Less than 24 hours until Steelfest Open Air begins. First beers, first distortion, first chaos. With a bunch of excellent acts throughout the whole weekend, we like to highlight a handful of performances for every festival day you really shouldn’t miss. With on day 1 festival openers Evil Angel, the return of US black metal duo FIN, a once-in-a-lifetime 40th anniversary show from war metal icons Holocausto, old school Enthroned music with Sabathan and an absolutely relentless end of the day through Revenge — five very different ways to properly start a weekend of underground madness. If you’re going, what are you looking forward to?

Warning shared second track ‘Night Comes Down’ from their upcoming new album ‘Rituals of Shame’, to be released in June with Relapse Records and their first new album in 20 years!

Greek extreme metal icons Rotting Christ announced a reissue of their 2000 album ‘Khronos’ will be released in July via their current label Season of Mist!

Australian post-black metal act Callous Faulter unveiled new song and title track of their upcoming EP ‘The Isolationist’ our next month via Gutter Prince Cabal!

Swedish modern rock force Self Deception unleashed their powerful new single ‘BREAK!’, another track from their new album ‘One Of Us’, out this Friday via Napalm Records! Catch them live in Europe this summer at plenty of festival or later this year on the “Nordic Tour 2026” with Amaranthe and Ankor!

Swedish metal band Eleine return with their brand-new single ‘Empire Of Lies’, a first glimpse of their highly anticipated new album, set to be out in December with Reigning Phoenix Music!

Finnish pop metallers Memoremains released a darker take on Good Charlotte’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Be In Love’!

Scene Queen is back with another new track, her heaviest to date with ‘Tracksuit’, out on Hopeless Records!

Italian atmospheric folk/black metal outfit Duir reveal their new video single ‘Di nessuno’, the second to be revealed from their upcoming album ‘Catarsi’, set for release in June with AOP Records!

Epica released a new live video for ‘Cross The Divide’, recorded at their massive show at Ziggo Dome Amsterdam on their most recent Arcane Dimensions Tour with Amaranthe and Charlotte Wessels! Catch them live this summer at select events in Europe like Live is Live with Iron Maiden in Belgium or John Smith Rock Festival in Finland!