Opening notes
One of the key characteristics of power metal is the presence of complex orchestration, especially in the modern European power metal (EUPM) context. This leads to challenges for bands when they play live. For many bands, they seem to have tried to solve this by playing backing tracks layered within their live instruments. I don't really like this. As a rule of thumb, I will always prefer actual live instruments to tracking, even if there's errors in the live play. For the following set reviews, I will on occasion shoutout when bands do manage to work around these limitations and play live, and I will very much critique when they don't (with one particularly dishonourable mention.) Finally, scores are /10 in the context of this festival. A 10 isn't necessarily the best thing I've ever seen, but it reflects best in show across the two days.
Day 1
Angus McSix
In the spirit of full disclosure: I watched approximately three minutes of this before leaving to fix my makeup so my review isn't going to fairly cover the full Angus McSperience. That being said, what I did see involved the frontman (Adam? I believe there's been some sort of canonical character change following Thomas Winkler being kicked out of voluntarily departing yet another band) spending far too long introducing a love song about a dwarf, which then culminated in his enthusiastic comment to the audience to "now get out your shovels and dig!" That his accompanying digging motion was so practiced and crisp is both a credit to the professionalism of the band, and the sheer absurdity of the fever-dream that is this band on stage. I don't really like anything about the band on album, but the live experience is strangely compelling in a deeply camp/unintentional pastiche sort of way. It's definitely still bad, but it's the kind of bad which you can watch with your friends and laugh along with. If you like Red Letter Media's Best of the Worst series, you'll probably enjoy watching Angus McSix. I would give negative points for the band being heavily backing-tracked but honestly I didn't watch enough of it to even care.
???/10
Dragony
There's a term we throw around sometimes when we talk about a particular streak of power metal (and I am indebted to one of the old powerful. hosts for it) which is "EUPM midboys". This term tends to be wheeled out for bands one recognises aren't pushing boundaries or doing anything particularly novel or special, but damn if what they're doing isn't just enjoyable. For me, Dragony has always been this. Of course, how this translates to a live show is absolutely a dice roll and unfortunately for Dragony, the dice did not land favourably at Epic Fest. They've picked up a new singer (Maria Nesh), who did a sort of tag-team, one-song-each between her and the old guy for much of the set, which at first was a little odd, but it was quickly apparent why it was necessary. I don't know what caused the established vocalist to struggle in getting through full songs without needing a break, but it made for a jarring stage experience watching him constantly enter and exit the scene.
Beyond this weirdness, Dragony's strength has always been overproduced, overorchestrated symphonic EUPM, and it really showed in this set that there's just not much interesting for three of the six people on stage to do (for some reason the band lacked a bassist for this set, which in classic EUPM fashion did absolutely nothing to affect the sound anyway, but it was still odd). Dragony's guitar and percussion work isn't really notable or distinct, and this really sticks out as a weak point when one watches a live set. Maria did a decent job on the songs she performed and in keeping up the energy, but at most I would call this show acceptably competent, and not a bit more than that. I'll admit to being a little disappointed, but such is the temperamental nature of watching live music.
4/10
Trick or Treat
One of the biggest surprises for me which came up before the festival proper was learning that Trick or Treat is not only a real-ass band rather than just a one-off gimmick (they've released something like seven albums), but also learning that it was Alessandro Conti's original band. I'd listened to a handful of songs way back when I was a teenager, and I'd had a look at one of the modern albums before getting to Denmark, but I wasn't really sure what to expect coming into this. It's honestly quite a good contrast to the Dragony set because Conti and the bone brigade (they're all dressed in skeleton onesies) are absolute live performance professionals. Inflatable props were tossed around, the band's Instagram was spruiked (with only a little self-effacing "yes, we have to perform for The Algorithm") and a sing-along cover of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun was an entirely predictable crowd favourite. The band really benefited from being in the smaller, more intimate Gimle venue, where people could yell at Conti during his stage banter and he could reply in his own very Italian way.
This was probably the most fun set of the festival, and while we sometimes use the term fun in a slightly disparaging way, I mean it quite earnestly here. As for the music itself, it's solid if not in any way exceptional euro power metal. Definitely one where the live show pushes the whole experience up a couple of points. They get a whole extra point too for bringing along these enormous spooky ghost inflatables which flanked the stage. Definitely my favourite stage dressing for any of the sets at the festival. I would happily watch them again, and I can recommend making the time for it should they happen to be performing anywhere near you.
7/10
Rhapsody of Fire
Anytime Starapoli of Fire comes up in conversation, it's almost inevitable that there are comparisons to whatever alternative Rhapsody project is currently kicking about. This is doubly the case when the Rhapsody project is Fabio Lione's Dawn of Victory, who happened to play Epic Fest last year, bringing along four of the six original Rhapsody members. I loved that Dawn of Victory show, so I went into this with a little trepidation. I am very glad to say that my fears were utterly unfounded. Starapoli himself might be the only original member of Rhapsody of Theseus left, but he's done himself a great service by finding a group of truly excellent musicians. I think the actual performance of the band here outclassed what Dawn of Victory brought in 2025. It's somewhat ironic that Starapoli himself had the weakest stage presence of anyone on that stage, but again, this is a credit to just how good the new guys are. Every complex Luca solo, every soaring note and drumbeat from the Rhapsody back catalogue was hit with precision and passion.
My only real complaint is a truly boomer one: the set did contain a number of newer songs (to be expected), and as has been remarked on many times, the songwriting without Luca is a pale imitation of its former glory. Nevertheless, the new songs were performed well, and there were enough Rhapsody classics on the setlist to make both myself and the biggest crowd of the day, very happy indeed. On a personal note, I have an especial soft spot for A New Saga Begins, so it was to my surprise and delight that they introduced it for the encore. And of course, there are few things as magical as singing along to Emerald Sword with near to a thousand other dorks. Rhapsody of Fire in its current iteration is a temperamental beast, prone to cancelling tours and general silly things like dreadful re-recordings, but this set was magnificent. My pick for second best of the festival.
9/10
Ensiferum
I joked to my friends before popping into this set that I'm more of a Korpiklaani and Fintroll person than an Ensiferum one, so I wasn't expecting much. I don't have a whole lot to say about Ensi-- I'm not familiar enough with the band to comment on how the songs were performed, and to be entirely frank I'm not really a huge fan of the Ensi/Korpi/Fintroll style of folk metal on the whole. That being said, I was impressed to see that every member of the band had a mic set up, and every member subsequently pulled their weight on the vocals. I had a decent enough time, and I would recommend checking them out if they're playing at a festival near you, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch them again.
5/10
Masterplan
Masterplan is a band which has always been a greatest hits band to me. I know both their debut and Aeronautics are well-regarded, but in all honesty, I have only ever cared for three songs: Spirit Never Die, Heroes, and Headbanger's Ballroom. People have lots of opinions about Jørn Lande's departure and the quality of his replacement but it never really mattered to me as a casual listener. I would say my expectations were tempered for this set, but then again, given this set started a hair after half past midnight, I can't say I was in the most energetic of moods. Compounding this was the unfortunate fact that the sound was not great for this set in particular. In general the middle stage has had issues with sound quality over the years, but this was notably bad. I'm not sure how much of that is the band's fault, but it does impinge on the ability to truly enjoy a show- especially when one is not overly familiar with the songs one is hearing. Regardless, I will give the band full credit for playing the three songs I wanted to hear within the first four songs of the set, which meant that I was content enough with the experience for what it was.
4/10
Day 2
Lost Dawning
So, I have a confession to make. I absolutely love art and media which is made with earnest passion, even when the technical quality of the art or media is… not quite as high as it could be. Lost Dawning is a band which at the time of festival had put out a grand total of five songs, spread across an EP in 2022 and two singles this year - one of which came out the day before the festival. To say they're a little inexperienced is putting it lightly. Now, having set the scene for this set (kicking the second day of the festival off bright and early at 2:00 pm), I can say without any reservations that I thought this absolutely rocked. The Lost Dawning brand of EUPM hits a perfect spot deep in my brain-- a spot which goes back more than a decade and a half, when I was a teenager trawling the internet for obscure power metal. Everything about Lost Dawning feels earnest and full of wonder. The set truly felt like a group of friends getting together to do something they love (and indeed, this is the story of how the band came to be-- they met in various Discord servers online); facing down a decent sized crowd at an actually reasonably significant international festival. It felt like embracing the spirit of the festival wholeheartedly, and I found myself smiling all the way through the set. That the band at one point muddled their setlist and had to quickly clarify what exactly they were playing next is exactly why I go to watch live shows.
When I go to gigs, more than anything else I want to see humans choosing to spend their time sharing something they made with the world. Everything about Lost Dawning's set was real, from everyone actually playing an instrument (there were no piped in tracks here) to the awkward, undercooked stage banter, and I loved every second of it. I realise it might sound like this review is a little tongue in cheek, but I really genuinely do believe that they’ve got some quality songwriting chops spread throughout the band. Being new and at times a little amateurish is something which can and will improve with practice (especially so given their own self-aware observations that they’re already ‘much better at [their] instruments’ than they used to be), but that spark of creativity and the desire to see where it leads is a much rarer thing. This is a band with great potential, and I'm excited for their album coming out later this year. They have found a fan in me, and they will continue to have one for as long as they keep releasing music. This is my pick for equal third-best set of the festival.
8/10
Victorius
I was jotting down notes at various points during the festival (having committed to these reviews only a week beforehand), and I think it is best if I reproduce what I wrote for Victorius verbatim:
Victorius is everything bad about modern power metal (arena metal?) From the abundance of piped-in synths giving both guitarists little to do, to the haha-epic-dinosaur-samurai-narwhal-bacon lyrics, it feels like they're both a joke and having a joke at everyone's expense. I watch this band and I see the puppeteered skin-suit of actual power metal being dragged around the stage in a bloody-- and even worse-- utterly unfunny way.
With the benefit of a few weeks' reflection and a notably more sober perspective, I can say that I was absolutely bang on. I hated this set and frankly I hate this band. Did you know they used to make actual power metal back in the day? Back before they sold their souls to whatever demons currently work in Napalm Records' talent acquisition team. I will only add that this set was the most obnoxious example I've seen so far of what we've come to disparaging term as Power Metal Karaoke (the ur-example of which is perhaps Beast In Black during their recent US tour sans-Anton). It's something which has been growing in the scene like a malignant tumour, and I think it's genuinely anathema to why we bother to watch live shows at all. Get one of your guitarists to bloody learn to play keyboard. It's all just synth riffs and it's not like he's doing anything interesting during his background dugga-duggas anyway. Worst set of the festival and the second worst set of any of the Epic Fests so far (the dubious honour of all time worst still sits with Pirate Queen in 2025.)
2/10
Fury
Revival traditional heavy metal is a bit of an odd duck. The differences between the various strands and bands are blurry and full of overlap. What this means in practice is that whether one likes what a revival trad band is about or not is deeply vibes-based. I recognise that Fury did an excellent job with their performance, and indeed they were a stark contrast to the blatant cynical Napalm-core of the previous Victorius set. They had the energy and quality of a properly tight, professional band, and they absolutely got the crowd on-side with their brand of heavy metal. But alas, for me it just didn't quite land. I have no real substantive reason for this and I have no meaningful way to justify it beyond pure vibes alone. As such, I will once again defer to a note I made at the time, which is that:
Fury is a band which make you go "yeah" but I wish they were a band which made me go "hell yeah."
Perhaps at a different festival, in a different context and a different frame of mind for myself I would really get into it. I could definitely see it happening. Epic Fest 2026 however, was not it for me.
5/10
Twilight Force
The second day of the fest brought us to round two of a Conti band, though this time he admittedly played a smaller part, given the usual seven-piece ensemble that is Twilight Force. This was also Twilight Force's second go-around at Epic Fest, but between 2024 and 2026 they've had three members depart, having now been replaced by fresher, younger, untested faces. Compounding matters was the lack of Kristin Starkey-- a mainstay of their live shows in recent years and now permanent band member-- who was recovering from surgery at the time of the festival. There was good reason to be concerned about how well this set would hold together. I am glad to say that much like their musical progenitors on the day before, Twilight Force did a wonderful job performing what might have been the most Epic Fest of the shows in this festival. They made full use of the space available to them on the largest of the festival stages, providing banger after banger from the now fairly extensive Twilight Force catalogue. Fans were thrilled to hear Gates of Glory live for the first time, and while I personally found much of their stage banter on the border of too much (the comedy sketch about the frozen band was about double as long as it needed to be), the music more than made up for it.
Indeed, I want to give a particular shoutout to the excellent guitar work of Galen Stapley. One of the unfortunate side effects of the modern push for synth-driven arena-adjacent power metal is a decline in the precedence of quality guitar-musicianship. Stapley absolutely crushed the impressively fast Twilight Force solos, and overall stood out as one of only two genuinely remarkable guitarists at the festival. On the whole, the band seemed to have settled into its new composition without any trouble. If anything, the weakest link for this show was Conti. It's hard to begrudge some of his slightly pained grimaces through the more challenging passages of Twilight Force's absurd songwriting; not only was he pulling double duty as vocalist for two different bands, but the lack of Kristen really did come through compared to the previous sets I've seen from the band. That being said, he kept the energy up and distributed inflatable props (I think the man might be incapable of performing without a bag full of emotional support pool floaties close to hand), and more than anything, guided the crowd's attention with the same professionalism I commended in my Trick or Treat review. The Epic Fest crowd absolutely adores Twilight Force and with Conti and co. they are in very safe hands as they express this adoration.
8/10
Moonlight Haze
I had originally intended to watch Seven Spires, but it turned out the powerful. crew needed a set of eyes on Moonlight Haze, so I found myself back at the smaller venue to watch these guys. This was another band which I had only barely heard of before watching the set itself so expectations were set to mid. That the set opened with Chiara performing an impressive vocal solo piece before asking "do you want to hear some power metal??" and then immediately going into a breakdown during the first song kind of sums up the live experience. In a way, Moonlight Haze really reminded me of Trick or Treat. Both bands play totally solid but not particularly special EUPM, and both bands are very clearly driven by a core aesthetic concept (cheesy horror for Trick or Treat and the moon and stars for Moonlight Haze). Beyond this, one really gets the sense that this is Chiara's project, and full credit to her, she's very clearly giving it her all. I certainly enjoyed the clear joy that the band members felt at being able to perform in Roskilde; if I remember correctly, Chiara said it was their first time performing in Scandinavia. I was especially impressed by the fact that a decent number of the audience members not only knew the English-language singalong choruses, but were really into the Italian-language songs which the band performed. The cultural dominance of English is hard to displace, so I'm always appreciative when bands commit to works in their own languages. On the whole, I thought this was a fun set. There's clearly more room for Moonlight Haze to grow, and they're putting out new music at an impressive clip, so I think they're a band to keep an eye on for the future.
6/10
Sonata Arctica
In many ways, Tony Kakko is a deeply frustrating individual. Some of the highest highs of the Finnish subset of EUPM have been produced by Sonata Arctica when they're at their best. And in turn, some of the worst dreck which any power metal band has put out has been by Sonata Arctica when they're at their worst (The Garden, anyone?) Perhaps it's no surprise that the Epic Fest set was equally polarising, for me. I truly do not understand why Tony thinks anyone wants to see him forlornly lean on a stage riser while performing songs about being just So Very Sad about his high school girlfriend. The man recently turned 51 for god’s sake-- I really do think it's time to lay some of this material to rest. After five songs of middling quality (Black Sheep being probably the best of them), I was expecting to give this set a firm 4/10. But of course, Tony finds a way, so what else could follow but a perfect three-song segment featuring White Pearls, Black Oceans, Fullmoon, and Victoria's Secret back-to-back. These are songs which I thought were some of the best music ever as a teenager, and singing along with my friends was a remarkably special and surprisingly emotional experience. They were performed flawlessly, and to my great annoyance, I cannot now take the easy route of calling this a bad set. But the ride doesn't end here, because of course the set was wrapped up with the inevitable Vodka comedy (? if you can even call it that) segment as an outro. Another thing which should have been buried many years ago. So, where does this leave us? Less than half of a good set, but the songs that were good were remarkably so. A show where Tony and his fellow band members all looked and sounded great; where they all seemed to be truly into the music (which isn't a given for a Sonata live performance). The whole thing is a contradiction. Of the scores I'm giving in this pile of reviews, this is the one I'm least sure of. Do I recommend Sonata? If you don't mind rolling the dice on what you're going to get, then yes, I think I would. Because at the end of the day, there is still something interesting and unique about seeing such an influential band-- warts and all-- on a stage like this.
6/10
Dark Moor
I'm one of maybe five people in the world who genuinely likes modern Dark Moor. I grew up with the Elisa Dark Moor albums and I recognise their place among the iconic albums of golden-era power metal. And I do in turn recognise the critique that Dark Moor in 2026 shares only a guitarist and a name with its iconic predecessor. With this groundwork out of the way however, I would like to climb up on the nearest soapbox and state that Dark Moor has actually been a very good symphonic rock/metal band for the last two decades (barring the unfortunate aberration of Project X). This is hopefully sufficient context for framing the excitement I felt going into this set. I expected a good time. What I did not expect was for this to be the best set of the festival. Dark Moor wasted no time; kicking off with Mio Cid, which is one of my modern favourites. I want to make a special note here of their choice to do the outro in Spanish, which lets you really feel the passion that Alfred Romero puts into his performance. It has been a real treat to see Romero improve over the last decade and a half. I think he's never sounded better than he did right there on stage in Roskilde. The band continued with minimal filler between songs, transitioning smoothly from banger to banger. An End So Cold, Birth of the Sun, The Road Again, First Lance of Spain-- everything I wanted. The only possible complaint I had with the setlist was a lack of Canción del Pirata, but that is only the slightest of quibbles in an otherwise pristine set.
Beyond just choosing good songs to play (something which you'd think would be obvious, but see my prior complaints about Sonata playing bad songs), much credit has to be given to how well-balanced the band was. Though the band itself consists of core four members, they brought along a keyboardist and more importantly, an actual violin player (Óscar Calvo) for this live performance. The texture of the violin and guitar harmonies; the sweeping keyboard chords and Romero's voice all blended into some of the best sound across the entire two days of the festival. It makes such an enormous difference to have actual physical instruments on-stage, and I'm so pleased that Dark Moor made the effort to bring the majority of their symphonic metal sound onto the stage in real life. If I can take a momentary aside for some personal vindication, I had been telling my friends for weeks before the festival that this would be a set which was worth seeing. This was met with mild bemusement at best. After watching the set, opinions had shifted radically. Several people said it was much better than they had expected, and at least one of them shared in my opinion that this was the best set of the festival. I realise that for some people, Dark Moor will always be a band defined by the run of albums with Elisa at the helm. I understand this perspective, but if you're one of these people, I would implore you to have a listen to, for example, Ancestral Romance. There's a truly great band here, even if the style has changed since 2001. If you can, go watch this band.
10/10
Update: since originally writing this review, Alfred Romero has parted ways with Dark Moor. I have left my review in its original state, but I recognise that Dark Moor is likely to look different in the future. I am disappointed, but such is the nature of loving a band.
Roy Khan does Kamelot
Another confession from me: I never got Kamelot. I'm aware of their legendary status among symphonic metal fans, to the point that a number of the friends I travelled to the fest with pulled the trigger on going in large part due to the chance to see Roy Khan performing the band's signature album. I even gave The Black Halo a number of attempts before the fest and unfortunately I just bounced right off it. Something about the prog trappings and introspective lyrics just do not work for me. That being said, I did still see this set and I'll do my best to provide a useful review. I have a vague memory of there being drama surrounding Khan's exit from Kamelot and some form of subsequent issues with his voice, but the Roy I saw on stage had perfect command of both his voice, and the stage around him. A nice touch was the appearance of the Roskilde Cathedral Girls' Choir, who provided backing vocals for a few of the songs. So too did Adrienne Cowan of Seven Spires make a brief but impactful cameo. There were a number of high quality performances at this year's Epic Fest. Among them, Roy stands out as the strongest individual musician in my opinion. I truly think that if I'd been a Kamelot fan, this would have been a very special set indeed (an opinion which seems all the more likely to be true given the glowing reviews from my friends post-set). As it stands, I can in fairness only really provide as a review that I was very impressed by the technical quality of this set. If you're a Kamelot fan, this might be the best way to see the band's older material performed-- akin to how watching Ross the Boss is (or was; may he be remembered powerfully) the best way to get a solid Manowar show in the modern era.
6/10
Hagane
So, we now get to the end of the festival and the end of my reviews. Before the fest there had been some discussion about whether Hagane was unlucky to have the graveyard slot closing the fest. On the one hand, the slot means not clashing with any other bands. On the other, experience from past years has shown that crowd attrition is brutal for the bands who kick off at half past midnight. Hagane has been rising rapidly in prominence though, and their first-ever show outside of Japan seemed like it could be enough to keep at least a decent sized crowd. I am heartened to report that this was the biggest crowd I've seen for any of the graveyard sets across the three years I've been attending Epic Fest. This was another band where I was initially carried along by the enthusiasm of my friends, but it took all of approximately thirty seconds for this to transform into my own headbanging and hell yeah-ing. To say Hagane is fast is to really undersell just how face-melting this set was. Every so often there's rumblings of a successor to Dragonforce (now that they've sort of just… given up on the idea of making good music). Mostly it amounts to nothing more than a fast song or two on an otherwise middling album. Hagane played an hour of set and they never slowed down. The energy was absolutely mental throughout. Full credit needs to be given for their clear comfort and competence as performers.
Some bands get up and just play a few songs back-to-back, without managing to really sell the special experience of a live show. Hagane gave us independent bass and drum solos which were impressive enough in their own right, but it was the guitar work of Sakura which stood out above all else. In spite of what some modern power metal bands seem to think, there's no replacement for a really great guitarist, and Sakura is one such musician. Blistering fast solos, note-perfect rhythm work-- she did it all. Hagane might be billed as "melodic power metal" but make no mistake, this was a real heavy metal set through and through. A favourite film of mine ends on the reflection that ‘[N]ot everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.' Seeing the Hagane women get up on stage and absolutely slay this performance is yet another example of how true this is for metal. Before I wrap up, it would be remiss of me not to mention Nagi's vocal work and showmanship. I don't imagine it's easy to get up in front of a foreign crowd for the first time ever and trust that they will appreciate your specific brand of music and performance. I said it took me less than a minute to get fully behind this. I think the average time in the crowd was something like ten seconds. Nagi, and Hagane as a whole made it incredibly easy to lean into the soaring glory which is characteristic of power metal at its best. I am looking forward to seeing what Hagane does next, and I will absolutely claim whatever residual cool points I can for having seen them at their international debut set. My pick for equal-third best of the festival.
8/10