Saarihelvetti 2022 was full of top notch music. A perfect omnium gatherum (yes it is a word! n. a collection of miscellaneous people or things. Merriam-Webster.com. 2022) of genres ranging from fresh new black metal to popish metal core to headlining raw industrial metal. Although the weather was epic as well (in a not so enjoyable way), festival goers were almost able to overlook the constant rain as they enjoyed the first restriction free Saarihelvetti in 3 years. Although the festival was able to slither between the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, there were still inevitable lineup changes and restrictions which made the festival a bit more difficult to navigate. This year we were finally free!
Continue reading Saarihelvetti 2022Category Archives: featured
LIVE REVIEW: BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL, CATTON PARK UK – 11-14TH AUGUST 2022
LIVE REVIEW by Carina Lawrence / Dark Art Conspiracy

UK’s heaviest metal festival, Bloodstock, returned to Catton Park during a heatwave, but that didn’t stop thousands of metal heads clad in primarily black clothing. The festival keeps getting bigger and better, initially starting as an indoor event, and now it’s an open-air event with a capacity of 20,000. 2022 was hot as hell, both in terms of the impressive line-up of big well-known acts to upcoming rising stars of metal and, of course, the scorching temperatures.
Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL, CATTON PARK UK – 11-14TH AUGUST 2022REVIEW: MACHINE HEAD – ‘ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN’
by Carina Lawrence / Dark Art Conspiracy

Machine Head are back with their tenth album, ‘ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN’, their first concept album loosely inspired by the Japanese anime series Attack On Titan. Set in a futuristic wasteland where the sky is always crimson red, the album tells you the tale of two characters who believe they are doing good. Still, both sides are committing atrocities, and as the story unfolds through the music, their paths become more heavily and dangerously tangled, which is reflected in the sound. This concept has fuelled some of their most devasting and innovative work.
Continue reading REVIEW: MACHINE HEAD – ‘ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN’Brutal Assault # 25 – Fan photo gallery
Hi, as promised in the last report from Brutal Assault festival, here is a gallery of some fans there. Sure, its not whole twenty thousand, but hoping its enough of happyness and joy caught in the place. Enjoy! Thank you all!
































The most important guys in music – fans
BRUTAL ASSAULT #25 – DAY V REPORT
Hi, and welcome to the report for the last day of this great festival. The final day and I wake up frozen with a real sore and painful throat. I did not even know yet that I will get wet in the evening due rain as well. I looked at the forecast, it showed some rain, but weather was so nice, I have left my jacket in the car anyways…
On a paper, Saturday was not a highlight for me by any means. But when I have seen bands with my own eyes and heard by my ears, I was very, very happy. Hideous Divinity from Italy rocked on the main stage with thrashy Urne who opened the festival day for me. In the early afternoon it was the Haemorrhage from Spain and their bloody grindcore. It was fun from start to finish and Lugubrious’s face made many of us laughing every second. I thought the sound was nice and dense.




Urne, Hideous Divinity, Haemorrhage
Continue reading BRUTAL ASSAULT #25 – DAY V REPORTBrutal Assault #25 – DAY IV REPORT
The fourth day starts and I feel a bit tired a bit from rushing stage to stage. Slight pain in the throat does not help at all, too. But rock’n’roll awaits still.
In the afternoon, the thrash group Nunslaughter, Exhorder and the Czech Faust are worth mentioning. I was happy with the music of Benighted, which I had the opportunity to see last year as well. Their extreme action full of growling and pig squeals was satisfying as usual.




Nunslaughter, Faust, Exhorder
From the modern and more progressive side, bands like Aviana, Stake, Humanity’s Last Breath, Frontierer played early. Another less metal, more hardcore (kinda) was presented by Comeback Kid and Sick of It All or fusion of styles by Stake.



Stake, Humanity’s Last Breath, Sick of It All
Outside of black metal, I was looking forward to doom performed by Swallow the Sun. Again and as always, nice performance. The sad melodies dug into us damn deep. Maybe even more so, when we watched the lead guitarist Juho Räihä. He seemed crazy thin to me…


Swallow the Sun
I was preparing for blackness again. Mainly Abbath and Panzerfaust from Canada. I saw the guys a few months ago in Czech club. The music was good, but because of the (in)correct lights and smoke, everyone saw complete crap the whole concert… At the Brutal Assault, it really bothered me that many bands of similar genre overlapped at the same time… Was it like that last time too? I do not even remember due covid break. Now it was very frequent and I was quite sad. Panzerfaust didn’t start playing until half an hour after Abbath, but that was actually even worse for me. Most of us who were at Abbath show wanted to hear the second part of the set, when they again played covers from the legend – Immortal. So I didn’t hear anything from that part… Panzerfaust showed us that their black metal is powerful and strong at least, even if there was a little too much of the fog for my taste. The „chaotic“ plucking of dissonant chords in the fast tempo and the slower passages enhanced the greatness and force the band has.



Abbath, Panzerfaust
As the previous day represented the legend of King Diamond, on Friday it was the legacy of Chronos with Venom. Again, and absolute professionalism combined with a fun that was felt from the members. They kicked off the concert with the legendary song “Black Metal” and that was actually enough to give me full satisfaction. As Imentioned overlapping times of some bands, here, due Venom, I have missed Slagmaur which was playing on other side of the festival, unfortunatelly. Black metal band who closed the day of the day, was Mysticum, which was more on industrial side of the genre. Besides good music and great light show, many of us drooled on the great muscle mass of the guitarist. I think ladies had quite a hard time to keep on their legs. Stay tuned for the final day.




Venom, Mysticum


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