Let’s see, most people who were partying during the night are still up when the sun rises at little over 5AM and they shown no signs of giving up. People continue to come by and show up from everywhere, and the melodrama of finding a good spot to pitch your tent is still going on in many minds. I find myself waking up after a really convoluted night of… well, I almost slept actually. The head is tilting towards the ground and the reeking body is already demanding to be cleansed in order to face the first day at the stages. And herein lies the first and constant major battle fought by me, as much as many others, throughout the entire festival.

It saddens me to say that the access to the showers this year proved to be a daunting task, no matter what time of the day this would be tried, as the lines formed up by the soon to be angry festival-goers were a constant at any time of the day. The fact that the showers were supposed to have opened at 2PM on Thursday and that was pushed further into the end of the day didn’t help. Nor did the fact that in the next morning the expected opening at 8AM turned into an almost two hour long epic tale for a fresh odor. Hellfest is a festival which has been able to have few negative points but this year I have to point out the access to the showers as one of them. On the other hand the access to the bathrooms was much improved with every camping area having a designated cluster for its inhabitants.Moving along after a rude awakening it was then time to finally step the now active grounds of the festival, and boy did I have places to go. The Metal Market for instance was huge and proved to be an almost insurmountable obstacle! Had I not planned to go and see Benighted and Benidiction early on and I could have easily been declared MIA due to its sheer size and massive amount of offered goods. A place really worth visiting, but beware as it has a vampiric habit of sucking your wallet dry! So, off I went to bust my ears before noon with one of the most brutal bands ever to come out of France. Playing at home is always an advantage and that was clearly shown by the massive amount of adherence that Benighted had, and the band didn’t disappoint with a relentless delivery of muscled and brutal death/grind, making bones into pulp and muscles into vapor. Not bad for opening up the festival and as I was told Celeste started the mayhem as good for those who had the courage to be in the Valley at 10:30.

With a programmed schedule of three concerts at every time spot, lasting at least half an hour in length, bands were bound to be lost due to overlapping or basic needs like eating, resting or going to the ATM (yes, this is a basic need in such a place and thankfully the service was great!). Next step was to see the British legends Benediction, and it was a parade of joy for those who like old school death metal. Opening with songs from the Transcend The Rubicon and The Dreams You Dread albums, and having a very charismatic frontman in Dave Hunt that was constantly demanding more from the crowd, I can say that it was one of the best shows this year, and the festival had just barely started. Songs like “Jumping At Shadows” and “Subconscious Terror” made the delight of those present. Lizzy Borden was a strange step forward and an actual road accident as I was following some co-workers on this one, but it proved out to be a blast of a show and the first good experience on the main stages. These bands always work like a charm in this type of live environment and their commitment was commendable, busting out their chops as if it was the eighties once again.

It was a shame that I couldn’t witness the Endstille and Gorod shows, as both are solid bands with a possibly long career ahead of them, but from what I was told Gorod took advantage of the home factor and slayed with their highly technical death metal. It’s always sad to lose shows, but as I said above one has to do such things as eating right?! My next stop would be one of the most awaited shows in the festival with the Swiss trio Darkspace going on stage at the Temple. Funny thing the Altar and Temple stages, as they were placed under the same tent in some sort of an L shape with each stage at the extremities of the letter. A strange but befitting placement as most of the time I would jump from one to the other, sometimes just by tilting my head 90 degrees. But back to the Darkspace show, one of the rare occasions to witness one of the most extreme bands in the planet. It was evident that many were there knowing what would hit them, the same way as many others, which started fleeing the place, were clearly caught up by surprise. The show started off with some sound issues which were resolved by the end of the second song, and the swirling black hole generated by their performance was as terrifying as mesmerizing. It was like staring at a deep dark hole and trying to hang in a balance without falling down, truly an abysmal experience. The closer, taken from their album Dark Space III, was without a doubt “the” moment of the show and the band finished in communion with the audience.

Brujeria would prove to be too much to digest after a show like that, and the same feeling came from Heaven Shall Burn who was stirring some movement on Main Stage 2. A quick jump, and sadly one of the few, to the Warzone was enough to show me why this stage was permanently filled with people during the three days of shows. Punk legends GBH were the responsible act for moving my bones in d-beat frenzy as much as in pure street punk dancing. Having played there after Discharge I can just imagine how destructive that was, and the muddy floor was the proof of that. And then the bride came, oh the perfect bride from the horror tales of vampires and werewolves; one of the most important grindcore acts ever, playing a farewell tour in honor of their long departed mentor, Mieszko Talarczyk. It was a pity to have so many sound problems affecting the show, something that was sadly a constant during the festival and most noticeable in the Altar stage, because the delivery from the band was frantic and energetic as if the spirit of Mieszko was there with us. Keijo really seems to be the only man apt for the job and his rabid approach was enough to convince many of those witnessing the show, while a myriad of songs from Inhale/Exhale did the rest.

A lot of great shows would follow, but again basic necessities were at hand and my back pain was already turning into a nuisance. So I took some time to regain my strength before witnessing Satyricon hit the stage with their late years of “black ‘n’ roll” if I can call it that. A very engaging show from one the first bands in the Norwegian scene that has converted to a softer and more rocking sound during the last decade. Some classics like “Hvite Krists Død” and “Mother North” made the day for many of the present and the only thing sadly missing was a bit of Dark Medieval Times. With a quick 90 degree turn on the neck I found myself immediately wanting to salivate at the sight of the Tardy brothers, but that feeling was rapidly destroyed by the impossibility of hearing the only (strangely and inexplicably) guitarist present. The sound was so bad that in front of the stage one could only hear the bass and drum kick, to the point where I couldn’t even recognize songs like “Chopped In Half” or “Dying”, and that was the point where I gave up in a furious rage against the sound setup present there. As it seems though, and depending on where you were at the tent, a friend told me he could hear things better. Still it sucked and I couldn’t even appreciate the show. As for the problems being only in the Altar, don’t even make me comment on the sound at the Megadeth show and that one was on Main Stage 1. So the argument that the sound problems were just at the tent won’t stick with me. One thing is for sure, the sound problems need to be fixed for next year’s edition. And that Hellfest should be your top priority!

It’s always a good idea to end such an unending day with the King himself, and as expected the legends of heavy metal made their way into Main Stage 2 with the will to leave everyone doing high notes for as long as they could hold their breath. Unneeded, although not entirely unexpected, was the constant rain that kept pouring since the Megadeth show was going on, and mind you that when it rains on Clisson it can either be normal rain in a “Yeah, suck it up and carry on” or that easily unnerving and constant bashing of your patience and body. In this case, and to my dismay, it was the second. I really wanted to see the show and witness the stage props with lighted pentagrams and cemetery gates over a drawing of an abbey in the back, but the weather system proved to be too much. That and my back finally gave up to the tiredness and moist. But I could still make a quick pit stop on the Metal Corner to say hello to my lady friends Twisted Sisters, a couple of DJs from Portugal that got to act at Hellfest this year and that temporarily ceded the stage for the show by Nympherno. For those unknowing of this female foursome then be ready to witness a (literally!) fiery show with a lot of sensuality. They would be resident animators for the three days, constantly acting around the testosterone filled crowd that salivated at their passage. Videos should be easy to find on the internet by now.

End of day one of shows and I’m already beaten to a pulp and with little space in my tent due to the brutal amount of shopping done during the morning. So many shows already witnessed and what seemed like a whole weekend worth of fun was basically compressed into a single day of Hell(fest). If you don’t know it yet this is how things work on Clisson, and if you’re lucky you can get enough sleep and rest to face the remaining days. Ah… the suffering, the sweet suffering!

Be sure to check the photos of the bands playing during the first day of shows and I promise you I’ll be back soon enough to recount more tales of might and glory on the northern battlefront. Stay tuned!

Photos: Fabio Costa & Francisco Monteiro
Text: Julio Valada