Metal Gates Festival 2024 started in forces, with 3 intense days, hosted by Quantic Club- Bucharest, 27th-28th September. I don’t want to take too long with the words, I want to be brief, so let’s go…
Friday, September 27th– Because of the traffic jam, I kind of missed the 1st band, Wooden Veins, I arrived just when they were finishing their set… Next hitting the stage were the Danes from Angstskrig, a three-piece band, with covered faces, who delivered a groovy and energic set, I’d say they were warming up for Abigail (RO), who was next to hit the stage.
Abigail’s set was a little tense, their new vocalist, Juan E., who’s also the guitarist of Wooden Veins, performed for the first time with the band, the emotions were visible, but in the end, their set was smooth and surprising, ignoring the small technical issue that occurred during the set. Next up, Sweden’s Diabolical crushed the stage, I think it was the 4th time seeing them, and every time, they seemed to have something new to deliver, stage and performing-wise, and since they are not new to the Romanian crowd, Diabolical satisfied with their performance.
Two more bands to go- followed by Diabolical, the Germans from Lacrimas Profundere grasped the stage with full energy, so far, they were the most energic band, Julian Larre (vocals) captured the crowd’s attention right away with his powerful drive. I’d say, Lacrimas Profundere’s energic set prepared the crowd for the evening’s headliner, Unleashed. To make a small remark, I expected to see more people coming to see Unleashed, even so, the Swedish death metallers also captured the stage with full force, delivering their old-school Swedish death metal sound and the classic songs, furthermore, the moshpit was not missing, why would it?
Saturday, September 28th– A little tired, but this time I managed to arrive on time, the second festival day started with Eternal Fire, which along with them, the crowd was slowly gathering for the day, with a great performance delivered by the Romanians of Eternal Fire. What surprised me were the Swedes from Loch Vostok, with their stunning performance, full of energy as well, what could I say, their set was a 10, and go ahead and check their new wrestling video ”Children of Science”.
As I got hungry, I managed to see a little from Destinity’s set, but what I got to see so far, it was good… (After dinner) Shade Empire was next to be on stage, here I can only point out the Finnish metal sound which is presented and delivered with an outstanding approach, and furthermore I’d like to add Kalmah here too, which they ended the second festival evening; Kalmah’s sound was a little resemblance of Children Of Bodom, in a good way, and the Finns set captured the crowd to a great extent. Going back before Kalmah, Italy’s Graveworm was also on the festival’s bill, a band which I could add to the category ”never thought I would ever have the chance to see”, and there we go, we had Graveworm too, a little ”nostalgic” too, remembering them as those bands I used to listen to many years ago, but not forgotten. Like the others, Graveworm crushed the stage with their old and new songs too.
Sunday, September 29th– The last festival day started with the U.S.’ Somnent, a band that perfectly fitted with the cloudy and rainy weather, their atmosphere was quite a match; next up, something more energic, heavier, and brutal, Cutterred Flesh from CZ blasted to the max., they took us out from the gloomy weather atmosphere, and to me, their set was a 10 as well. Like Loch Vostok, the Italians of Hierophant surprised me as well with their performance, which they’re more of the genre I use to listen to, generally, blackened death metal bands are always a pleasure to listen to or hear live, therefore, Hierophant was one of them, since the first song of their set, they captivated me.
Machiavellian God just released their new album this year entitled Beyond The Void, it was the perfect occasion for them to present their new album within the festival, as the host too (Mihu Ilie-vocals, also the Metal Gates promoter). MG‘s set was outstanding, they captured the audience immediately, and myself as well, moreover, Teddy Moller of Loch Vostok joined the Romanians to perform one song together, well, that was a surprise, and what a set! I had the feeling that I was listening to Paradise Lost to a point, this is how The Foreshadowing from Italy perplexed us all, they sounded really good, and their performance was mind-blowing, without a doubt.
At last, the evening ended with Necrophobic’s performance, finally, I was looking forward to seeing them the most, and man, as tired as I was, Necrophobic kept me plugged in, with an amazing and killer performance, Anders S. (vocals) said it very well, we chose not to go at the church on Sunday, but enjoy some Swedish black metal; those who remained till the end saw an astonishing performance from Necrophobic…
Each night finished off with an afterparty, hosted by DJ Eric Hutchence, one night at Encore Club, and one night at the venue. Unfortunately, Eufobia and Hexed could not make it to this year’s festival bill, let’s hope to see them another time.
A new edition of the Metal Gates Festival has already been announced for 2025, with the first names confirmed: Saturnus, Hideous Divinity, Acherontas, Pantheist, and Winterhorde.
Overall, this year’s festival edition was great, I got to see new bands, and all of them had great performances that crushed the stage, it was an evening of doom, death, black, dark, and groove metal, moreover, everything was on time, well organized, and it was great to meet old and even new faces. Kudos to Final Step Productions for everything! Till next time.
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