Report

Mystic Festival 2023 - Warmup Day (Gdansk, Poland)

I have to say, I had been looking forward to returning to this festival since I walked out of the entrance gates on the final day of the 2022 edition. The wait was only a year, but now, it seems like it was just yesterday. In fact, entering the festival, the look and layout remained pretty much the same other than a few nominal things.

The festival grounds layout stayed relatively the same. The most noticeable difference was that this year instead of a giant arm flashing the horns that looked like were made of possessed tree branches greeting you near the festival entrance, there was a giant, gray/green Cthulhu skull instead. It looked truly menacing during the day, but at night…it was lit up in red and green lighting and provided festival goers that perfect backdrop for selfies and social media profile photos.

Unfortunately, one of the bands I was looking forward to seeing most at Mystic, Godflesh, canceled the day before due to visa issues. Destroyer 666 was booked last minute to replace them and judging by the reaction of the front row crowd during their set, it was a worthy one. Some of the other bands I caught during the warmup day included, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons (An all Motörhead set!), Witchmaster (Polish death metal that has Inferno from Behemoth on the skins), and today’s favorite by a landslide, Akhlys.

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons

Akhlys started out as a single person, dark ambient project in 2009. In 2018, other members were added for live shows and they’ve been touring and playing select festival dates since then. Their brand of atmospheric black metal, along with their almost bondage looking costuming, made it the top attraction for the warmup day. Their style of black metal is not riff based, it’s more like an orchestrated wall of darkness.

Akhlys

The venue where Akhlys played, the Sabbath Stage, was so jam packed by the time I left the photo pit, it took me almost five minutes to navigate that box just to get to the exit and on to the next band. As I smashed my way through the crowd, no one barely gave me notice, they were locked on what was happening on stage. This band is gaining popularity in leaps and bounds and I heard that their show in the Czech Republic a few nights later was just the same.

Witchmaster

The warmup day was a microcosm of what was to come regarding bands and attendees, but definitely not disappointing in any aspect. The following day, all this would change. Today was just a tease of what was to come.

Destroyer 666