Another year has come and gone for the metal crowd of Tolmin, Slovenia, and with it has come some changes.

The most noticeable change could be seen in the name; instead of celebrating a 10th anniversary for Metalcamp, we got to be part of the worlds very first Metaldays!
So what’s up with that you ask?
Well, without going into too much detail (because we don’t really have it) there have been a parting in the group of partners behind the original festival and one part has run with the name and the other with the festival. Of course there are all sorts of rumours floating around when such things happen, but there’s really no reason to go into them, and I feel the above explanation is as far as we care to go without stepping on unnecessary toes. Cheers.
Now, what we were most interested in and concerned about with all this hullabaloo was how it would affect the everyday festival life for the people paying good money for this one of a kind metal holiday experience. That would be you.

Luckily, I can write without exaggeration or bribery (although it would have been welcome, wink wink) that as first time festivals go, no, festivals in general even, this was one smoothly running operation.
Of course, there were hiccups and things to be improved upon, but honestly, what event have you visited that this couldn’t be said about?
Apart from the name, the most noticeable change in the everyday life was that Metaldays 2013 had moved away from the coupon system for buying food and drinks on the festival ground, and had instead implemented a credit card system. Before arriving, this had worried us – first off, we had never really had anything against the old coupon system, and as so many others, we can be really bad at handling a credit card, especially when alcohol is involved (and you know it was). Also, electronic devices are always doomed to fail at the most critical point, as you also know.
So how did this monetary development play out?
Well, surprisingly well I must say. The first thing you needed to do was to locate one of the booths providing said card, these were also the same booths handling recharging of the card when the need arrived, and there were a few of them scattered around the place so you didn’t need to look far for them. Here you paid any amount of money you had on you, and these were then charged up on your card, minus a 4€ deposit and a 1€ start-up fee, and you were good to go. Of course, the card could be recharged any amount of times you thought necessary and with as much cash as you felt like parting ways with without further fees!
At the end of the festival, the card could be returned to the festival for the 4€ refund, or taken home, which could be interesting as memorabilia as it was a rather cool looking piece of plastic, with the festival logo and the mean looking armour on it. Either way, any remaining money could be pulled out and returned to you in cold, hard cash.
All this worked smoothly, and there was only a single time that I saw one of the pay devices at the bar break down, something that had been one of the main concerns. Well played, Metaldays.

On the subject of money, cups were still charged with a 1€ deposit which of course would be returned to you after delivering the cup to the cup refund booth. Yes that’s right, singular form, as in there only being one place for the entire festival to return their used cups. You see where I’m going with this, don’t you? Not a good idea!
Come last day of the festival, I don’t know how many times I walked by the place, and the line was just too long every time to even consider joining it. I don’t mind keeping the place clean and lessen the amount of garbage lying around, but I wasn’t prepared to lose any concerts for two measly € either. Oh, and for any of you who consider picking up cups lying around to collect a big refund, you should know that the card registers the amount of cups you buy, and they will only refund you that amount of money regardless of how many cups you bring in.

Anyway, that should be just about enough talk about the cups themselves. You might think that the reason why I have seemingly avoided the much more interesting issue of what comes in the cup up to this point is because it was a complete disaster. Well, to that I can only reply that you couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, I would like to quote the title of a certain Cathedral DVD – our God has landed!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, one of the most important improvements made to the festival was that Laško was once again flowing from the taps! Golden, icy cold, wonderful Laško! Oh, how I have missed you, dear friend...
As you can imagine, this made a certain Metaldays credit card pretty worn around the bar areas, and with a price of only 3€ a glass (40cl if I’m not mistaken), there was no reason to hold back!
We weren’t the only ones happy to see the mountain goat return either, heck, even Turisas’ vocalist Mathias ‘Warlord’ Nygård told of the beers superiority as they played the main stage! Preaching to the choir, one might say.

And so we begin to touch on something that is very relevant for any festival, namely the performances!
2013 saw a lot, and I mean A LOT, of interesting names on the billing for Metaldays, both of old friends and new acquaintances. Hypocrisy, Iced Earth, Samael and I could go on where bands we were really looking forward to revisiting, and of course the house orchestra Wintersun was certainly also high on the radar now that they have finally released that long awaited sophomore album of theirs.
Newer names (to our site that is, not necessarily meaning they are new all-together) that we were interested in checking out included Leprous, Gloryhammer and Benediction, and while at the festival, we were also convinced to go check out the death/grind orchestra Dickless Tracy. What a name, how could we ever miss out on something like that?
Metaldays had not changed the setup of the two stages or added to it, except for an improved stage for fun and games at the beach, but that’s another story. However, the festival did to a larger degree than ever before put more established names on the second stage, and the fact that they were oftentimes also overlapping in time, or at least close enough to make walking from one to the other a time-problem, was unfortunate. Sure, most of the time they let the sub-genre’s of metal be the distinction between bands, but we can’t be the only ones liking more than one type of band, can we?

Well, either way, liked bands we did!
I mentioned above that there were many things to look forward to, and I’m glad to say that many of these names also delivered!
Samael I haven’t seen for four years now, and that was a very pleasant reunion indeed. King Diamond delivered another killing show, as did Hypocrisy, Primordial and Powerwolf, but it might just be that Dickless Tracy was the biggest surprise of the bunch – really entertaining performance with no regards to pompousness.
Metaldays held its fair share of train-wrecks as well, there’s no denying it.
For one thing, it was in a way ironically amusing in a way that Wintersun’s gig was delayed for some 25 minutes because the power went out just as they were about to hit the stage, and when they finally got up there, it didn’t take long before the power went out again. It’s impossible for me to say where the problem lay, but there were no other power failures during the entire festival as far as I know...
Some bands had the opportunity to play and still didn’t manage to deliver; here I first and foremost think about In Flames which quite possibly delivered the most underwhelming experience of the year, not too closely followed by the combo of Leprous and Ihsahn.
I also cannot for the life of me figure out how Sonata Arctica managed to land a headlining spot? Hey, I’ve liked the band in the past, and without delving too much into their newer material they are usually a welcome sight, but as far as I’m concerned they are certainly not festival headliner material. Turisas, who played on the same day, would probably have done a much better job at this than their Finnish brethren, but there you go...

Metaldays, as its predecessor Metalcamp, is much more than music though; with its five days of entertainment, seven days open in total, it is still the one and only metal holiday that I know of, and on holidays there should be time and place to relax.
Time was shorter this year, as the bands began playing as early as 12:30, making me miss the time when bands didn’t go on until around 16:00. That way you could spend late mornings as you pleased without necessarily missing out on any music. I understand the festival can get more bands to play this way, but personally I preferred the relaxed schedule.
Well, if the time wasn’t completely up to the task, what about the place then?
As far as I could see, the camp-ground hadn’t changed all that much and neither had the layout of the stages which was ok, but what pleased me more was the return of the merchants alley to its original (as far as I know at least) position. Last year’s move further into the woods and extra security gates had been a hassle, whereas this year things were running as smooth as they could again in that department.
It is always interesting to see the changes made to the beach bar and the beach area, as it seems to be a bit different every year we visit. This year, the veranda-like sitting area had disappeared, why I do not know, but luckily for the guests we were blessed with god weather almost all the way through so it didn’t matter all that much in the end. Had it been constant rain things would probably have looked quite differently...
Also the rivers had had an overhaul before this year’s Metaldays began. In the middle of the stream of the Tolminka River, just where it connects to the Soča, an island had been built, and this was well frequented by river-bathers and sun-bathers alike. This meant that the river was flowing slower than usual, so no inflatable animal river-rafting tours for us, but it did not mean that the water was any warmer...
The water of the Soča was pleasantly tepid though, after you got through those initial minutes of excruciatingly painful freeze when at first dipping your toes, and I believe that this in part had to do with the fact that the river was for some reason much more shallow than it has been in the past (have they built up the entire bottom?), and the fact that there had been built a pier into the river where the river-boat now could make land and take on or part ways with metalheads on an hourly or so basis. We didn’t have time to try this ourselves, but it looked like it might be much fun, and it wasn’t very expensive either.

Foods-stands and varieties at the festival area had lessened since earlier years, but you could get a nice chicken and fries plate down by the second stage.
The best food was still to be found when going into the city of Tolmin, and beyond to the smaller village of Most Na Soči. At the Tmin pizzeria we were greeted by friendly and welcoming faces, waiters remembering us from so many visits before, and their Tolminska pizza was as good as it ever has been. This year we combined it with a side-dish of mozzarella salad which was equally tasty, and such a combo could keep you sustained for almost the rest of the day!
Still, no visit to Metaldays would be complete with visiting the Šterk, where we once again had many a lovely meal, and even ran into some acquaintances from last year who quickly became friends as well. If you should happen to go there, I highly recommend their variety of steaks, but stay away from the fried squids. Those babies are all mine!

Well, I’ve been rambling on for a long time now, and really all that needed to be said was that a new chapter has been turned in the metal history of Tolmin, and so far it has been a good one!
We can’t wait to visit this place again, and hopefully for many years to come.