The Swedish one-day festival Metaltown opened its doors for the very first time in the summer of 2004. That time Brides Of Destruction, In Flames, Turbonegro and Dimmu Borgir performed among others and the headliner was none other than veteran shock rocker Alice Cooper. In short this was a high quality festival. The organizers continue upon the same path in 2005, presenting 9,000 people with well known bands such as Tiamat, Apocalyptica, Hanoi Rocks and, to round things off with, the mighty Rammstein.

Concerning weather conditions, Metaltown has been plagued with an incredible amount of bad luck as the rain kept pouring down throughout the whole day exactly as it did last year. Despite this, a large crowd gathered in front of the two main outdoor stages to watch most bands, fighting against getting wet and the cold that comes from it. The lesser known bands, who play at the smaller indoor stage, should have benefitted from the weather conditions once again though as people try to find shelter from the rain once in a while. I myself had a few hours of rain coming down on me before I decided that the VIP tent was far more comfortable.

Due to several unfortunate events (of which I had quite a few at this point of time...) I arrived a little late and was not able to witness the opening gig from the for me very unknown band Orion. I did however get to see Enter The Hunt, an unsigned band who still was offered a spot at one of the main stages, most likely due to the fact that former Candlemass colleagues Björn Flodkvist and Mats Ståhl can be found in the line-up. The leading Swedish metal magazine Close-Up has referred to the band as "the best act in Sweden" but their brand of modern neo-shaded metal appeared rather pale and uninteresting to me. The frontman Krister Linder is however a decent vocalist, although everyone in the audience, me included, were rather puzzled as to what he was trying to say with the disillusioned and ridiculous talking inbetween songs.

Scenteria is a young band from Halmstad on the west coast of Sweden who released their debut album for New Aeon Media / Karmageddon Media last year. Their typically Swedish brand of intense and tight death / thrash metal is well executed and even if they do not really stand out as unique that kind of music always gets the crowd going and Stefan Persson's growl is monstrous!

If Enter The Hunt was the first "allstar act" then All Ends got to be the second. This band was spawned in 2003 as In Flames guitarists and song writers Björn Gelotte and Jesper Strömblad began writing music together which was different from what they usually do. The live version of All Ends does not include Jesper nor Björn but the two female vocalists Emma Gelotte (Björn's sister) and Tinna Karlsdotter (ex-Mortum), guitarist Fredrik Johansson (former In Flames session guitarist), bassist Michael Håkansson (Evergrey) and drummer Josef Skanås. Emma and Tinna have two very different voices and they are both gifted singers but Emma's softer voice and personality tends to be shaded by Tinna's sharper and more powerful appearance. A few riffs and vocal lines here and there do impress but there was no song that really stuck to my mind afterwards. Tinna's inexhaustible energy on stage saved their performance and they are more or less only riding on the success wave of Evanescence with followers. Not bad but there are many who have been around for much longer and do it better.

Sleazy 80s hard rock is what Enemies Swe out of Skövde have dedicated their musical skills to. They have the looks, they have the image and they have the music to go with it. Last year's debut "Behind Enemy Lines" was one of the more impressive modern day releases within this genre in a long time and I now realized that they are even more impressive live. Enemies Swe have fun on stage and their joy is passed on to the crowd very nicely. If this is your kind of thing it is a name that you should definitely remember. At this point I had grown tired of running back and forward through the rain trying to catch each band and Enemies Swe was the last band I witnessed at the smaller indoor stage which was later on also graced with performances by Hell N' Diesel, Kakaphonia, W.E.T., Nine (intense and brutal hardcore) and Beseech (solid gothic metal).

Now it was time for the first real highlight of the festival. I admit that I had been curious to see both Enter The Hunt and All Ends but Tiamat have been around since forever and I have always been a big fan of their music, both the older death metal tinged sound and their newer gothic rock. Their set consisted mostly of younger material such as "Vote For Love" (with which they opened) and "Cain" but they also dug up the classic "In A Dream" off their 1993 album "Clouds". Throughout the years Johan Edlund has become a very good vocalist and his performance live is quite impressive indeed. He's also well dressed as usual and a pleasant eye resting object for the ladies I am sure. The sound was great and the rain a quite appropriate companion to Tiamat's gloomy music.

Another band who, if not being exactly gloomy, at least have plenty of melancholic melodies to offer is melodic death metal veterans and local heroes Dark Tranquillity. Spearheaded by the very nice and charismatic vocalist Mikael Stanne the Gothenburg natives performed a tight and energetic set of 40 minutes. I would personally have loved to hear a few older songs but when the set is this short it is natural that the focus has to lie on new material. After all, their latest album "Character" beats the hell out of most of their competition even today, 16 years having passed since the formation of the band. A personal and professional show that left the crowd satisfied with a desire for more. There is a Swedish (only?) saying that goes like this: "There is no bad weather, only badly chosen clothes". Mikael Stanne created his own version of it: "There is no bad weather, only damn slow music".

If Tiamat was not gloomy enough for the festival visitors then retiring gothic metallers Sentenced must have been, at least combined with the deluge which continued to pour down from the sky. I was very happy to be able to watch this Finnish band once more before their name rests in peace for good. A lengthy and productive career is coming to an end but this has to happen at one point or another and I am sure they have chosen the time wisely and for a good and valid reason. Each time I have had the joy to watch Sentenced perform live they have seemed a bit indifferent and sloppy on stage but nonetheless I am left equally impressed in the end. I must admit that I expected a little extra from the band at these farewell shows but other than that it was pretty much as perfect as ever before.

By this time I was hiding from the rain in the VIP tent and from a distance I watched the Finnish equivalent of Mötley Crüe - Hanoi Rocks. I have never been a big fan of their music but as a live act they possess the talent of being able to absorb the people in front of the stage with their dynamic and intense show. It's 80s, it's nostalgia, it's a very interesting experience. I have always loved Mötley Crüe and a few other hair rock bands but the over the top image is silly beyond description. Either you love it or you don't.

The Finnish Apocalyptica made a name for themselves by performing Metallica songs on cello and this is still what makes them worth seeing. Nowadays the cello orchestra has been reinforced with a live drummer which makes them a very interesting sight. Impressive takes on Metallica classics such as "Master Of Puppets" and "Fight Fire With Fire" are coupled with their own material which is unfortunately far less interesting and often even duller than "St. Anger". Unless we're talking musicians of Dream Theater's calibre instrumental music is only entertaining for so long. Metallica have written many wonderful songs throughout the years but there is a reason why there are hardly any instrumentals. Nonetheless, watching Apocalyptica live is quite a unique experience and everyone should catch them on stage at least once I think.

Hammerfall did what they always do - they got up on stage, performed one hell of a show, had plenty of fun together with the audience and displayed their usual sense of professionalism. The Swedish power metallers have become an experienced live outfit by now and I don't think they disappointed any fan who came to see them this time either. The weather gods did their best to spoil it for everyone but metal conquers all.

Last, but definitely not least, the seminal German industrial metallers Rammstein was to round off a very wet but well organized festival. As everyone already knows that a Rammstein show is a highly spectacular experience with plenty of fireworks I will only add a few comments about their gig. First of all, Rammstein is all about the show but it's a shame that there is no real interaction with the audience. Perhaps it's due to limited English skills within the band, I don't know. Second, I am quite disappointed with the band's rock star behavior or whatever you wish to call it. No-one was allowed a photo pass (not even for the shows of the other bands at the festival) without a contract with Rammstein and record company representatives were not allowed backstage to meet with their artists which for us meant a cancelled interview.

In the end I was very happy to have been to such a professional and well organized festival as Metaltown once again. Despite the bad weather there were no serious technical problems and I have never tasted better hot dogs! Last year Alice Cooper disappointed me slightly with a rather bleak live show but Rammstein was more than enough to compensate for this. There are far too few bands who make an effort to offer the audience a visual experience to go with the music. It does of course not have to be an overly expensive Rammstein show.

Highlights: Rammstein, Dark Tranquillity and Tiamat.