Report

Mystic Festival Day Two Was All About Megadeth

The second day of Mystic Festival 2024 featured the festival’s main attraction band, Thrash Metal’s Big Four legends, Megadeth. There were already more people here than the previous two days and Megadeth wouldn’t take the stage for another eight hours. There was a slight chance for rain later on, but I would bet that even if the forecast called for torrential tsunami rain, that it wouldn’t deter any “Droogie” today.

Mystic Festival Cthulhu Skull

Lousiana’s sludge titans, Crowbar, was the first band on my list today. The sky was little dark when they took the stage but that only added some realistic atmosphere to their New Orleans laden vibe. This was their first show in Poland ever so the crowd was a little fervid to say the least. Kirk Windstein was his usual southern gentleman self, but I think his accent might have been a little too much for the Polish heavy crowd to understand at times. Either way, it was a great start to the day.

Kirk Windstein of Crowbar

The Shits were probably the only true punk band on the Mystic Festival billing. Their songs didn’t consist of your typical punk rock formula, they’re longer and slower, but the punk attitude is front and center. For example, vocalist Callum Howe stole at least two beers from the crowd and then spat those said beers onto them. At one point, he reached into his pants, appeared to pull some hair from a specific area of his groin and then put those hairs into his mouth. HE THEN SWALLOWED THEM. Ehhh…. I guess he wanted to make a statement that punk is more about attitude than song formula? I don’t get why you have to be disgusting to be punk.

The Shits

After The Shits, another British band (this one not so gross) took to the same DNA laden stage. Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs AKA Pigsx7. I saw them open up for the Melvins last summer and loved their show. I became an instant fan right away. Their set at this year’s Mystic Festival was absolute fire. Their energy level was through the roof and was reciprocated tenfold by the crowd throughout their 45-minute-long set. The barefooted Muay Thai gear sporting vocalist, Matthew Baty, is a fucking inferno onstage. In my opinion, his live show energy level is only second to Barney Greenway of Napalm Death.

Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs

At some point during their set, a pair of some very used looking tennis shoes ended up on stage. When the band attempted to return them to the now presumed barefooted owner, no one claimed them. Maybe it was a gesture of gratitude by the shoeless fan? Maybe they evaporated by spontaneous combustion? We’ll never know what actually happened. But one thing is for certain…when a band creates a fever pitch anything is possible and that’s exactly what Pigsx7 did that day.

German heavy metal legends Accept’s set started at sunset on the large outdoor Park Stage. I was a little surprised by this since I’ve seen Accept command much larger stages in the past. The crowd didn’t seem to notice the smaller stage at all with fan favorites such as “Restless and Wild,” “Fast as a Shark,” and “Balls to the Wall” being included in their setlist. Accept looked spry and genuinely happy to still be playing the summer metal festival circuit. I think in every photo that I took of lead guitarist Wolf Hoffmann; he’s grinning from ear to ear. I’m pretty sure the same look was planted on every face within the crowd behind me.

Mark Tornillo and Wolf Hoffmann of Accept

I had to make a difficult decision for my next band to see due to another schedule conflict. Do I see grind metal gods Terrorizer? Or, Swedish stoner rock legends, Graveyard? Ultimately, I picked Graveyard just because they don’t tour the United States often. Unfortunately, I ended up regretting that decision afterwards.

As I drew closer towards the smallish outdoor Desert Stage, I could see everyone waiting for Graveyard were squished together like sardines near the stage. I managed to worm my way through that mess to an already crowded photo pit. I’ve seen Graveyard before, but it’s been a while. I can honestly say I was a bit bored during the time I was there. Unless you’re a superfan and you love all their material, you might understand my critique. There wasn’t a whole lot happening on stage neither. I’ll just leave it at this. Graveyard are super talented and play well live but compared to the majority of the bands at the festival, their set was a snoozer for me.

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Blightfeeder Premiere New Single & Music Video

San Antonio, Texas-based deathcore quintet Blightfeeder premiere a new single and music video by the name of "Crowned in Revocation", streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below. Dan Tucker of Crown Magnetar guests on this particular track. The song is taken from their debut EP "The Form Of Suffering", out in stores now.

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Ripped to Shreds Premiere New Single

Ripped To Shreds premiere their new single, "Perverting the Funeral Rites, Stripping for the Dead," from their upcoming album "Sanshi," set to be released on September 27. The cover art for "Sanshi" was created by artist Guang Yang, a long-term collaborator of the band's frontman Andrew Lee. It depicts Yan Luo Wang, the God of Hell, and the dead who must face his judgment in his demonic court.

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Undeath Premiere New Single & Music Video

Undeath premiere their new single "Brandish The Blade" from their upcoming album, "More Insane," set for release on July 29th, 2024. The track is accompanied by a live themed music video directed and edited by Errick Easterday.

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Harper & Kasey Karlsen Premiere Bad Omens Cover

Rising teenage metal singer Harper has teamed up with Kasey Karlsen (Deadlands, Nita Strauss) for a cover of alternative metal band Bad Omens' "Dethrone". Guitarist Columbus Conley III (Divisive) and drummer Seger Rauls provided the backing instrumentation for this track, which you can watch in the video via YouTube below.

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Better Lovers (Ex-TDEP, Etc.) Premiere New Video

Better Lovers have just released the lead single from their upcoming debut full-length, “Highly Irresponsible“. Titled “A White Horse Covered in Blood”, this track is the first to be unveiled from the album, which is set to drop on October 25th through SharpTone.

The music video for the single was directed by Eric Richter (Evanescence, Knocked Loose), while production for the album was handled in-house by the band’s guitarist Will Putney (also of Fit For An Autopsy, END, etc.).

Better Lovers‘ lineup features numerous scene veterans alongside Putney, including ex-Every Time I Die guitarist Jordan Buckley, bassist Stephen Micciche, drummer Clayton “Goose” Holyoak, and vocalist Greg Puciato (The Black Queen, ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.).

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