Photos/Review: Milwaukee Metal Fest 2025

Milwaukee Metal Fest returned for its second day on Saturday, May 17, 2025, with larger crowds, tighter sets, and nonstop energy across The Rave’s three stages. While attendance was noticeably higher than Day 1, the venue never felt overcrowded, and festival-goers were able to navigate between sets, food trucks, and merch tables without much trouble. The atmosphere remained energetic but organized.

Day 2 featured a wide variety of metal subgenres, drawing fans of everything from grindcore to progressive metal. The Sumerian stage delivered some of the day’s most polished performances, with Revocation and Oppressor pulling in longtime fans and Devin Townsend drawing a particularly large and enthusiastic audience for one of his final shows before a long break from touring. Between the Buried and Me brought the technicality, while Demolition Hammer brought an old-school intensity that had the crowd moshing from front to back.

Milwaukee Metal Fest 2025 by Mar Morannon | Metal Insider

Photo Credit: Mar Morannon

Over on the Blue Grape stage, standouts included Tesseract, Gorgasm, and Exodus, who sent the crowd into a frenzy with “The Toxic Waltz.”. At the same time, 3 Inches of Blood delivered a high-energy performance that was among the day’s most memorable.

The Copycat room remained one of the most consistent sources of chaos, with sets from Eyehategod, Ov Sulfur, and Snafu all drawing large, active crowds. Stage diving and active mosh pits were common throughout the day…if you could get into the bar to see them! Brat and Nekrogoblikon brought some humor to this stage with their characteristic comedy metal shows.

Outside the music, the festival’s vendors added to the experience. Everything from patches to flannel shirts to tattoos could be found, and the food vendors outside kept everyone fueled up for the action!