The first two New England Metal & Hardcore Festivals were huge, sprawling events that split the difference among death metal, militant hardcore, and commercial rap metal. The third annual fest, which took place last weekend at the Palladium in Worcester, was a more streamlined affair: two stages instead of three, 50 bands instead of 100, and no white MCs at all. Add on a host of rare stateside appearances by some of the brightest names in European metal — not to mention the unholy convergence of Friday the 13th and Easter weekend — and you had a heathen’s holiday to remember.

Sweden’s Meshuggah, who flew in from Europe just to play the fest, were the weekend’s main attraction. The band have yet to release a follow-up to their classic ’98 Chaosphere (Nuclear Blast), but they justified their sustained buzz with a vicious headlining set on Saturday night. Favoring complicated rhythms over pure speed, they bashed out a twisted collection of primal grooves that nearly had people tripping over themselves in the pit — in a good way. Finland’s Amorphis preceded Meshuggah with a comparatively wistful set of near-commercial prog-metal highlighted by singer Pasi Koskinen’s sturdy pop vocals.

Swedish thrash revivalists the Haunted were the it band on a stellar Friday-night bill that also included Cannibal Corpse and Dimmu Borgir. Singer Marco Aro screamed his bald head off over the band’s blitzkrieg bop, then got all mushy on the crowd at the end of the set (“We will carry this in our hearts forever! Thank you!”). Fellow Swedes Opeth revealed a colorful sense of dynamics on Saturday but never quite mustered the energy to rock; they were the one Scandinavian group who didn’t live up to the hype.

Shadows Fall, the most prominent local band on the bill, saw an otherwise triumphant set come to an unfortunate end Saturday when they fell apart in the middle of their last song. But the home-town crowd was forgiving, and by then they had already given the pit a more-than-adequate workout with their blistering take on the Master of Puppets template. Most of the mosh action, however, was relegated to the second stage, where the girl-fronted Detroit band Walls of Jericho tore things up with their hyperactive Slayer impression on Friday night. And though there was nothing to rival last year’s climactic Hatebreed/Anal Cunt skirmish, a couple of kids did manage to draw fleeting police attention by starting a friendly wrestling match near the vacated second stage as the party drew to a close Saturday night.