As with the Myles Kennedy/Vulvatorious situation the day before, Kōya, who were playing the mobile stage later in the day, were invited to deliver a set on the Hades stage, as some guy named Hardy had cancelled his performance.
For full transparency, I didn’t know either artist going in, so it didn’t bother me much, but I was curious to see what Kōya was all about.

“We’re both sorry and happy that Hardy cancelled, so that we could play here for you. We’re a very small band on a very large stage, and we’ll enjoy it! Later, we’ll be a very small band on a very small stage…”
- Martin Jørgensen (vocals)

Kōya define themselves as post-hardcore. Very screamy, very dirty, high octane. What you see is what you get; this is what we saw at Copenhell, this is what we got.
To put a few more words on it though, Kōya opened the Hades stage on another day of blistering heat and sunshine, although it was getting a bit windy - good for us in the crowd, a little bit disconcerting for the tall flames shooting up at the back of the stage every now and then.
The band itself offered no frills; as soon as they got on stage, they kicked the gig into gear with their energetic music and equally energetic performance. The whole string team ran and jumped all over the stage, and Martin Jørgensen wasn’t late in using the large speakers in front of it to jump around on. This was something of a gut punch, being our first band of the day, but a positive one, if there be such a thing.
In a song or two, guitarists Allan Pedersen and Magnus Klemmen ran out of juice however, and while they still rocked out, they were standing more in place doing so, without as much jumping and headbanging. Nothing would stop Jørgensen or bassist Patrick Serena however, who impressively managed to turn it up as the show progressed! No wonder sweat clung their shirts to their bodies, these guys were laying it all out there, no holds barred.

“Copenhell, we’ve brought a couple of slow dances along for you! Are you ready to dance cheek to cheek?!”
- Jørgensen (vocals)

There wasn’t a huge turn out for Kōya, in fact, there weren’t a lot of people who had come out at all, but the dedicated fans in the inner circle area of the grounds were having a ball. There was a lot of action going on here as well, helped along by the never relenting pounding of the band. When Jørgensen decided to leave the stage for a stint of crowdsurfing, this only increased of course. At the request of the slow dance, the circle pit opened up wide and incorporated most of the people in the audience, and when the fun outro of My Heart Will Go On played exceptionally poorly on a flute came on, it was easy to see that the crowd had increased in size.

Being new to the band, as mentioned, I can’t tell you anything about individual tracks and such, but I will say that with an extremely powerful opening and only the slightest drop in the middle, Kōya managed to bring this show home in a strong way. They clearly enjoyed themselves, and so did their fans, and in the end, that’s all you can ask for, isn’t it?