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Breakfast again at the Valley stage. This time we dared to start with Weedeater. This guys from North Carolina set the start of a new sub genre called Weed Metal. To exemplify that, frontman and bass player Dave “Dixie” Collins showed us with a Jack Daniels bottle nailed in his middle finger. The American’s stoner baby is heavy and full of strong energy; just need to see their attitude, specially that of the drummer Travis Owen. Doom, hammering riffs together with Dixie’s broken, insane voice woke up even the laziest of assistants with songs from their last work Goliathan (May 2015), as well as Good Luck & Good Speed and Jason…the Dragon.
A great plate of the day was Cavalera Conspiracy. Despite a foreseeable gig (most were Sepultura songs like Refuste-Resist, Territory, Beneath the Remains, We who are not as Others…), the main stage was packed and Max Cavalera showed a great shape and aim to wake up everybody; the circle put was just insane! He even jammed a bit with Pantera’s Walk and the audience went nuts with that. Shame that last song Roots Bloody Roots was interrupted by sound failure and the gig ended there.
The altar stage was packed to see Cannibal Corpse. The New Yorkers bummed us all to the bit of their heads; the mosh pit was an epic one, for more crew was needed to attend the massive waves of crowd surfers. We expected to listen a bit more about their new album Skeletal Domain (2014), but they only gave us Kill or Become. George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher sang anthems such as Hammer Smashed Face, where Webster’s bass shone as brilliant as ever. Then, I cum Blood or Stripped, Raped and Strangled. We heard more recent works like Scourge of Iron, Demented Aggression or Evisceration Plague, hearing an explosive Mazurkiewicz on drums. Cannibal Corpse will be touring the USA along with Behemoth; that would be a not to be missed gig. But for now let’s enjoy their European summer dates, not bad at all!
After having a snack and having some beers we run to see another great expectation of the day: Saint Vitus. Pioners of Doom Metal since their early days in 1978, the band from California lands in Hellfest to conclude their European summer tour. After singer Wino Weinrich (The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan) was arrested November last year, former Singer Scott Reagers has re-joined the band, so the tour’s been focused on the his albums. We had the chance to interview guitar player Dave Chandler, who assured the band goes through a sweet moment and told there’s new material to come out soon. Dark World, White Magic/Black Magic, Zombie Hunger or War is our Destiny, beat the audience with a somehow faster rhythm. Reagers’ voice was like frozen in time for it sounded clear and perfect, as so was saturated and peculiar Chandler’s riffs. Bassist Mark Adams showed his usual passive attitude on stage, hammering his instrument to death with Burial at Sea and hymn Saint Vitus. Last Born to Late hit the audience’s hearts deeply. And that is the anthem of the band by far, for their music is timeless!
Day comes to an end and we don’t want to miss long celebrated band NOFX. Nevertheless, after the sudden fall of Rise Against due to personal issues, the NOFX gig was advanced 2 hours and 10 minutes, and nobody recalled. Masses of people arrived to the Warzone stage, and found it lightless and sealed. There was no sign to clear what was going on, so people were piling up at the gates expecting an answer from the security crew.
But that wouldn’t keep us from enjoying the end, so we ran for Nightwish at Main Stage 2 and, despite the lack of a big crowd, that was another great gig. The Finnish entered to give it all with Amaranth and She is my Sin. The audience went up giving their last of energies with Storytime and the folkie I Want my Tears Back. Tuomas Holopainen’s keyboards stood up with virtuosity and nailed technique. Stargazers sounded and that impressed us all for it’d been a while since they last played live. Finally, Ghost Love Score and Last Ride of the Day closed the show with Floor Jensen’s incredible voice. Needless to say, the light and firework staging was unbeatable, great festival closing!
We go straight to the bus, our bodies grinded, but happy. Farewell to Hellfest 2015 edition. It has been a complete success and we expect them to outdo their improvements to make it even greater. But, as far as we’ve seen, it has set bars high! HORNS UP!
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