Hellsinki Metal Festival 2026 – Day Two Report: Assemble the Chariots, Numento, Iotunn, Sepulchral Curse, Kalmah and Opeth

Day Two of Hellsinki Metal Festival 2026 in Helsinki picked up exactly where Friday left off — three stages, blue skies over the outdoor areas, and a bill that ran from homegrown newcomers to some of the biggest names in progressive and melodic metal. Metal Madness Weekly spent the day between the barrier and the backstage area, camera in one hand and microphone in the other.

Day Two in Pictures — In Order

Assemble the Chariots, Numento, Iotunn, Sepulchral Curse and Kalmah — the full photo run from Saturday is in the gallery below, in the order we shot it, followed by the interview portraits from backstage.

Assemble the Chariots — An Early Statement

Under a bright afternoon sky and with their logo towering over the outdoor stage, Assemble the Chariots opened our Saturday with a set built on atmosphere and weight rather than speed. Blue wash lighting, smoke drifting across the deck and a crowd that had clearly arrived early on purpose: a strong, confident start to the day and one of those slots that sends people straight to the merch tent afterwards.

Numento — Finnish Melodic Metal With a Full Production

Numento brought banners, a proper light show and one of the most polished stage presentations of the afternoon. Symphonic-tinged melodic metal with clean and harsh vocals trading places, big choruses aimed straight at the field, and a band that plays like it belongs on a stage this size. The crowd response — phones up, fists up — suggested plenty of new listeners were made in that half hour.

Iotunn — The Progressive Highlight of the Day

Iotunn were, for many people in the field, the reason Saturday sold. The Danes' towering progressive death metal translated beautifully to the open air: soaring clean vocals over crushing riff work, that huge monochrome backdrop behind them, and songs long enough to build entire arcs while still landing every payoff. Genuinely one of the best-sounding sets of the whole weekend.

Exclusive Interview — Iotunn's Drummer

After the show we sat down backstage with Iotunn's drummer for an exclusive Metal Madness Weekly interview, talking about the set, the writing process behind their latest material, the band's rise on the European festival circuit and what comes next. Watch the full video interview in the player above, or listen to it as a Metal Madness Weekly podcast episode on Spotify — the interview portraits are in the gallery below.

Sepulchral Curse — Death Metal Indoors

Indoors on Hellsinki-03, Sepulchral Curse turned the arena into something closer to a ritual: blood-red wash lighting, white beams cutting through the smoke, and Finnish death metal delivered with old-school conviction. A darker, more claustrophobic counterpoint to the sunlit outdoor stages, and exactly the kind of set that rewards stepping away from the main field for half an hour.

Kalmah — Swamp Metal on the Main Stage

Kalmah closed our photo run with a masterclass in Finnish melodic death metal. Flying-V guitars, that unmistakable twin-lead attack, the ornate backdrop and a field of horns from the barrier to the back fence — pure swamp metal in the early evening sun. Two decades in and they still play like a band with something to prove.

Backstage — Eluveitie and Kalmah Interviews

Saturday was also the busiest interview day of the weekend for us. Alongside the Iotunn conversation, Metal Madness Weekly recorded backstage interviews with Eluveitie and with Kalmah — folk metal and melodic death metal from two very different corners of the scene, both in candid form. Portraits from both sessions are in the gallery below, and the full conversations are rolling out on the Metal Madness Weekly YouTube channel and podcast feed.

Everything Else on the Saturday Bill

As on Friday, there was far more music than one pair of ears could cover. Beyond the bands above, Saturday's bill spread across the two outdoor stages and the indoor Hellsinki-03 room, with Eluveitie's folk metal drawing one of the biggest daytime crowds of the weekend and Opeth closing the festival on the main stage — a long, patient, beautifully lit headline set that sent Hellsinki 2026 out on progressive rather than brutal terms. Between those poles the day also delivered further Finnish and international support acts across all three stages, keeping music running from the early afternoon until the small hours.

Day Two Verdict

If Friday was about extremity, Saturday was about range: Assemble the Chariots' weight, Numento's polish, Iotunn's ambition, Sepulchral Curse's darkness, Kalmah's melodic firepower and Opeth's headline patience — plus three backstage interviews in a single day. Hellsinki Metal Festival 2026 finishes its second edition looking like a permanent fixture on the Nordic festival calendar.

Read our Day One report for Wormwood, Omnium Gatherum, Carcass, Ikinä, Bloodbath, Black Label Society and Accept, plus the exclusive Jukka Pelkonen interview.

— Report and photos by Tomi Perrakoski / Metal Madness Weekly