MĀNBRYNE, OWLS WOODS GRAVES, SCHIZMA, ZAMILSKA, AMPACITY, EMBRIONAL, SZNUR, HELLFUCK, and .WAVS – these are the nine new Mystic Festival program additions. All from Poland, all excellent.
The Polish school of black metal is respected and widely admired around the world. Not only for the highest quality of black art, but also for the fact that everyone here tells their own story and tries to sound different from the rest. MĀNBRYNE, creators of one of the best Polish albums of the past year – “Interregnum: On the Trial of Faith and the Yoke of Doubt” – slashes listeners with nihilism and despair, while SZNUR on their “Ludzina” spit pure misanthropy at their fellow human beings.
OWLS WOODS GRAVES, on the other hand, are blackpunk hooligans with no signs of soul, but plenty of great songs that you’ll shout along with them. “The Devil Inside” is the title of one of the Embrional albums – and yes, their death metal has a high amount of devil content in it. Not wonder Hellfuck, a project of Embrional’s musicians that is a nod to old-school speed/thrash metal, also reeks of hell. In Gdansk we will see shows by both of these bands, so it will be possible to determine once and for all in which incarnation they more effectively spread destruction.
As usual, there will also be room on our stages for artists who do not play metal but nevertheless fit perfectly into the character of Mystic Festival. Bydgoszcz-based SCHIZMA are domestic masters of the American hardcore, and they have recently confirmed their position with the excellent album “Upadek”. Polish metal audience got to know ZAMILSKA during her autumn tour with Furia, so it’s clear that we are in for a merciless mechanical music massacre, while AMPACITY will invite the brave ones to a psychedelic, post-rock trip into the unknown. Krakow’s .WAVS started as an evocation of the best years of grunge, only to broaden their interests in their latest tunes – this is simply great alternative rock. Well, maybe alternative hard rock, if there is such a thing.
