Winter is approaching and I’m living in Finland, so what’s better than an underground metal event matching the darkness and coldness you get to experience here? Not too surprising that I was looking forward to the second edition of SteelChaos, the indoors Winter edition of the highly praised Steelfest! With again an impressive line-up, I knew I was in for 2 long nights of top notch extreme metal at Nosturi in Helsinki…

On the second day of SteelChaos, the mysterious black metal outfit Devouring Star (***1/2) was the one to kick off the night. The crushing dark music came rolling over us joined by a seemingly all-devouring fog of smoke. A few weeks before they released an impressive sophomore release and brought the atmospheric black metal with a distancing passion and vigor. Truly the perfect band to set the mood for what would be a great night!

Up next: Finnish black metal outfit Morgal (***) and their almost parody feeling act. Most likely they’re very serious about their occult and aggressive demeanor and music, but you almost can’t get more stereotypical than this. Backed with solid music that at times sounded more like classic heavy metal with black metal vocals, it did not bother me one bit though. This was just another band continuing the momentum that was perfectly getting ready for what was yet to come.

Continuing with Finnish black metal, one of the legends in the Finnish scene took over the stage… With Azaghal (****) you get a traditional Finnish black metal band that has been around since the 90’s. And that was clear from the performance. The veterans stood solid as a rock and shot one after the other evil incantation of satan at the venue with strong intent. This show was also the release show of their latest album Valo Pohjoisesta and thus a presentation of how relevant this band still is.

Time for the first foreign band of the night with the Greek Thy Darkened Shade (****1/2), delivering their occultism in a brutal and relentlessly aggressive way. From start to finish this was one hell of a full on black metal attack! Vocalist The A stood front and center growling and screaming with power and dark passion, supported by top musicians putting down a layer of harsh and heavy music that just felt like a sledgehammer smashing in your face.

Czech metal band Root (****1/2) is one of those bands that have been around for several decades already. Their blend of black metal, old school heavy metal and touches of doom metal really got to quite an epic scale live. Frontman and only remaining original member “Big Boss” led the band looking as a true Magius of the Church of Satan and seemed like quite the interesting character. On the one hand he had this dark magic vibe hanging around him and on the other he regularly came across as just a jolly and nice grandpa. Big Boss himself had to take a seat on a bar stool after a couple of songs, but the rest of the band really took over in terms of actively running around the stage to ramp up the energy. An absolutely brilliant gig from a band that often sounds a bit like a more dark/evil Black Sabbath.

The Ruins Of Beverast (***1/2) took the level of doom to a whole new level this night. This German extreme metal band plays a mix of black and doom metal that is heavy as fuck while at the same time very atmospheric. The crushingly slow music took us into a whole different world, especially with the amount of smoke pumped into the room. At times it was hard to properly see the band except for some shapes or silhouettes. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but a quite impressive gig nonetheless.

Last Finnish band of the weekend, were the misfits of Impaled Nazarene (***1/2). This is a black metal band that always has done things their own way without a single fuck given. They’ve always had a bit of a legendary status, especially in their own country, often due to controversy always hanging around them. Despite people telling me that their shows often disappoint, I can say that this one did not. Maybe it was because of playing in front of a “home crowd”, but there was a great energy hanging around the place and the band clearly had a great time on stage.

And then the band I’d been looking forward the most: Primordial (*****). These Irishmen have always made really impressive and epic music and I can say I enjoy their music greatly. I remembered seeing them on a bigger stage at a festival ages ago and back then felt underwhelmed by the performance. So I was curious to see if they’d finally manage to convince me live as much as on cd. And man! What a show it was!

Vocalist A.A. Nemethanga must be one of the greatest frontmen there are. His vocals are on point going back and forth between tortured cleans and demonic screams/growls and his stage presence is almost overwhelming. He’s constantly on the move, filling every corner of the stage, swinging his microphone stand around, going on his knees in passionate torment, even leaning into the crowd when he got pulled in by an overenthusiastic fan. Besides that, his bandmates are damn talented musicians, everything blending together in a magical moment of well over an hour. Playing songs from their new record “Exile Amongst The Ruins” and classics like When Rome Burns and Empire Falls, there was something for every kind of fan. Primordial, you absolutely reigned supreme and we can’t wait to see you on Finnish shores again!

SteelChaos was again a great succes with not a single bad band and every day completely sold out. There is no information yet about a possible 2019 edition, since it’s unsure if Nosturi will still be around to take in the underground for 2 days. Hopefully we’ll get news soon, but for now we can just look forward to getting closer to Steelfest 2019!

For more pictures, go the photo coverage: https://www.grimmgent.com/steelchaos-2018-photo/