The Asteroid Bullet Belt

Making up for lost time.  I’ve always had a vested interest in my hobbies and obsessions being as far removed from consumerism as possible. Obviously, in the big 26, a time where capitalism’s tendrils have infiltrated every aspect of your waking (and perhaps also sleeping) life, it’s nigh-on impossible to avoid it in the things you enjoy. Everything needs to be commodified and turned into an excuse to push you towards rampant consumption and expenditure, the big festival lineups that show up across the world are very much an indication of that, even when it comes to more underground fare. Big events, stacked with bands that people are sure to want to catch live, because “How could I possibly miss out on this lineup?”, and obviously spend money on accommodation, travel expenses, and merchandise. Concert tourism. Furthermore, festivals (and bigger shows in general) stifle the connection between artist and audience, more often than not trading it for a greater spectacle. Due to that, ...

Satanic Goatkraft; or, one of the most fun shows I've ever been to.  More often than not, the summer season tends to be quite busy in terms of how many shows it has, but much to my chagrin, it thus far seems to be quite light on that front for me, at least based on my tastes and expectations. Admittedly, the 2026 iteration of Mammothfest taking place in Thessaloniki was stacked with a slew of good bands, ranging from Ahab to Carcass, but I found each day’s lineups to be much too inconsistent in terms of how much they interested me to be willing to drop 35€ on any single day. So what was the second best option? To drop 30€ to watch two bands that were guaranteed to give me a good time in Hellripper and Midnight. Empty as the season might be so far, the two bands definitely kicked June off in style, and it was only natural that I’d be attending their performance on the third, given that it was the former’s first time in the city, and the latter is on track to become an artist-in-resi...

Keeping it trve is playing blast beats for an hour and a half.  I’ve never been the most punctual writer, and that’s a big mark against me when it comes to writing concert reports, the old adage of striking while the iron’s hot ringing true as ever in these cases. Yet, I find myself capable of evoking memories from shows, be they sounds or images, regardless of how long it’s been, not to mention that taking the occasional picture helps jog the memory a little bit. Besides, turning into a curmudgeon that hangs out in the back whenever I attend shows with my wife prevents me from concussing every single detail out of my head by thrashing myself silly in the midst of the crowd. It’s been a month and some change, but I find myself looking back at seeing Tsjuder and Ignominous with relative fondness. It was yet another mid-week show for the season, and it’s no secret that I’m more than a little apprehensive about those, especially when the opener itself is playing for 20-30 people at be...

The North will never forget this one.  Day two of one of the busiest weekends of the year so far, and let me tell you, it was something else. Thessaloniki doesn’t often get metal festivals, only shows that have what could be perceived as having too many acts for a single evening, but Up the Hammers – Call of the North was anything but that. Six bands, and a thoroughly reasonable starting time of 17:00, what else could one possibly ask for? I haven’t been to a proper festival since the first iteration of the Release Festival back in 2019, and although I have always been of the opinion that I’d rather attend a show with 3 bands than a full-fledged festival, passing up the opportunity to see some of the bands who appeared here was inconceivable to me. What are the odds I’d be able to see Eternal Champion, Liege Lord, and Solitude Aeturnus on the same bill in my life? Sure, the lineup is nowhere near as stacked as the one that appeared over the course of 4 days down in Athens, but this...

Rage from the thousand lakes.  It’s been nearly two weeks, and I’m still buzzing over how good the concerts I attended were. Admittedly, my pace when it comes to writing does not quite reflect that, but rest assured that I’ve been incredibly excited to put this particular report together. As I alluded to in my Conan report, the weekend was set to start on a thoroughly blackened note, with the first show that we were to attend being Havukruunu and Heretoir, at the Eightball Club, as per usual. I always talk about how attendance waxes and wanes depending on the genre, and this show proves that Thessaloniki has a blackened heart. For the first time in a good while, I saw the club almost filled to capacity, with people standing shoulder-to-shoulder. It’s always a pleasure to see that, even if it can in part be attributed to Havukruunu having exploded in popularity since the 2020s rolled around, with albums like Uinuos Syömein Sota and especially Tavastland having broken containment out...