Hard and heavy rock are a global phenomena that includes the good people of France.
Do you know any metal bands from the land of berets and brie? Non? Me neither, but that doesn't mean our friends, who didn't invent the delicious fries, it turns out, don't love the power chords and shredding. They do. Beaucoup.
Thus HellFest has been able to attract such massive headliners as Metallica, the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and nearly 200 others.
With six stages, the four day festival packs a lot of punch for your franc.
Here are some of the best moments from this year's rock spectacular.
Tom Morello - "Killing in the Name"
Zack de la Rocha is incredible. He's irreplaceable. Surely some people would love to have Rage Against the Machine get back together even if it means replacing Zach with someone else.
But those people are, as the French say, oh so wrong.
Songs like "Killing in the Name" must live on, though. So how do you do it, particularly, live?
Tom Morello figured it out. He lets the crowd sing. And his fans will do anything for him. They can even get the ground moving.
It's quite moving.
Mr. Bungle - "Loss of Control"
Was Van Halen's "Loss of Control" just filler in Women and Children First? Was it just an excuse to let Eddie shred for a few minutes?
Was it one of the weirdest tunes in the David Lee Roth era of VH?
All of those are debatable, but one thing for sure is pretty much no one loves it enough to cover it... except for Mr. Bungle. Only three other groups have covered the bizarre song, but Mike Patton and Scott Ian (on loan from Anthrax) are the only outfit to cover it more than once.
That sort of devotion to a throw-away tune that's such a deep track even Sirius Deep Tracks probably never played it, might be exactly the reason that Wolfgang Van Halen joined the band headlining the fourth stage to cover his dad and uncle's shred-session song.
Suicidal Tendencies brought their VIPs on stage for the second half of their set and never kicked them off
There was a time just going to a show was amazing and spectacular and if you had a few bucks you'd buy a t-shirt and the next day at school you'd show off by wearing it and rubbing it into the faces of everyone who couldn't go.
Now there's meet-and-greets where you pay extra to get a picture with the star, then show off by plastering it on your socials.
But what is this? Suicidal Tendencies, like most bands, have a throng of friends, family and VIPs who get to stand in the wings of the stage and watch the gig. At HellFest, about halfway through the show, before "I Saw Your Mommy" and through "Institutionalized," they let them all get right there with them and never made them leave.
For over half the show there they were rocking out alongside the band. Is this a new trend? A higher level of fandom? Or is it just a band being bros with their bros?
Queens of the Stone Age & Corey Taylor & Dagoba & Slaughter to Prevail invite the fans to make Walls of Death
Walls of Death are nothing new. They're so old and metal is so metal that no one remembers who made it or how it was formed or why it fell out of favor.
One thing people can agree on is New York's Sick of it All brought it back from the dead when it was called The Braveheart and rebranded it into The Wall of Death.
Whatever you want to call it, it's cool, dangerous, foolish, and if you don't have the correct camera angle, it loses its mass appeal.
There were quite a few Walls of Death at HellFest but only one truly stood out.
Queens of the Stone Age's was quaint. Corey Taylor's was cute.
Dagoba (Voila! a French metal band!) was tres bien and beautifully shot.
But Slaughter to Prevail went home boasting they inspired the largest Wall of Death... ever?
Gents. Drones are a thing. Utilize them. Capture the moment like the pros you are and knock it off with this TikTok vertical framing.
A wall of death is cinema. Shoot horizontally. Present the length and girth of your audience and bring home how epic it all was.
If I was the judge I'd say Dagoba was the winner, StP was a close second and Corey Taylor (who also needs a lot of work) was a distant third.
Tom Morello is on the festival circuit through September, get your tickets on his website.
Suicidal Tendencies is also traveling the world through September. Their site is where you can get the tickets you need.
Wolfgang's MammothWVH is on tour through December. Make sure you catch him by grabbing tix on his site.
