Belgium, Dessel - Graspop Metal Meeting 2025

Timetables are up!

I'll be going on Thursday, and here's my rough game plan for the day:

• Kicking things off with a first tough call between Deafheaven, Psychonaut, or Municipal Waste (listed in order of preference), who all play at the same time. Suggestions are welcome!
  
• Grabbing a beer on the way to the first highlight of my day...
  
• Signs Of The Swarm
  
• Back-to-back with LANDMVRKS
  
• Back-to-back with Death Angel
  
• Beer break en route to...
  
• Motionless In White (sorry Soen, maybe next time)
  
• Another round of beers on the way to...
  
• Paradise Lost or Terror (USA-LA) – though currently leaning toward Paradise Lost
  
• Back-to-back with Julie Christmas
  
• Might catch a glimpse of Orbit Culture
  
• Otherwise it's a 2h break to get some food and a good spot for...
  
• Iron Maiden's 2-hour "Run For Your Lives" set (which unfortunately means missing out on both Stick To Your Guns who also overlap with Carcass – brutal clash!)
  
• Closing the day with Hatebreed

Open to any feedback or tips!


Bonus: Upvote if you want a full-fledged festival review.

Enjoy, man!

I personally wouldn't miss Soen, if you have never seen them before (but I dislike metalcore, so there's that, too). Municipal Waste are great fun live, but Deafheaven have a very good album out, so I'd toss a coin. And I would go to Terror, instead of Paradise Lost; as much as I adore PL, they are so boring live, it hurts.

Written by nikarg on 24.04.2025 at 11:31

I personally wouldn't miss Soen, if you have never seen them before (but I dislike metalcore, so there's that, too). Municipal Waste are great fun live, but Deafheaven have a very good album out, so I'd toss a coin. And I would go to Terror, instead of Paradise Lost; as much as I adore PL, they are so boring live, it hurts.

So, as you know, I don’t dislike metalcore... So yeah, sorry-not-sorry, I took the full-blown metalcore route and entirely skipped Soen.

We caught the first half of Deafheaven, but bailed due to poor sound and a set that leaned too blackened, not enough post for our taste. Wisely switched to the second half of Psychonaut instead, even though we’ll see them again later this summer.

Signs of the Swarm absolutely crushed it. But that's just me not disliking deathcore either.

Really glad I stuck with Paradise Lost. Third time seeing them, and even though they had some sound issues too, their performance was solid and the setlist was top-notch. I really enjoyed it...

...until, while I was still riding that high, I of course got a message from my H/M/DxC buddies saying Terror was hands-down the best show of the day. Ugh. Typical.

Death Angel were easily the biggest letdown of the day. No energy, no spark. Time to hang it up.

Glad I caught Julie Christmas. But honestly, it was neither overwhelming nor underwhelming… just, uh, plain whelming.

I also involuntarily caught glimpses of Alestorm, Epica (playing the neighboring main stage right before Iron Maiden) and Powerwolf (playing the neighboring main stage right after Iron Maiden). Never. EVER. Again. Fuck!

Iron Maiden, second time seeing them, were good. Nothing more, nothing less. But still being frustrated from having to endure the pretentious torture that is Epica (fuck!), and simultaneously missing out on Stick To Your Guns (FUCK!), meant I only really got into the vibe halfway through "Killers". And I all too easily lost the vibe a few times more during their two-hour set, as they all too often lost consistency and focus. Still legends, but yeah, age is definitely catching up with them.

Hatebreed did what Hatebreed does.


Setlist Paradise Lost:

01. Enchantment
02. The Enemy
03. One Second
04. No Hope in Sight
05. Pity the Sadness
06. Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
07. The Last Time
08. Ghosts
09. Embers Fire
10. Say Just Words

I wouldn't watch Epica or Powerwolf, even if my life depended on them.

Sad to hear that Death Angel were dull...

That is one sick setlist by PL. They were supporting King Diamond last week over here, but I was sick and didn't go. I was so gutted.

Glad you had a good time, even though you should have listened to my advice re: Terror