The Graspop Metal Meeting 2025 was on the home stretch. Only one act remained, and for me personally, it was the most controversial of them all. None other than Till Lindemann and his band were set to close out the fourth day and thus this year’s festival. Surprisingly, the area in front of the stage was still extremely full. I couldn’t see the South Stage very well, but even there, many people had stayed after Judas Priest.
As empty as the huge Marquee tent sadly had been for Triptykon just before, the smaller Metal Dome was already packed early on for Alcest. The festival was rapidly approaching its end, but shortly before the finale, the French band offered a moment of calm with their atmospheric blackgaze sound.
Somehow, this really seemed to be the day of poorly attended shows. Just like the veteran acts Krokus and Savatage, who both faced large gaps in the crowd, Celtic Frost successor Triptykon suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, the large Marquee tent was only half full when Thomas Gabriel Fischer and his bandmates, V. Santura on guitar, Vanja Slajh on bass, and Hannes Grossmann on drums, took the stage shortly after 20:30.
The day continued with true old‑school power metal with a progressive edge. Savatage have been shaping the scene since the early 1980s, and after more than 20 years they finally returned to Graspop once again. After disbanding in 2007, they reunited in 2014, and they still stand on stage with remarkable energy, delivering a genuinely strong show.
Heaven Shall Burn are always a sure bet at any festival, so they were naturally a fixed part of my running order for the day. I had read with regret that vocalist Marcus Bischoff had been forced to end his Rock am Ring performance after just one song and, on medical advice, wasn’t allowed to sing for the time being. Fortunately, the band found an excellent stand‑in with Britta Görtz from Hiraes, who filled in for the rest of the festival and concert season remarkably well.
The afternoon moved on, and it was time for the first veteran act of the day: Krokus from Switzerland, a band that can look back on no less than 50 years of history. With them, the festival took a trip back to the early days of hard rock, and for the next hour it was hard not to think of AC/DC at almost every turn.
I stayed right where I was in front of the Jupiler Stage. Today really felt like a Japanese day, even though the next band, Rise Of The Northstar, don’t actually come from the Land of the Rising Sun. Instead, they decorated the stage with Japanese motifs and manga imagery. Japan is a major theme in their music, and the band is deeply connected to the country in general, for example, through their social engagement after the Fukushima tsunami disaster.
Leaving the tent, I headed back out to the Jupiler Stage. Since the wind had picked up a bit today, it felt noticeably more pleasant than on the previous days. And here, a premiere was about to take place: SiM (short for Silence Iz Mine) were performing at Graspop for the very first time. The second Japanese band of the day, moving in a similar musical realm as Crossfaith earlier around noon, though taking things in a slightly different direction.
From the high‑energy show by Crossfaith, I headed over to the large Marquee tent. Something more classic was on the schedule now. The Spanish band Angelus Apatrida were visiting Graspop for the second time and had brought thrash metal in the finest Bay Area tradition. The tent was well filled for this early hour, though not packed. Still, the guys around vocalist and guitarist Guillermo Izquierdo quickly got the crowd moving.
The final day of Graspop Metal Meeting 2025 had dawned, and it was set to begin with guests from the Land of the Rising Sun. Crossfaith from Japan had already appeared at the festival several times, usually on one of the smaller side stages. But today, they finally received the honor of opening the Main Stages — and they delivered a truly impressive set.