the festival to an impressive early day crowd. They were followed by Swedish death metal pioneers Unleashed, whose 45 minute set drew heavily on Viking themes and classic Swedish death metal staples like Before the Creation of Time and Death Metal Victory.
On the indoor stage, Wormwood brought atmospheric black metal infused with Nordic melancholy, while genre legends Carcass, on the main stage, delivered a sharp performance widely praised as one of the day’s standouts. Brymir continued with a sweeping blend of symphonic and melodic death metal.
A major emotional highlight came from Ikinä, joined by The Choir of Hecate, bringing a total of 15 women on stage. Their performance included a moment of silence for women victims of violence. Promoter Toni Törrönen noted: “A spectacle like this has never been organized in Finland.”
Supergroup Bloodbath, featuring members of Opeth, Katatonia, and Paradise Lost, performed drenched in fake blood and powered by their signature HM‑2 buzzsaw guitars, with Nick Holmes’ dry humor adding contrast to the brutality.
Black Label Society delivered one of the day’s most anticipated sets, with Zakk Wylde captivating the crowd through blues soaked riffs and his trademark stage presence. From South America, Mawiza offered a ritualistic performance in the endangered Mapuzungun language, standing out as the festival’s most geographically distant act.
Headliners Accept celebrated their upcoming 50th anniversary with classics including Fast as a Shark, Balls to the Wall, and I’m a Rebel.
The night closed with Carpenter Brut, whose neon lit fusion of 1980s electronics, horror aesthetics, and heavy rock energy sent festivalgoers dancing into the late hours.
Day Two opened with a massive cinematic extreme metal set from Assemble the Chariots, followed by Numento, whose progressive aggression and distorted kantele made their performance one of the day’s most distinctive.
Iotunn delivered a sweeping, space themed progressive metal show, while Misþyrming unleashed raw Icelandic ferocity on the main stage. French dark metal act Orly intensified the indoor atmosphere with a macabre, cinematic performance.
British gothic metal pioneers Paradise Lost drew one of the day’s largest crowds with a beautifully somber, career spanning set. Cyan Kicks provided a bold stylistic shift, winning over the audience with high energy pop rock hooks and electronic heaviness.
Swedish power metal band Tungsten brought melodic uplift in a weekend dominated by extreme metal. Triptykon then delivered an exclusive all‑Celtic Frost tribute, attracting purists eager to witness Tom G. Warrior revisit foundational extreme metal material.
Swiss folk metal giants Eluveitie turned the field into a sea of dancing and chanting with their blend of heavy riffs and traditional instruments. A rare collaboration followed as Misþyrming joined Behemoth’s Nergal for a tribute to Sventevith.
Headliners Opeth closed the main stage with a hypnotic, contrast driven performance, while The Kovenant ended the night with a dramatic, futuristic industrial metal finale.
The festival concluded as a clear success, a weekend that delivered exactly what metal fans came for.
Hellsinki Metal Festival also used the occasion to reveal the lineup for this year’s Hellsinki Metal Cruise, which expanded into the festival family for the first time last year. The cruise will sail from Helsinki to Stockholm and back on November 6–8, featuring Samael, Rotting Christ, Groza, Aborym, Deathchain, Moonlight Sorcery, Chamber of Unlight, Waltari (celebrating their 40th anniversary), Cumbeast, Khroma, Baphy, Night Crowned, Rabbit Cult, Totalselfhatred, Paara, and Ashen Tomb.
As the organizers described it: “The cruise is a mini version of the Hellsinki Metal Festival, where this whole tribe is in the same boat. The ship becomes a shared home for everyone—no need to go anywhere else to feel at ease.”
Tickets for the cruise are available at Viking Line.
Looking ahead, Hellsinki Metal Festival 2027 will return to the Helsinki Ice Hall on August 6–7, 2027. A limited number of Patient Zero advance tickets are already on sale.
Here the photogallery by Cristina Gregori.
