The Hellfest is a huge Sushi Restaurant, which offers you a lot of different dishes you can chose after you have paid the entrance fee. 120.000 are free to create their own musical menue, surrounded by a decoration that gives you the feeling, that you´re welcome here on this place and you have to stay here. We noticed in talks with other hellfest visitors: they saw completely different bands than we did and all of them said: Wow, what a festival. You can easyly advance towards the first row at the Altar, Temple, Valley and the Warzone, even as a spectator you can take good fotos and you have a 105db/A-CD-Sound on every venue on 7 days. We were completely touched by the friendly spectators, the helpful and friendly volunteers all around, the technical perfection of every concert we saw. We had clean toilets, a good water supply and a clean festival ground for 7 days. This is more perfect than in a city with 120.000 inhabitants. And you even feel better at the Hellfest than in a usual city. Despite the 120.000 spectators, you can create your own community or meet your community which you already know.

Anyway, the French social problems don´t stop in front of the Hellfest. There were around 90-100 pickpockets who robbed among the audience in front the Mainstages and a lot more of visits at the camp sites. It is almost impossible to create an oasis of happiness in form of the Hellfest.

Finally they made it for the Hellfest. And they nailed it. Arvid stopped to use his voice effects so this classical trained voice filled the whole valley, Tommy fuzzed guitars and the unbeatable rhythm-section with Basse and Hans managed within half an hour to made the wohle Valley freaking out. A great start in this festival.

If a band with such complexe song structures and no catchy sing-along-parts and sometimes a slow and sludgy rhythm manage to make the crowd go wild, then it was a way better concert than in 2014. Impressing concert of ASG.

"Compendium", "In Procession", "Blind", "Dead Roots Stirring", "Sanctuary", performed by a well-reased rhytm section, Nick DiSalvo incredible guitar skills and his steadyly improving vocals. From the very first time in 2014 up to now, this bands showed a continously better performance on stage without losing the composition skills to write these amazing songs. This concert was really the best one we from this band.

Like Forrest Gump said, that life is like a box of chocolate. You´ll never know what you gonna get, so it is with Witchcraft aka Magnus Pelander. It became clear that a threepiece cannot perform songs out of "Legend" or the more complexe songs out of "Nucleus". So we got served by a coctail throughout the years, with "No Angel or Demon" and "Witchcraft, Take 1" as the highlights in a half-hearted concert.

Saw the for the first time after having discovered during the Covid Plandemie and the blew my head of with their mantraesque clerical Death Metal blended with harmonic chorus´, synthesizer effects and a full forward stage acting. The setlist was outstanding and the crowd went completely nuts. Great concert.

If a band misses to play their prophetical song "Stolen Years" after two stolen years, if a band just can offer pathetic spoken words over music and if the singer isn´t able to motivate an eagerly waiting audience to celebrate an unification and a kind of comeback, so it could be a quite disappointing performance, despite the perfect sound and the perfect light. I don´t know how long do I have to await for a proper performance of this band.

Our son said it was a blast. He was right, we sat outside and were blown by the lights and the sound of that band. Same perfection as the first time here with Gina in 2017.

Duel is one of my absolute favorite band since their first release in 2016. NWOBHM, Southern rock, a bit of occultism, catchy melodies and hooks and Tom Frank´s voice which reminds me on Danny Joe Brown´s voice. This band gives me a permanent 1979 feeling, the year before Motörhead changed everything. And to get confronted for the first time with a band could mean to someone, it sent me shivers, goosebumps and tears in a 30 minutes stream. Great concert.

I saw them first in 2018 at the Helldorado in Eindhoven and those 15 minutes really impressed me: two men, roots music, cool. Here, the had to fill 40 minutes which became a more and more a tough affair for me. The charming frontman eased the blues and the musically boredom.

Sometimes I like some dark and gothic country music. I thought Nergal´s (Behemoth) would touch me more than it did.

They opened with "Deny the absolute" so nothing could go wrong during this concert. Pelican manage to blend Progressive, Ambient and Heavy Rock in a way that it isn´t contradictionary. Organic, heavy and pounding songs performed by an incredible tight band.

Our son loves Messa, I liked the bass tone and sound and I don´t like Doom Metal. And I don´t like whispering voices.

We went to see Flotsam and Jetsam, one of my favorite heroes in 1986. This Band in 2022 is a fully professional band, with outstandig vocals and a fantastic drummer. So I got completely surprised by this powerful and melodic Thrash Metal. Personally the biggest surprise.

A great setlist, a great tone of Mike Ness´guitar and pure Rock´n Roll during 60 minutes. But we left because we don´t like the tough guy image of Social Distortion. It was authentic in 1996, but not in 2022. And this band is a lousy live band pretending to be the most bad ass around.

Inter Arma offered me "The long Road", my new favorite song for endless roadtrips through open landscapes. The rest of the show was an intense blend of Sludge, Doom, Thrash and Stoner, overlaid with an incredible voice and and incredible good band. The first highlight of this day.

Satan is fun, rock´n roll is fun and to perform like a Moulin rouge ensemble is also fun. And everybody believed the hype. We not.

Deez Nuts were a bit of passing time in our beloved Warzone before we returned to the Valley to see "Life of Agony". We are out of being angry like punks

Minna finally acheived to be Minna, Veronica Bellino is a beast and a powerhouse of a drummer, this concert passed in 2 minutes and will stay for 2 decades in our mind.

It was dark, it was ambient, it was a huge rave in the midth of a Metal Festival. We danced until we almost collapsed. We will see him again. I always liked this kind of music, started with Kraftwerk, over DAF in 1981 until now.

Lili Refrain constructed an acoustic burger with each and every song she performed. The bread was a drum loop, the salad a guitar loop, the cheese was a synthysizer loop, the meat the vocals, and back to the covering bread, she changed the loops. It was interesting for 15 minutes and predictable for the rest of the concert.

Still the same try to perform compromised music as in 2017. And why to put the monitors as obstacles in the middle of the stage and why is the frontman at the side and walks between the limelight and his keyboard which he used altogether for 5 minutes? Why does this band plays for the second time in 5 years in the Valley?

Nothing has changed with Zeal and Ardor: it remains a calculated music as it did already in 2018. This doesn´t come out of the soul although it pretends to be soulful music. It´s a commercial idea behind this band and their music. I´m happy that our friend Lukas Kurmann plays bass with them and so he can feed his family.

The soundtrack turned out well, without any problems. But the concert itself was a continious flow of technical issues, be it Adalbyorn´s guitar, monitor sound, the not well balanced volume between the instruments, the missing or the over the top volume on the vocals. We never heard and saw that many problems during a concert since 2011. We left, because we couldn´t stand and wouldn´t see one of our favorite band fail that much. It was sad for us to see them suffer on stage. "Fjara" seemed to sound well so we returned to leave after this song.

We know Joby as Tagada Jones´ and Le Bal des Enragés´drumer and his music what he actually plays. Fauxx showed us what an incredible good drummer he is and that his vision of music is much more broader than just playing punk rock songs. A surprisingly good concert with a music that unites a groovy drumming with synths and deep Death Metal growls.

This band was more Napalm Death than Napalm Death. It was like a flashback in 1987, when I discovered Napalm Death. Nothing new, nothin special, just friendly violence in the morning on stage and in the audience.

I saw this band on a US-Vintage-Car exhibition and I felt in love with their punky way to play Rock´n Roll and in the pure joy to play Rock´n Roll on stage. Actually the first Rock´n Roll band at the Hellfest. I screamed my soul out by "Radio Rebelde", so the day was saved by a small Swedish band.

It´s not only growling vocals, it is not only Space Rock, it is not only Death Punk, it is not only Stoner, it´s Okkultokrati, hailing with all the possible musical influences from Norway.  This band unites all the music we like so this concert turned into a great surprise and this band turned in one of our new favorite bands. 

This band is like batch engineering. Two famous guys and appearently iconic figures in the Stoner scene with obviously no more ideas how to rock are the publicity for their music. If only Brant Björk or Nick Olivieri are in a band, that has to be cool or so. Nah, it wasn´t cool, it was boring. With a view back you have to admit that Josh Homme did the more interesting music after the Kyuss split.

This band beat the official Hellfest record: 20 band members on stage. And the sound tech beat the record that each and every voice and instrument could be heard. So we enjoyed some Balkan Gypsi Death Metal Polka for around 30 minutes. It was very funny to watch this band.

After some three hours of pouring rain, New Model Army was our re-entry into the festival. Wasn´t a good choice. This band was, is and will be a club-band for intimate stories and wisdoms Justin Sullivan tells in his lyrics. And: don´t blame the French that only two things matter in France: Food and Love.

The lights were dynamite, the music not. We passed by for  the Warzone.

After hearing them since the "Suffer" and "No Control" in 1989 and their gig in a full pack Beatbaracke in Leonberg in 1989, I regained my passion for Bad Religion. Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz wrote lyrics for these two records which explained and prophesied the men-made crisis in the last 30 years. And now, me as a retired teacher and punk rocker, I felt very close to those lyrics and of course to this incredible tight, powerful and melodic music which they performed here at the warzone. Fantastic concert, more fascinating than in 2018.

On this day, we deceided to stay the whole day at the Valley. Best decision ever made. So this young Frenchies offered us the essence of 70s rock: a bit progressive, a bit protopunk, a bit protometal and a drumsolo in a 40 minutes set and big smiling musicians. What a great start into the day.

Never heard about this group. Ambitious urban poetry, supported by an e-piano and a synthisizer, which reminds me on Anne Clark, strong and emotional lyrics and an impressive voice. It was good for us for around 20 minutes, but in fact, there was too much suffering and pain which we were forced to listen.

This band blended some Uriah Heep fantasy and vocals with Thin Lizzy harmony guitars, galopping Iron Maiden rhythms, Yes lyrics into unique and non-predictable songs. The concert passed in two minutes and we were blown away by such a lot of harmonic lines in their songs. Stunning concert!

The three French guys of Slift played Spacerock heavier and faster than Monster Magnet or Hawkwind, Doom Metal which is heavier than Electric Wizzard and the lightshwo was crazy enough to turn our brains into mud. The volume was around 15/10 so the rest of a working mind was blown out of our heads. Great!!

We saw this band three times in 2022. The first gig took place in a small cellar bar in Salzburg´s Rockhouse, the second one was the Werk at Munich´s Backstage, which offered a bit more space for their music and the band. Hellfest´s Valley was the right place with the right audience which eagerly waited for them. And the band didn´t fail after 6 weeks on tour. Despite all the routine this band gained on the road, the band looked like "This cannot be true, that our music moves such a lot of people throughout Europe and especially here at the Hellfest." We were glad to see them on different stages and in fact, they don´t care were they play, they will always deliver a fantastic concert.

Usually I cry only during "Icarus" due the beauty of the composition. This time, I cried during the whole concert. The band had obviously a great stage sound and a lot of fun to compete with the class of the previous concert. I couldn´t imagine that they could top their 2017 performance at the Valley. And indeed, they did. Wonderful

Great sound, great show, great setlist. The best concert we saw of this band, just getting on stage, a firework of riffs, beats and lights which was far beyond any imagination. An absolutely fantastic concert.

Some Monster Magnet, some MC5 and some Motörhead at 11 a.m.? Yes, The Atomic Bitchwax nailed it early in the morning and the rest of my ears restarted to ring. A full-packed Valley that went crazy in the early morning.

It was a pity that this band had to perform at the Mainstage1. It would have been better to put them into the Valley and blow the last fuses out of our heads. A mix that we really liked. Punk, Stoner, Metal, almost like Smoke Blow. We will get them in a clubshow or so.

The Maori elements were just used to perform a small haka before the concert. The band should integrate more Maori elements and some more folclore in their songs. The short magic flushed after 10 minutes

Okay, there will be some fans who won´t accept that Mike left Destruction after almost 40 years. Honestly said, I prefer this band with two guitars which really fit well to Schmier on bass. The sound was way better than with only one guitar and same with the stage acting. And if half of the audience start a circle pit throughout the whole concert, so it was a great concert. It´s interesting that the same band with the same setlist didn´t move any of the spectators on last year´s Alcatraz Festival.

It was a pity to see this band without Zoli Teglas, one of my favorite voices in Punk. The band managed to find Eli as a support, but it´s not like it was before. Anyway, great show, unbeatable vocals and harmonies. But.... Yeah, it is never my band I used to listen and to like.

A surprisingly good concert without fooling around, just old school Hard Rock with a fascinating voice and a well greased band. Never thought that occultism could be that funny and catchy.

I missed them to see in 1984 during wintertime. Now, almost 40 years later, this band is still fascinating with their musical skills, King Diamond´s voice and the biggest production in the Temple for years. Just take a look at the setlist and these songs will remain classics. Oh my god, I went totally insane during this concert and my wife got scared by seeing me that exhausted.

After their concert in 2018 here at the Valley, we couldn´t believe that this concert could be exceeded. Orange Goblin made it, despite Metallica on the Mainstage. Circle Pits, Wall of Death, Slamers and divers and we couldn´t cope with this sheer power after that day. We left after "Acid Trial" to calm down a bit.