The MetalDays festival, which used to be a music staple of the Tolmin area in northwestern Slovenia, has moved to a new venue, Lake Velenje in the north. Kicking off on 30 July, the seven-day festival will feature some 130 bands representing different subgenres of mostly heavy metal music.

The festival has swapped the confluence of the Soča and Tolminka rivers for one of the deepest lakes in Slovenia, but its concept of music holidays remains the same.

"We strive to deliver bands of different subgenres, so that everyone can find something for themselves," Nika Brunet Milunović has told the Slovenian Press Agency on behalf of the organisers.

The programme includes Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, English gothic metal band Paradise Lost, considered to be among the pioneers of the death-doom genre, Germany's Kreator and Helloween, representatives of thrash metal and power metal, respectively, and British rock band Church of the Cosmic Skull.

The concerts will take place until 4 August, but MetalDays campers may continue partying at Lake Velenje a day longer.

The festival is expected to attract some 5,000 visitors a day, a figure that the organisers would be pleased with given the change in venue.

The festival-goers can choose from a selection of single-day, three-day and full-festival tickets, which all include camping fees. There are also glamping and pre-pitched tent options.

What used to be the largest festival in the Tolmin area was first held in 2004. Initially known as MetalCamp, the festival MetalDays attracted some 12,000 visitors in recent years, figures that turned out to be too much for the locals and the environment.

Even though the organisers strived to promote environmentally friendly practices, to which they remain committed at the new venue, the festival had grown so much over the years that the local authorities decided it was time they stopped allowing festivals of this size to be held in the pristine environment of the two mountain rivers.

Nevertheless, the metal music tradition continues near the town of Tolmin. A new, smaller festival dubbed Tolminator was held there between 25 and 29 July with visitor capacity capped at 5,000. Roughly 70% of the visitors came from abroad.