Photos/Review: Hell's Heroes Day 1

Photo Credit: Mar Morannon

Day one of the sixth Hell’s Heroes got off to a bit of a rough start. Rain that was predicted for Wednesday was pushed out into Thursday, interfering with several parts of the day. Setup for the outdoor stage was delayed, which had a cascading effect, leading to doors opening about 20 minutes behind schedule. To keep things on time, the first band, Adamantis, started as scheduled, but the late doors meant that very few people made it to their set. People were slowly filtering in, and by the time Acero Letal started on the outdoor stage, the crowd was definitely filling out and ready to party.
Despite the rain delays, everyone was in good spirits, and the fans continued to headbang, crowd surf, and mosh to their heart’s content throughout the day, especially as the weather cleared up in the early afternoon. The mix of local TX heroes like Helstar and more global draws like Doro and Acero Letal gives Hell’s Heroes a really nice vibe. Sometimes, at bigger shows and festivals, the smaller bands will be lightly attended or overlooked, but that never seemed the case here, where everyone seemed just as excited to see their local bands on stage as they were to see bands who came from all over the world.
While the Hell’s Heroes lineup is trad/heavy-centric, the inclusion of some heavier stuff like black and doom gave most attendees the option to rest, shop, and eat between the sets they were most excited for. Day one was definitely heavy metal dominated, with bands like Savage Oath, Girlschool, and Night Demon laying down classic riffs, coordinated stage movements, and plenty of opportunities to bang your head. Doro’s special Warlock set was definitely a huge draw, and the lawn was completely packed with fans who were going wild for the set, including singing along to every word.

Photo Credit: Mar Morannon

On the other end of the spectrum, Occult Burial, Destructor, and Autopsy brought the brutal vibes with blast beats, more distortion, and raging moshpits. Ancient VVisdom was a bit of an outlier on the lineup, playing more relaxed doom with an acoustic guitar. If it weren’t for Candlemass as the headlining band for the day, they would have seemed completely out of place, but that didn’t stop them from drawing a decent crowd into the indoor stage to enjoy the comparatively mellow set.
By the early evening, the indoor stage was packed for Destructor’s set, especially as the rain started to return and people came inside to avoid getting wet, and near the end of their set, the outdoor stage had been closed due to a lightning threat. With the festival crew focused on securing the gear on the outdoor stage, communication with the festival attendees was minimal, and there was a lot of confusion and rumors happening inside the hall. Additionally, neither Facebook nor the indoor stage received notice when Autopsy was approved to start their set on the outdoor stage, and several people missed the first few songs as they continued to wait out the weather inside, as instructed, or waited to get back through the line to re-enter the grounds.
Autopsy’s set ended up starting about 40 minutes late and was shortened to accommodate getting Candlemass on time in order to meet the 10 pm sound curfew. While the storm and confusion definitely put a bit of a damper on the later part of the day, the mood picked right back up once the shows got started again and carried through to the end of the night. Everyone who had left was able to return to the festival, and with their energy refreshed from the break, the pit was thrashing and grooving.
Candlemass ultimately took the stage about ten minutes late, though their comments indicated that the delay was due to issues with the sound equipment having some issues due to getting wet in the storm, and they faced a couple of other technical difficulties during their set relating to the water damage. A slight mist of rain started back up during their set, which only served to increase the ambiance as thousands of people swayed and sang along to the doom metal classics like Bewitched, At the Gallows End, and Solitude. As the band was taking a photo and making their exit, they were informed they had time for one more song, but unfortunately, this decision must have been made by someone unfamiliar with doom metal, as they started back up around 9:56 pm and only got halfway through Under the Oak before being cut off for the sound curfew.
All in all, the rain caused some confusion and difficulties for the day, but the Hell’s Heroes crew pulled it together, and the weather clearing up prevented any major festival catastrophes. The community also showed a lot of resilience, bouncing back immediately from every setback and quickly getting back into the mood to enjoy more metal!