Copenhell 2024, Day 3 (June 21) Review

Words and Pictures: Adrian Hextall / MindHex Media

Now in its 14^th year and 10 years since it moved into the big leagues, expanding from a 2-day festival to a 3-day feature that would include major headliners such as Iron Maiden, Copenhell, 4-days of metal at its finest since 2019 is once again over for another year.

Packed to the brim with top tier talent from multiple genres, the festival in Refshaleøen offers something a little different from the likes of Graspop, Download, Hellfest and other A-grade events on the summer circuit. Copenhell likes to trade on the ‘hell’ element of it’s name and we get a setting and artwork to match everywhere. Whether it’s plague doctors, abandoned graveyards, mysterious creatures lurking in the woods of Gehenna, witches surrounding a boiling cauldron, it’s fair to say the presentation to the assembled masses is like nothing of this realm. Steeped in fantasy, even hosting its own Copenhell Con where talks on all things from Middle Earth, Winterfell, Hyrule and even some things in relation to a galaxy far, far away are covered, Copenhell attracts a colourful palette of fans who are there to soak up a four-day visual extravaganza.

Friday June 21

It’s hot, sunny and dry…. What do you do in such a situation. Correct… beers and skull shots. This is and was the one correct answer and Friday got started with a liquid lunch and some classic metal from Uriah Heep. As lead singer Bernie Shaw pointed out, “50 years ago, all of these sub-genres didn’t exist. There was either good music or bad music.” Queue cheers from the crowd as he introduced the legendary Mick Box on lead guitar. A few solos later sans-histrionics and it won the crowd over with ease proving you can’t manufacture class, you’ve either got it or you don’t. They closed with Victorian-era classic ‘Easy Livin’ to rapturous applause. The time on the road with Judas Priest has honed this band to a razor sharp outfit.

With the opening band of the day firing on all cylinders, it was always going to be tough to one-up them and whilst Eamon and Francis headed off to list to Kerry King chat all things ‘not-music’, Karnivool had the dubious task of following Uriah Heep’s energetic set. The progressive rock Aussies suffered from a lack of ‘wow’ for me, their brand of prog being a little too melancholic for my tastes. They did however draw a crowd, got a good reception and probably ticked a box for a lot of the Tool fans that would be queuing up to see their heroes the following day.

Festival surprise of the weekend came from Dublin quartet The Scratch. What initially looks like an Irish pub band disguises it’s true purpose until everyone is in, the pints have been poured and when the band and the audience are ready, cloaks are thrown off and a high energy Celtic-punk band emerges. The acoustic guitars were played as if they were pure electrics, and Daniel Lang (cajón, percussion, lead vocals) whipped up a storm front and centre. It’s safe to say you’ve not heard anything like The Scratch at a metal festival before and whilst purists might moan about them not being ‘metal’ enough, the mosh pits in front of the stage would suggest the band read the room (dirt floor outside) perfectly.

Rival Sons super slick retro vibe graced the main stage later in the day before Kerry King put the ‘hell’ in Copenhell with a high octane, pyro fuelled show that, for those of us taking photos in the pit, meant we all lost an eyebrow or two thanks to the 20-30 feet high flames that came from around 10-15 pots placed around the stage.

With Machine Head making full use of the pyro gear later on as headliners, Kerry King gave us a great set of music that saw Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda handling lead vocals. Of the Bay Area Thrash scene, Death Angel are probably my favourites simply because Osegueda can sing as well as growl and that to these ears put this performance above anything I’ve seen or heard from King’s ‘other’ band. I know, I know… ‘Hell Awaits’ for a comment like that but what can you do?

A change of pace was needed before Machine Head hit the stage as Friday night headliners so at 8pm, we headed into the woods to either be sacrificed to a Pagan god or to enjoy the welcoming in of Summer on the longest day of the year.

Hosted by Hun Solo (yep you read that right), the Summer Solstice Celebration presented a fine mixture of old and new. Old Norse instruments were played, new loop pedals and FX boards ensured the sound travelled around the forest area of the festival as if being sung by the spirits around us. A large fire pit was prepped in the middle of the clearing and a slight delay took place as we waited for the arrival of the ceremonial fire extinguisher (just in case).

With Faroese artist Eivør Pálsdóttir singing traditional song for the crowd to join in with and Jesse Kleeman from Greenland adding to the spectacle, it was really good to see the old ways being embraced by so many. The forest area was heaving with people and by the time the fire was lit, people had stepped forward to leave notes, messages, offerings etc.. to be burnt and sent skyward.

Machine Head then closed our Friday night with an explosive show that put Kerry King’s fireworks to shame. Now bearing in mind King’s set felt like I’d been transported to hell, it’s fair to say that Machine Head had the red skinned, horned one ringing Costco in search of aircon units because even he would have struggled with the heat coming off stage as Rob Flynn commenced proceedings with the power of a ten tonne hammer (obviously).

Opening with ‘Imperium’, the calls for circle pits from the stage began early and, for those in the crowd with the stamina of rhinos, they never ended for the duration of the band’s set. ‘CHØKE ØN THE ASHES ØF YØUR HATE’ and ‘NØ GØDS, NØ MASTERS’ drew cheers as did the extended use of pyro. Rob Flynn knows how to hold a crowd and to give him his due he looks as strong and healthy as he did when I first saw the band at Wacken back in 2009.

The only downside of the Friday night… the rain. And by God did the heavens open! The crowd would have gotten drenched with the deluge that descended on us over the course of around an hour. Thankfully the band’s pyro saw fit to evaporate most of the water before it even reached the ground, so Copenhell 1 : 0 Weather.

Machine Head closed with ‘Davidian’ returning for ‘Halo’ and absolutely winning the oft-divided audience. Those preferring the heavy and those loving the punk and ‘core’ outfits seemed to all be in agreement that the band had delivered and kept us warm and dry.