A Week At Metalcamp

The peaceful and marvelously picturesque mountains of eastern Slovenia were subjected to more than their usual annual dose of heavy rock as Metalcamp staged its first seven-day festival.

The event has always lasted a week but on the first and last days there was no music. This year opened with a beach party on the confluence of the Soÿa and Tolminka rivers and the hills above were soon alive to the sound of heavy metal music.

The changes worked for the crowd as the weekend numbers were about 11,000 per day, about 2,000 up on the last two years.

Festival organiser Boban Milunovic says the weekday crowds, which had previously been between 5,000 and 7,000 per day, never dropped below 7,500.

The acts luring metal fans to the Slovenian mountains July 5-11 included Soulfly, Kamelot, Arch Enemy, Manowar, Paradise Lost, Sabaton, Hammerfall and Korpiklaani.