Key points
- The festival has historically been associated with men
- Contreras has proved her vocal strength during live shows
- The initiative is “a very good start to make women more visible”: Sharon den Adel
CLISSON, France: Women artists are pushing back against gender stereotypes at the French heavy metal festival Hellfest, where men have long dominated the loud and rebellious genre.
With around 60,000 visitors per day, the 18th edition of France’s biggest metal festival wrapped up Sunday after four days of head-banging performances.
Marked by loud guitars and guttural shouting, heavy metal has historically been associated with men.
On Friday, nine bands featuring at least one woman took to one of Hellfest’s main stages, a notable step toward recognising women in the genre.
Hellfest showcases around 180 bands spanning metal subgenres from thrash and black metal to hardcore punk.
“Newer voices”
Among the newer voices carving space in the scene is Camille Contreras, a chemical engineer by training and self-taught metalcore vocalist, who faced a backlash in 2023 after joining French band Novelists as their lead singer.
“There were a few remarks, but I didn’t really take them personally because they said ‘a girl shouldn’t shout’,” Contreras told AFP.
“I told myself ‘this guy, he’s just stupid’.” Contreras proved her vocal strength during live shows, helping Novelists gain international traction with tours in the United States and China.
Her four bandmates said the decision to bring her in went beyond voice, praising her performance style, stage presence, good mood, ability to convey atmosphere and diversity.
US rock giant Linkin Park also returned to the Hellfest stage on Sunday with new vocalist Emily Armstrong, who joined in 2024.
“Very good start”
Women are still underrepresented at the festival but they are becoming “much more widespread now”, according to Contreras. “All of the attitudes are evolving a little,” she said.
“Women are maybe less scared of showing who they are,” she added, noting that “there are more and more female bands in all kinds of subgenres” of heavy metal, which nevertheless remains “very standardised” and “very masculine”.
Friday’s stage dedicated to woman-fronted acts featured performances by the neo-Viking metal collective Heilung, from Scandinavia and Germany, alongside Dutch symphonic metal bands Epica and Within Temptation.
The initiative is “a very good start to make women more visible”, said Sharon den Adel, cofounder of Within Temptation with her husband and guitarist Robert Westerholt. “I know a lot of my colleagues had a lot of problems being accepted as a woman,” Den Adel said.
