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If one could only experience a single day of a German metal festival, then this is why it's such a potent allure. While there were close to 40 bands playing across four stages today, sacrifices had to be made, in the name of business/socializing, unfortunate overlapping time slots, eating, drinking and one’s own sanity. The days of trying to document every act, in print, or even visually, are long since gone. So while missing ex-Motorhead guitar Phil Campbell's new outfit, as well as a festival closing set from the Mercyful Fate inspired Attic, BraveWords was in the crowd and (in the case of Metal Tim) on the stage for some metallic heavyweights. 

Korpiklaani entertained with Finnish folk, inspiring a constant stream of crowd surfers (accent on the word "surfer,") in the most extreme cases. Dirkschneider, reunited with ex-Accept drummer-turned-producer-turned-guitarist Stefan Kaufmann, to run through songs that seem to be embedded in the German DNA. The groove of Kadavar is hard to deny and the trio of bearded longhairs whips up quite the storm live. W.A.S.P. may have cancelled European shows elsewhere, but at Summer Breeze, Blackie Lawless fronted one big love-in. No such emotion during blood stained Bloodbath, fronted by Paradise Lost singer Nick Holmes (the Brits playing a couple of days earlier). Hopefully this extensive gallery will tide you over, until the full Summer Breeze recap is posted.

More Summer Breeze 2018 coverage: Day 1,  Day 2,  Day 3.