Many of you may have heard about the Hultsfred festival in Sweden, especially those of you who are from the country, but now the small city of Hultsfred is also of interest to metal fans. Last year (2003) the first edition of the metal festival Gates Of Metal took place there with bands like Arch Enemy, Nightwish, Gamma Ray and Blind Guardian performing.

On July 31st, 2004, it was once again time for Gates Of Metal to take place. This year 2430 people had paid to come see some of the most well-known metal bands in Europe as well as the American visitors Morbid Angel. Rain is something that we have had quite a lot of in Sweden this summer which must have been one of the rainiest summers ever but this day started out with sunshine and the weather made the festival a very pleasant experience for most visitors I am sure. It was the perfect temperature for a festival, not too hot and not too cool.

The festival area consisted of three stages, one big outdoor stage and two smaller once indoors. While enjoying the music it was also possible to grab something to eat, look at clothes or buy merchandise. Gates Of Metal is a small festival compared to the bigger ones in Europe but it still has everything you need and the smaller scale makes it feel a little cozier than for example Wacken or Sweden Rock.

The festival opened up at 2 pm when Sonata Arctica entered the main stage. This is a band that has been accused by many to walk in the footsteps of their big brothers and countrymen Stratovarius. That was partly true several years back when I saw them open up for Rhapsody and - guess what - Stratovarius. My memory from that show was a rather pale and untight performance but this day I was to see what Sonata Arctica anno 2004 was like. Everything had changed and it felt like it was a completely different band on the stage. Their show was tight, intense and the band felt very at home in front of the audience which is a important for a good live band. They are still better musicians than they are songwriters but this was definitely a good way to start the day.

Next I had to choose between watching the British speed power freaks of Dragonforce or the Swedish death metallers Facebreaker. My choice fell upon the latter for two reasons. First of all I saw Dragonforce earlier this year when they opened up for W.A.S.P. on their European tour and second I was going to interview Facebreaker later on. This band features former Edge Of Sanity member Robert Karlsson on vocals and he sure does know how to growl. He was the most impressive individual performer in the band on this day but the band's very intense, thrashy and massive death metal assault helped fuel a moshpit of people who were impressed with their live act. A very successful show for Facebreaker who released their debut album "Bloodred Hell" earlier this year.

Time to move towards the main stage again as it was Swedish blood flowing on stage again in the form of Meshuggah, a band that I have wanted to see live for a long time but now I finally had the chance to catch a glimpse of their unique 8-string guitars. This is the band who has been called one of the most important bands ever in extreme music by music journalists from all over the world and they are indeed right. Meshuggah's music is extreme, it is progressive, futuristic, experimental and intelligent and on stage frontman Jens Kidman's robotic and very peculiar movement on stage adds another doze of entertainment to the show. Watching a Meshuggah show is definitely something out of the ordinary.

Norway progressive power metallers Pagan's Mind had, despite their obvious instrumental skills, to leave room for the more exciting and unique Finnish humpa metallers Finntroll in my schedule. This is a band that I think an audience can enjoy regardless of whether they are metal fans or not and it seemed as if even the security gards at the show liked what they heard. At this time I decided to get myself something to eat as I will have another show at seeing Finntroll live in September when they visit my hometown on their short Swedish tour. From the fractions I witnessed in Hultsfred I should not be disappointed next month.

Now it was time for me to meet the Facebreaker guys for the interview and therefore I missed the first half an hour or so of Within Temptation's set, a Dutch band who has created quite a buzz around themselves for the past couple of years, especially in the Benelux countries to begin with but now also in other parts of Europe. For a band who have only released a couple of albums so far to be given 1 ½ hours of stage time seems a bit strange to me but the band's material is strong enough and despite the somewhat silly sounding giggling of female singer Sharon Den Adel her presence on stage was very powerful and she was just about everywhere with her big dress. The sound was perfect, the stage light was shifting colours as "Mother Earth" does when seasons chance and Within Temptation knew what they were doing on stage, experience that comes mainly from many shows around the Benelux countries.

Sweden's death / thrash metal band Arise was the next band to be ignored by me, not because I do not like them but because I was more eager to go depressive together with Finland's gothic leaders Sentenced. When I saw them at Wacken last year the atmosphere was just so wrong when they played in broad daylight. In Hultsfred they played at the darker of the two smaller indoor stages and this was much better suited for their set. Vocalist Ville Laihiala is one of the most intense and emotional vocalists in modern metal and the band's varied set with both older, more aggressive songs and newer, more melancholic and softer ones included made this one of the most memorable shows of the entire festival for me and many others.

From across the big pond the death metal pioneers from the Florida swamps had come to show Swedish metal fans what death metal is all about. Inbetween songs current front man Steve Tucker made everyone aware of this once in a while, accentuated by excessive use of the 'f' word. One classic came after the other when Trey Azagthoth started abusing his guitars in a way that no other man can and Pete Sandoval began pounding the skins. Morbid Angel definitely had the most powerful sound wall of all bands performing this day and it was possible to hear their show pretty well even outside the festival area. Many visitors had come here mainly to see the American death metal legends and I can't believe that any of them would be disappointed after their energetic and extreme performance.

Having never seen the veteran German thrashers Sodom live before the last choice of the day was the easiest one. Sure, it would have been nice to see Storyteller as well, but sometimes you have to make these choices and logic has to rule. I was glad to hear that Sodom played many of their old classics from the early albums, released in the days when they were leading the German thrash metal explosion together with fellow bands Kreator and Destruction. This day Sodom also filmed for an upcoming live DVD so if you were in the audience chances are that you will end up there. Sodom can get a little bit too much at times in my opinion but it was wonderful to hear the old classics off the "Agent Orange" album performed live in a small stage area like this.

Closing the festival was the big question mark - Stratovarius. Timo Tolkki now seems to have found at least a few loose screws from before and the old line-up was back together again - Tolkki, Kotipelto, Michael, Johansson and Kainulainen. No female singer, no unknown drummer and no fights or obscenities on stage. Many have feared that the band would fall apart for good and it is still very uncertain what the future of this Finnish veteran band will look like. The band members seemed to have fun on stage but some of the fire was missing and I think it was a bit unwise to let a band in this condition headline the festival. A good show but they have done better.

Gates Of Metal 2004 was over. I was not there last year so I can not really compare the overall festival experience but what I can say a few words about is the choice of bands. I am first of all very happy about the festival organizers' will to represent many different subgenres in metal. This is necessary to attract a wide audience and also for me, and probably others as well, to not get bored. During these two years thrash metal, death metal, power metal and gothic metal has been heard from the stages. There is only one thing missing, where are the black metal bands? If they only could add this genre to the list next year the Gates Of Metal would be the perfect mix of music for all kinds of metal fans. A very nice festival and I was very happy and satisfied when I began my journey back home, through the night and the mist. See you in 2005!

Highlights: Sentenced, Morbid Angel

All photos are copyright of Vincent Eldefors and Caroline Christiansen. Please don't use them without expressed permission. More photos coming soon!