Festivalgoers in Germany really know how to make sure their camps have plenty of creature comforts, with generators, battery packs and solar panels abound, perfect for charging phones, running speakers, and most importantly, keeping beer cool! My camp had all these creature comforts, which was pretty important in the searing heat, I seldom was in my tent beyond 8am and my friend who camped elsewhere was in the full force of the sun come morning so wound up getting up some two hours earlier. The festival is situated in a general aviation aerodrome in Ballenstedt, a village located in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the foothills of the Harz mountains which lends its name to the festival. There are two stages, a Rock stage and a Dark stage, situated next door to each other and bands alternative between the two so there are no clashes, so you only need to walk in order to get to camp and back.
Left from top: the Gegensteine overlooking the festival site, a Transall C-160 cargo plane which is a static exhibit at the aerodrome, sunset over the camp. Right: me at the camp, beneath a gazebo and about to have another beer.
My first day there was a pretty slow and relaxed one after a four hour train from Berlin journey to get there, although I got to see Tanzwut and Letze Instanz:
The second day was pretty chill too, and I got to see Unzucht, Hämatom, and the amazing Paradise Lost. Of further note, and unfortunately not photographed were In Flames and the awesome folk metal band Feuerschwanz, (German for “fire stick”, although ‘schwanz’ is also slang for a certain part of sexual anatomy) who have rapidly become one of my favourite bands, and “Das Elfte Gebot” (“The Eleventh Commandmant”) is at present my favourite song by them. Look them up on YouTube, run the lyrics through Google Translate if you don’t speak German, and you’ll understand why it’s so uplifting, especially since I have been going through some very taxing times in my own personal life.
Day three featured Rauhbein, Bloodbound, Septicflesh, Equilibrium, Korpiklaani (who did an amazing show, I had “Wooden Pints” as an earworm for several days after the festival), and Arch Enemy:
The final day featured three of my favourite bands: Wind Rose (who I discovered last year at Kilkim Žaibu), Lacuna Coil (a favourite since with I first started getting into metal), and Amon Amarth. In addition I discovered the delights of Wolfheart, Lord of the Lost, and Saltatio Mortis:
So to conclude I thoroughly enjoyed the festival, and it was great to get to meet up and bond with people I first met at MetalDays the previous year. I did struggle with the heat sometimes although deep down I would sooner have that than a mudbath, and I saw some great bands and the beer and food was reasonably priced and excellent quality to boot. The layout is great for people who don’t want to walk miles and miles to get to see their band of choice as well and one huge plus point is there are no clashes. I would happily go there again next year.