“Mystic Festival...
are you ready for the greatest night of your lives?” a robotic voice asks the annual Polish heavy metal gathering. It’s a pretty ballsy question to begin the build-up for ’s headline set, which is mere moments away. However, if there’s one thing this band have never lacked, it’s ambition.
During the 2010s, the Northerners shattered the barriers between metal and modern pop. Increasingly melodic and electrified albums like and infuriated elitists, but simultaneously catapulted Bring Me into the rock ’n’ roll elite. Their anointment was only proven last week, when the surprise release of pricked the ears of seemingly an entire generation of music listeners.
Still, though, if there are any doubters of Bring Me’s status at Gdansk’s otherwise no-nonsense metal festival (the other headliners this year were and ), they’re about to be shown the scale of the juggernaut – and maybe even musically won over. As kickstarts the evening, the band look and sound like megastars. In front of a church-like video backdrop, their congregation is overjoyed throughout the night.
Their catchiness and digital edge hasn’t been dulled by , while vocalist Oli Sykes’ cheeky calls for moshing (even if it’s just a “six out of 10” to get everyone limber) are gleefully met. A live sound that emphasises the force of these lads’ tracks only helps the whirlpools to open. The remaining 90 minutes only grow more and more batshit.
A narrative about the end of.
