The ESP Guitar Company

For the past four years, ESP Guitars has been the official guitar sponsor of Hellfest, one of the world's largest and most acclaimed festivals in the realm of heavy music. Held in Clisson, France from June 19-22, Hellfest 2025 was a massive success, and reinforced the excellent partnership between ESP and the organizers of this incredible music experience.

ESP had several purposes at the show. One was to operate the ESP Showroom at Hell City Square, where visitors got to get hands-on with our guitars, attend signing sessions with a number of ESP artists, and get an up-close view to mind-blowing demos by top-tier players. We were also backstage at Hellfest, doing instrument care and setups for many of the ESP players who were taking the stage.

We could spend all day talking about how cool Hellfest 2025 was... or we could just show you some of the pics we took while we were there. Check them out below.

ESP artist Michael Montoya of Seven Hours After Violet gets ready to take the stage at Hellfest with his LTD Deluxe Phoenix-1000 EverTune. 

Here's guitarist Alex Wade of Whitechapel, hoisting one of his LTD Signature Series guitars outside of the ESP Showroom at Hell City Square.

Alex Wade doing a signing session for fans at the ESP Showroom. 

Another pic of the unmistakable Michael Montoya, now holding his XJ-1 HT Baritone in Hell City Square.

Here's Davaa and Jamba of The Hu, a Mongolia-based band that absolutely killed it during their energy-packed set at Hellfest. Davaa is using his LTD AP-5 bass, while Jamba is ready to rock his LTD Deluxe EC-1000 EverTune.

Activist/musician Sylvain Demercastel of the non-profit charitable organization Savage Lands holds a special LTD EC-201 with custom graphic artwork that they raffled off during Hellfest. You can get info about ESP's support of Savage Lands here.

This man is a legend. It's the iconic Wiley Arnett of Sacred Reich, who is one of the earliest ESP endorsees on the planet. Wiley is holding an ESP USA M-I.

Bass player Jamie Ryan of Mass Hysteria was one of the ESP artists who blew audiences away with a set at the ESP SHowroom in Hell City Square. Jamie is using his LTD FL-4 bass.

Jamie was joined by a couple of amazing shredders — Nils Courbaron and BB Plaza — to blow the doors off the ESP Showroom for a packed crowd.

Here's the band Terror — Martin Stewart, Jordan Posner, and Chris Linkovich — showing off some of their favorite ESP models in Hell City Square.

There weren't many places to chill in the 100º heat at Hellfest, but the guys from Walls of Jericho — Chris Towning, Aaron Ruby, and Bobby VaLeu — look pretty cool backstage with their ESPs.

Neil Westfall of A Day To Remember enjoys a moment to himself, getting a chance to jam on the new LTD Mick Thomson Signature Series MT-I. 

And after that, Neil obliges fans both young and old with some autograph signing and story sharing.