Baest is a fairly new Danish death metal band, who’s had a lot of wind in their sails through their short lived (so far) career. They started out back in 2015, and here, only four years later, they appear as basically a must see band on the large Hades stage at Copenhell.

When we arrived, the stage was covered by a curtain. I could understand this had it been some larger band who obviously brought a lot of stage scenery, but would Baest also have this? I didn’t know. Turns out, they didn’t. Well, they had a nice, big backdrop, but why hide that? That’s just common inventory, isn’t it?
Anyway, what was impressive at this point wasn’t what was on the stage, but rather what was in front of it. Baest had managed to gather the largest crowd I’ve ever seen gathered before the Hades stage. As in, the LARGEST crowd EVER right here! I looked out, and it went all the way to the top of the hill in the back, to the fence in one direction, and to the Helvíti bar in the other - anyone who knows the layout of the festival will testify that this is an impressive feat!

It wasn’t just a large crowd though, as it soon enough turned out that it was a damned active one as well. As the band began pounding out their old school death metal with an impressive ferocity on their hand, it became clear in an instant that these were no idle passers by - these were true Baest fans from start to finish! The audience literally transformed into chaos before my eyes, as they delivered some of the wildest possibly imaginable moshpits and circle pits. Hell, already in the first song, Marie (Magdalene), Baest was given an insane wall of death in their honour. And there was a constant flow, nay tidal wave, of crowd surfers going by!

“Give a big hand to the security guards! God damn they’re busy!”
- Svend Karlsson (guitar)

So was the band truly worth all this?
Well, yes and no in my opinion. Musically, Baest delivered some very solid, classic death metal, which should please any fan of the genre. As a first time listener though, there wasn’t anything in particular that caught my ear, and that I would keep humming after the show was done. I lacked that stand-out riff basically.
As a live act however, Baest was a beast (pun intended)! As the crowd went wild, so did the band members, in all their youthful vitality. Simon Olsen was constantly moving between the stage and the speakers in front of it, and when Svend Karlsson joined him there, Olsen went further, and stood on the security fence. Shortly, he could also be seen crowdsurfing among the rest of them.

The band shot a video for their song As Above So Below during the show, which is now publicly available, so if you want to check out the event, you can always have a look at that. I will say this though, a video can in no way deliver the same feeling as standing there in the crowd, watching it delivered blow for blow live.
Even though they didn’t grab me with their music, Baest showed that they’re a force to be reckoned with, and they delivered one of the wildest shows of the year. I completely understand their popularity.

Setlist:

Marie (Magdalene)
Wormlord
Atra Mors
Vitriol Lament
Hecatomb
Danse Macabre
Gula
Nihil
Marks Of The Undead
As Above So Below
Vortex
Eco Qong Arafat
Crosswhore
To Live Is To Die (Metallica song)