Yesterday, Manowar backed out of their headlining appearance at France’s Hellfest at the last minute under somewhat mysterious circumstances. The festival’s organizers said that the band had been “on-site” but abruptly cancelled their set “for reasons beyond our control.” Manowar, in turn, released a statement of their own in which they claimed that “The Hellfest organizers obstructed our efforts to put on the epic show we had promised” and “the Hellfest organizers did have control over the circumstances that prevented our performance.” And that was it.

But now we may have some more details about the circumstances behind the cancellation.

Treat this a rumor for the time being, butttt…

A source with inside knowledge of events, speaking to MetalSucks on the condition of anonymity, tells us that, as Hellfest said in their initial statement, Manowar arrived at the festival grounds on June 20 — the night before they were scheduled to perform. They wanted to do a soundcheck at that time, but were unable to do so because Slipknot’s Knotfest kicked off the weekend festivities with Thursday’s ‘Knotfest Meets Hellfest.’ When they did get to soundcheck the following morning, they were reportedly unhappy with the sound; specifically, they’re said to have been displeased that the festival wouldn’t allow them to play at a volume that was to their liking due to local regulations (i.e., there are laws on the books that literally would not allow the festival’s performers to play any louder).

On top of that, according to our source, Manowar were displeased with the size of the stage on which they were to play, despite the fact that it was the main stage and that it would be the same size for every band that played on it during the festival, including Kiss and Tool.

In any case, Manowar decided to walk.

Sabaton were subsequently asked to fill in for Manowar, which they, despite the fact that vocalist Joakim Brodén blew out his voice playing Knotfest Meets Hellfest the night prior. Guitarist Chris Rörland handled vocal duties in Brodén’s stead for the Manowar make-up performance, while the singer sat on stage eating and drinking with friends.

You can watch video from Sabaton’s performance below. We’ll let you know if there are any further developments in the Manowar saga.