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Tuska - Day 2 - 6/28/2025 - Suvilahti - Helsinki

After a nice lunch at the nearby REDI mall, our second day began a bit differently with a glimpse of Jarkko Martikainen - not quite the act one would have expected to see at Tuska in the previous years - but mellow enough to allow for a smooth transition for those who had a long Friday night and need a moment to get back into the festival atmosphere. At the same time we managed to jump to the nearby stage where Arion was performing at the same time, with flames heating up the fans in the front, in a day where the weather at least so far had been much better although quite windy, compared to the previous one.
They played a short set focused of course on their newly released “The Light That Burns the Sky”, but still packed enough energy to give their fans a good start of the day with their symphonic power metal, something Finland excelled at in the mid-90’s. Nice to see there is someone who keeps the torch alive in that regard.



Moving to the main stage, we encountered an old familiar presence for Tuska: Timo Rautiainen & Trio Niskalaukaus. The special occasion being the 25th anniversary of “Itku Pitkästä Ilosta”, which they played in full along of course with some of their classics. Feel-good energy and vibes continued both on and off stage, with these not-so-young anymore guys rocking it out for their fans. Towards the end of the gig we moved to the indoor Kvlt stage - thus completing the round of all 4 stages with our first 4 bands of the day - to check out Distant Stares.
There’s been more gothic rock than usual this year (or at least that’s the feeling), and that made us wonder if that’s making a comeback or is it more of a Tuska choice for this year’s lineup. Regardless these smaller acts on the 4th stage proved to be quite interesting. Specifically these young guys include elements of post-punk, alt-rock and dark wave, making for an intriguing mix, and being here to showcase their music certainly will help them getting more under the spotlight.



Sadly we could only see the first half of their already short set, as Charlotte Wessels was about to start her show at the Radio City stage. The ex-Delain has been quite successful in going solo with her career, and the proof is in how many enthusiastic fans have been welcoming her on stage today. Most of the set revolved around “The Obsession” - released last year - which has been played almost in full. It was nice to see how the dutch singer has come into her own and she really seems to enjoy this solo adventure she started after Covid, yet another example of great dutch vocalists in metal.
Back to the main stage for another Tuska classic and local favorite Mokoma. Which honestly surprised us with a much heavier set than thought, but then again this show was part of their summer festival tour “We don’t like Metal, we love it!”, so that puts things a bit into perspective. We have been positively surprised also by the fact the band still has such a good energy and Marko Annala a great charisma, so that while they are turning 30 next year, they are certainly going strong.



For the next clash (like every day between the Radio City and Nordic Energy stages) we opted to see Cemetery Skyline, as it was a first for us and there has been so much good talk about this Finnish/Swedish supergroup, which makes sense when you put together people like MIkael Stanne, Vesa Ranta, Markus Vanhala, Victor Brandt and Santeri Kallio. While not being exactly our normal kind of music it has to be said that the band works very well and each musician’s individual skills get the chance to show off during the show. They sure left an impression with their “Nordic Gothic” record, and we’ll see and hear more of them in the future for sure!
Shifting more towards Sweden geographically, on the main stage we find Orbit Culture with their melodic death/groove which is something the youngsters seem to like so much these days. With a new album coming out in the fall, they offered a preview of that through its namesake track “Death Above Life”, and “The Tales of War”. Their typically Swedish sound is something that is well in fashion here (we did just see In Flames as an headliner on Friday), and a good performance embellished by more pyros and the guest appearance of Avatar’s vocalist Johannes Eckerström made for a performance that will certainly have made the fans happy.



A difficult clash such as Alcest, Insomnium and Eihwar left us with a compromise of half Alcest show and half Eihwar - as we thankfully managed to squeeze into the very full and very sweaty Tiivistämö. Alcest seems a more self-aware, confident act compared to the early years, and that has impacted both their music and live shows. They have developed a solid fanbase and carved themselves an important space in the scene. Today the show - or the part we managed to see - left us a bit disappointed in terms of atmosphere, despite the good performance it was just hard to get into the mood. Maybe also due to the fact that their set was heavily focused on the last two records, which are the most distant to us among their discography.
So it was a really nice change of pace, and actually quite refreshing to discover a new band such as Eihwar on the small Kvlt stage. The French duo made of the incredibly energetic and dynamic Asrunn, enchanting the audience with the rhythm of her shamanic drums, and Mark, taking care of the synth, percussions and other folk instruments really left a mark on the festival, and on everyone’s present at the show. Making people dance at these viking-inspired tunes made the venue even hotter though, but in this case we didn’t mind. Definitely a fun show and best new discovery for us in this edition!



In a good mood and still humming the songs from the previous show, it was time for a highly controversial band to step on the main stage: Slaughter to Prevail. The Russian deathcore band had recently made the news for its vocalist Alex Terrible, bringing a Russian flag on stage and in general showing a pro-Russia stance - among other controversies - and that had called for some protests and boycotts. Which is why it was really weird not just to see a band that clashes with at least some of the values that the festival tries to promote, but also to see this huge amount of - mostly young - people, really, really excited to see their show. We didn’t linger around for long, just enough to get an idea of the “machismo” perpetrated by these buffed guys on stage, especially after the vocalist removed his mask and performed shirtless for the rest of the set, for the happiness apparently of many female fans in the front row.
This was the perfect time for a dinner break, and with a full stomach we headed to the other outdoor stage to see again Mikael Stanne, this time with The Halo Effect. More proper melodic death Göteborg-style, plus the undisputed charisma of the red-haired vocalist, made for a predictably good combo, and we didn’t mind listening to the material from both of their records for a good part of the show, until it was time for the main act of the day.



Sporting a massive production and impressive set on stage with all sort of fantasy/medieval decorations, Powerwolf feels more like a product than a band, or at least very overrated - the likes of other power metal acts before them, and for sure many that will come after. The fact they have such an appeal and traction to gain the main spot at the festival is something that honestly baffled us, but we can recognize and understand how many people would simply enjoy this “fun”, good-feel kind of music about folklore and fantastic tales.
Luckily there was Sepulchral Curse closing the day on the Kvlt stage so we could “escape” into Tiivistämö to listen to some good old blackened death made in Turku.
Fresh of their “Crimson Moon Evocations” release, the band had the opportunity to perform in front of a really packed Tiivistämö, despite the clash with the headliner. They made the most out of it, delivering a fine display of their music, which the crowd seems to dig quite well. It’s still weird to see their vocalist Kari without hair though. This made us end the second day on a good note. No after party this time but instead some well-deserved adult beverages and a good night rest before the last stretch of Tuska 2025.



See all galleries from Saturday
Tuska 2025 - Day 3 report

Report a cura di Marco Manzi