The final day of Hell’s Heroes had the best weather of the weekend. Mostly sunny, but not quite as warm as day 2 and a bit of cloud covered kept the sunburn at bay. The crowds turned out in force and had a stellar time throughout the day, which featured some of the heavier bands on the lineup, leaning more towards black and thrash than the doom and heavy metal of the previous days.

The stages weren’t packed for the first few bands of the day, but all the diehard fans were there singing along to their favorites from Traveler, Early Moods, and Sumerlands. By the time Blood Star started on the indoor stage, things were beginning to get full, making it difficult to move through the crowd if you were able to look away from all the fun happening on stage. Cirith Ungol also felt well-attended, as this show was part of their farewell tour happening this year.

Necrofier definitely had the crowd buzzing. As both a local metal staple, and the hosts of the fest, plenty of people were packed into the indoor stage and ready to headbang and mosh to some blackened metal. That energy carried outside to Tank, where many people were crowdsurfing throughout the set. Following that, Darvaza brought the mood down inside. Frontman Wraath asked the crowd “are you having a good time??” and responded to the cheers with “well we’re here to change that.” before launching into their next blackened death track.

Traveler, Early Moods, Summerlands, Blood Star, Cirith Ungol

Photo Credit: Mar Morannon

Necrofier, Tank, Darvaza, Demolition Hammer, Dawnbringer

Photo Credit: Mar Morannon

When Demolition Hammer hit the lawn stage, it was as though a switch flipped in the crowd. Instead of the mostly chill vibes with a bit of a pit and a few crowd surfers, the intensity was cranked up to 11. A non-stop flow of crowdsurfers barraged the security at the front of the stage, the pit tripled in size and became more rowdy, and someone found a venue trash can which floated around the pit for a bit before a person jumped in and surfed up to the front in it. While it seemed like things would only ramp up for the remaining bands, the energy definitely returned to a more reasonable level as soon as Demolition Hammer finished their set. Maybe it was Dawnbringer’s classic doom sound that gave everyone a chance to chill out before heading back outside to see Forbidden’s classic thrash set.

Closing out the night, Wytch Hazel and Attic both played their first-ever US shows on the indoor stage while Rotting Christ and Sodom put on some speedy black metal that got a massive pit going on the lawn. After an intense day of headbanging and pitting, many people went home for a shower and some rest, but a good number also stayed to see the gothic rock band Twin Tribes close out the night at the after-party.

The weekend at Hell’s Heroes got off to a rocky start but proved to be an excellent time, drawing both local Texas fans as well as people who traveled from all over the US (and some even further!) to bond over a weekend of riffs and heavy metal. Every one of the food vendors I tried was delicious and there were a wide range of merch booths for anyone looking to stock up on patches, custom modified shirts, pedals, art, and more.

Forbidden, Wytch Hazel, Rotting Christ, Attic, Sodom, Twin Tribes

Photo Credit: Mar Morannon