When you’re a metalhead, Christmas is actually Heavy Metal Festival season. The summertime festivals in Europe are usually some of the best ones. The problem that the US faces when putting on Festivals is how expensive it is and how much paperwork is involved for getting all the good European bands to the US. One of the best festivals in the US was Psychofest in Las Vegas where fans spent 4 days inside the casino grounds running from metal band to metal band to The Flaming Lips to Drab Majesty to Bone Thugs And Harmony and back. Interestingly enough, the diverse genre mix worked well, but the overlapping set times of 5 different stages, one of which was at a sweltering outdoor pool stage, didn’t.

Fast forward to the year 2025, where the US really just ruins all the niceties with money hungry, selfish greed mentality. The best we have going for us in the US these days is 70,000 Tons Of Metal (January), which happens on a cruise ship, so does it even count? Plus, this year Taime Downe’s fiancee, Kimberly Burch, “fell” off the damn boat and died, allegedly. So much for that crazy metal sea adventure being a blast. The end of May usually gives us a great lineup Of extreme metal bands at Maryland Deathfest, but you have to survive stupid drinking rules, extra ticket charges to be able to have access to ALL the stages, and continuing to have to cross a street in busy and fairly run down Baltimore to get to the other stages. Then, there are some other US festivals that may or may not be problematic, but there is no need to discuss them because half the bands on the lineup suck.

Moving on to where metalheads craving heavy metal can go to see a damn good festival, try Steelfest, which is an easy smaller 3 day black metal festival 35 minues outside of Helsinki, Finland. If you’re into a larger more diverse metal genre filled festival, Hellfest in Clisson, France in June is the way to go. You’ll sweat your balls off, but you’ll also grow a new pair after witnessing such a massively cool metal décor including a giant metal statue of God himself, Lemmy Kilmister, great lineups over 2 weekends, and there is always the black metal forest to cool off under the best nature scene. So, if you’re looking for an escape plan from the US this summer, check out these other 2025 European Festivals that also have a good reputation:

Tuska Open Air in Finland (June 27th-June 29th), Beyond The Gates in Bergen, Norway (July 30th-August 2nd), Sweden Rock, for the hard rock lovers, (June 4th-June 7th), Download Festival in Donington, UK (June 13th-June 15th), Wave Gottik Treffen, for the goths, In Leipzig, Germany (June 6th- June 9th), In Flammen Open Air in Germany (July 10th-July 12th), and Brutal Assault in Czech (August 5th-August 9th)

Also, there is this brand new festival called Fire In The Mountains, in the US, in Montana of all places. It looks good because Old Man’s Child is back and playing the US for the 1st time ever. Hopefully, it is an easier festival with reasonable ticket prices and very few unfair rules. (July 25-July 27th).

And Finally the last farewell to the original lineup of Black Sabbath and tribute to Ozzy Osborne who can’t tour anymore due to Parkinsons which is a very underrated problematic disease. Ticket sales are through the roof, and sold out, but last minute miracles can happen, and proceeds go to help the Parkinsons foundation. (July 5th, 2025 in Birmingham, UK).