Day 3 First Half
Lestat: I spent the night in a sleeping bag, so with the first rays of sunlight I was already on my feet — or rather, on all fours, since I went straight into the sea first thing in the morning. The day promised to be blazing hot. After everyone woke up, breakfast commenced along with morning beers and a recap of the previous day's events. Once breakfast was done, everyone scattered — some went to meet friends, some stayed to sunbathe, some went for a swim. Then the clock struck 13:30, and voices from the concert hall began carrying across the grounds. People started stirring, pulling on their shorts (or swim trunks, or pants) and trudging off to the fest.
The first half of the concert featured the following bands: DEVIL MAY CARE (Melodic Black Metal) – russia NECROZZ (Thrash Metal) – russia ETERNAL WAR (Pagan Death Metal) – Belarus FATUM (Gothic-Doom Metal) – russia FIRELAKE (Melodic Death Metal) – Ukraine STUFF (Hardcore) – russia
First up was the russian band DEVIL MAY CARE. This outfit plays melodic black metal in the vein of CRADLE OF FILTH — in fact, listening to their album you might even call it outright plagiarism, so close is their sound to Dani's bunch. The lineup consisted of a bassist, a guitarist, and a keyboardist-vocalist. The guys were clearly trying, but the poor sound made it impossible to distinguish individual parts — everything kept dissolving into mush. The vocals were barely audible, and the band slipped up a few times. There was no drummer to be seen; pre-recorded drum sessions were used alongside the other instrumental parts, which undermined the overall impression. Oddly enough, the vocalist addressed the audience in English, despite the band being from russia. With the crowd still half-asleep, there was no pit to speak of — nobody was really getting into it. All things considered, factoring in the sound problems, I'd give them a 5 out of 10.
Nebel: I'd fully agree with the above assessment; I'll also note that the album "AWE" was far more intriguing than their live performance. From what I could remember of the album at the time, practically all the songs were unfamiliar to me, with the exception of two. (Read the review of DEVIL MAY CARE's "Awe" here)
Lestat: While the next band prepared, the MCs took the stage and, as usual, worked the crowd — though at times they were frankly getting on everyone's nerves with their chatter.
Already set up and ready to go, NECROZZ took the stage — billed in the programme as playing old-school thrash. The guys delivered a solid set; you could feel the professionalism in their playing, and the sound had finally been brought to something approaching an acceptable level. The vocals recalled SOKIRA PERUNA. The crowd started waking up — there was a pit spotted in the middle of the hall. Among the heavy material, a slow, melodic composition (I didn't catch the title, unfortunately) was a particularly pleasant listen. In short, great music to enjoy with a cold beer.
Nebel: I'll add that all the compositions were performed in russian, and if you tried, you could actually make out the lyrics; I can't recall any of them now, though. As a side note: the band played all the songs from their new album at this show — not bad advertising for it!
Lestat: The MCs crawled back onstage and resumed their patter… but let's not dwell on that.
Third to perform were the Belarusians, ETERNAL WAR. The band consists of two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a vocalist. They play pagan death metal. They put on a spirited, soulful set. The crowd was fully awake by now: hair was being whipped about, people were jumping, some were piling into the pit. The music itself wasn't particularly groundbreaking — just solid, no-frills death metal, with the occasional melodic solo creeping in. The band uses two vocal styles: screaming and growling. Their sound brought CRYPTIC WINTERMOON to mind. In a word: decent, and the crowd ate it up.
Nebel: To my ears, the music had a far more interesting character than plain solid death metal — it married the power and aggression of death metal with genuinely felt pagan themes. We didn't get any classic anthems praising ancient gods, though; the stage was dominated by heavy riffing.
Lestat: The MCs — the bane of humanity. As it turned out, one of them is a doom fan (like yours truly), and he announced that the gothic-doom band FATUM would be taking the stage next. The mere fact that doom subgenres were included in the festival's lineup is cause for joy. The band appeared before the audience. They began to play, and it was immediately clear that there weren't many doom fans in the room; only some of the girls and a few guys started getting into it. Me, being a die-hard doom fan, I rushed straight to the front. A bit more about the band: they came from russia (yekaterinburg, specifically — Nebel). They have a guitarist-vocalist, a bassist, and a drummer. Thankfully the sound had improved even further, so all the parts were now audible. What can I say — the music was a genuine pleasure, played beautifully, with clean vocals that gave the sound a special charm. Their music was reminiscent of ANATHEMA from the mid-90s. Of all the songs they played, "Serdtse Angela" ("Angel's Heart") stood out the most. In short, among all the brutal acts on the bill, this band looked, and sounded, truly beautiful. For their performance I'd give them a solid 9 out of 10 — keep it up!
Nebel: Without a shadow of a doubt, I'm giving this band the title of the most soulful act at the festival. They were just about the only band who left me watching their set with a genuine sadness that they'd soon have to leave the stage. I'll also add that they were the only band allowed to run over time — nobody stopped them; the person responsible for managing the acts simply stood in silence and enjoyed it…
Lestat: MCs: "Metal heads....." Crowd: "Mission" MCs: "Metal heads....." Crowd: "Mission" That's how our beloved hosts tried to warm up the crowd.
The next band was already set up and ready — Kyiv's own FIRELAKE. The lineup: a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist, and a guitarist-vocalist. The band plays melodic death metal. This collective is well known to the Kyiv audience from countless shows around the capital (and lately they've been touring other Ukrainian cities too, with a stint in Moldova as well — Scorpio's note). Something went wrong with the sound — hard to say exactly what, but it deteriorated noticeably; you got the impression the sound engineer was overheating from the heat. Even so, the band pushed through and delivered a solid, melodic death metal set. One of their songs featured a female vocalist, which sounded very pleasant — that track had a death/doom feel to it. In summary: good, but somewhat repetitive.
Nebel: I'll respectfully disagree on one point: the band's progress is genuinely evident. Since the last time I heard them in Kyiv, they've improved quite significantly. I should also mention that they're not just playing melodic death — it's music in the finest traditions of IN FLAMES and DARK TRANQUILITY, though that is absolutely not to say they're plagiarising, as so many beginners do. Overall, if the band keeps developing at this pace and incorporates more female vocals, their sound will become even more compelling.
When the MCs announced the next band, I was standing at the bar with my colleagues Scorpio and Nebel (charging our phones and my camera battery — Scorpio's note), but when Nebel and I heard the sound of the drums, we were a bit thrown off — the sound was far too artificial. First thought: drum machine. But no — we immediately ran over to see what was going on. As it turned out, the moscow band STUFF had brought an electronic drum kit to the festival. First impression: ruined. As billed in the programme, the band plays hardcore. For the record: the lineup is guitarist, bassist, drummer, and vocalist. The band got started — and this was probably the most musically primitive act of the entire MHM. The drums don't bear scrutiny; the sound is just appalling. The guitars — why are they even there, really, they seem to exist purely for show, since the guitar sound was more of a buzz than anything. The vocals were hardcore-style, but as for what they were actually singing — dreadful: no real lyrics, no actual songs, just inarticulate syllables yelled out as the compositional content of each track. Though the hall did show some liveliness — but that was down to the fans who'd come with the band (some of them were wearing STUFF t-shirts — at least ten of them had made the trip to the festival, Nebel notes), and at the show they were slamming and climbing on the stage. Verdict: the guys either need to seriously rethink their concept, or they can keep working the 14–15-year-old demographic.
Scorpio: Bringing your own fan club along, as it turns out, is a very smart move. It was precisely the guys in the band's shirts who kicked off the rowdy pit, chanted the band's name, and climbed the stage. Maybe someone will take note of this, but on the other hand, if everyone starts using this tactic, it'll just look idiotic.
Nebel: Setting aside any national or musical prejudices, I'll say this: the lyrics of this band merit separate attention — or rather, the complete absence of lyrics does. It's a genuinely rare, high-concept artistic vision; even I can't tolerate that kind of abuse of the "great and mighty" russian language. :(
Scorpio: And so, during STUFF's set, I composed a new song for the band: "Pasta! — Sausage! — Cook some food! — Aaaargh!" Incidentally, time to go eat before the final stretch.
Second Half
Agressor: The final part of the fest featured: MENTAL DEMISE – Ukraine ABORTARIUM – russia BAAL ZEBUTH – russia SINFUL – russia PARRICIDE – Poland TOXIC BONKERS – Poland NAPALM DEATH – England
First up — the Mentals, the festival organisers. What is there to say? The band is well known to everyone, so there's not much point describing the music in detail. They played as well as they always do — quality, hard-hitting stuff; the crowd loves them, and on the familiar anthems they responded with a pit (or more accurately, the pit never really stopped).
The russian band ABORTARIUM carried the torch from MENTAL DEMISE and delivered their own portion of brutal death metal, generously seasoned with grind. It wasn't particularly inventive, but the crowd drifted toward the stage nonetheless. Evidently inspired by the preceding bands, they played a cover of CANNIBAL CORPSE's "Hammer Smashed Face."
The announced Stavropol black metal act BAAL ZEBUTH never appeared on stage — apparently due to the drummer having trouble at the border, which was a real shame. I'd really been looking forward to seeing them, especially since on the first day we'd had a great time drinking beers with them at the bar.
The lengthy pause — during which, evidently, someone was out hunting for the other black metal act SINFUL — was patched over by the MCs. Well, let's just say they didn't manage it perfectly, but try talking for nearly half an hour about nothing…
At this point I went outside for a beer, so I missed most of the set, but got to witness an epic thunderstorm that had broken out. And when the downpour started (through which I, goddammit, got completely soaked), I had to charge back inside.
Lestat: Guys and one girl (though I only spotted her later) appeared on stage in corpse paint — everyone immediately knew what this band was about. This russian act goes by the ominous name SINFUL, and as the posters promised, they play symphonic black metal. The lineup: Taus — guitar, Olga — keys, Belf — vocals and bass guitar, plus a drummer whose pseudonym I can't recall. From the very first chords the crowd erupted — so did I; I immediately went to go berserk at the front. The second song (I think it was "Svet Bezdny" — "Light of the Abyss") simply washed over the audience in a wave of sound. As that song ended, I sprinted upstairs (where the merch was) and bought the band's album, "Omut." After that, Nebel, Scorpio and I gathered at the right side of the stage, but when they launched into a cover of DIMMU BORGIR's "MOURNING PALACE," Nebel and I couldn't hold back and dashed straight into the pit, and the crowd was in ecstasy. (And at that very moment, o gods, thunder cracked and a howling wind tore across the venue — could the band's fury and wrath have summoned such a reaction from nature? — Nebel) After that came another DIMMU BORGIR cover, though I couldn't remember which one. The band played one more track from their own repertoire and left the stage. Many immediately rushed to get autographs and photos with the band members — the keyboardist was particularly popular. Overall, 10 out of 10 for their set — outstanding, keep it up!
The Polish band PARRICIDE — I'd only seen them live once before, in Kyiv, and this time they impressed me considerably more. Energetic brutal death with grindcore elements and intricate drum fills. Unable to help myself, I threw myself into the pit yet again — soaking wet as I was, I was slamming around in just my swim trunks and barefoot. Which, it turned out, was a terrible idea — my feet only healed a week or so after the festival. Next time I'm bringing dedicated pit footwear. PARRICIDE are also responsible for chants that became instant classics: "Zaebischa Ukraina!" and "Zaebischa Yevpatoria!" — immediately taken up by the entire crowd. No translation needed.
A few words about the pit in general: I've never witnessed anything so powerful, prolonged, or brutal. From talking to people afterwards, nothing like it had been seen in russia or Belarus either. The archetypal festival-goer (swim trunks, flip-flops) was slamming as if this were the last show of their life. The count of bruises, lumps, and shredded clothing defied calculation. I didn't see blood — I hope no one broke anything. But for all its ferocity, the pit had a remarkable civility to it: the moment anyone went down, at least three people immediately moved to lift them up. Everything orderly, cultivated, and noble — though you'd have to see it to believe it; it looked from the outside like a group of people had collectively decided to beat each other to death.
TOXIC BONKERS, who play what they call "fucking punk grind," slightly overstayed their welcome on stage, and by then they weren't being listened to quite as attentively following the string of bands that had come before. Most people were just sitting around waiting for NAPALM DEATH; some were randomly drifting into the pit. Not that the Polish guys' music was terribly original — but it all came out sounding pretty fun. It was funny, actually: on the first day, Sulpher from Black Minds and I had been drinking beers with them and trying to impress them with our Polish. When the vocalist had heard enough of us mangling the language (I was the main offender, having more words at my disposal), he said: "Dude, just speak russian — I'm from Illichivsk [a town near Odessa, Ukraine] myself." I was floored.
Nebel: While I have a moment, let me write something about the festival headliners — NAPALM DEATH. We'd been waiting for their set all summer, and then with particular impatience over the three days of the festival itself. And all that anticipation turned out to be entirely wasted — I say this with full confidence and conviction. This isn't just my opinion; it was echoed by many people I spoke to the day after the show. Some acquaintances from moscow were absolutely furious at what they saw as a contemptuous attitude toward the audience. I fully share their outrage. Nobody was particularly pleased by two hours of waiting while they set up their equipment; people started drifting off to sleep, and to shake the drowsiness everyone had to improvise their own entertainment in the form of chants, which did manage to get the crowd going reasonably well…
Scorpio: The portal team came up with one of the first chants: "Sni-gu-roch-ka!" (Snegurochka — Snow Maiden). It didn't land that well at first, but before long half the hall had picked up the cheerful New Year's cry. Then came the classic "Shaibe-Shaibe!" (hockey puck chant), the ironic "Britney Spears!"; some of the more impatient and worn-out members of the audience were chanting something unprintable, then decided the foreign musicians wouldn't understand and helpfully translated into English for them. It all wound up ending with "Ruki Vverkh!" (Hands Up!) when they started tuning the guitar, which drowned out the crowd's shouting. Meanwhile, someone had blown up a condom, written the awaited band's name on it, and sent it floating through the hall, whereupon it successfully made its way to the stage.
Nebel: Alright, enough about the fun stuff — now for what actually disappointed, namely the set. The musicians looked more lethargic than ever; I can understand the circumstances — quite a long and exhausting flight from Sweden to Ukraine — but if you've agreed to play this show, then please deliver what people are expecting from you. Of the songs I recognised, there were two covers: CRYPTIC LAUGHTER's "Lowlife" from the covers compilation Leaders Not Followers 2 (there's also a live video from a German show on there), the well-known DEAD KENNEDYS cover "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," and the longest track "Scum" from the 1987 album of the same name. There were also a number of songs from the classic Harmony Corruption (1990). As is tradition, the headliners were called back for an encore and played two more songs.
Agressor: We waited two and a half hours for NAPALM DEATH. That's a fact. But what Nebel declares here "with full confidence and conviction," he can take and shove somewhere, and he can go to Bobruisk or a gas van — his choice. After the show I managed to speak with the band at the "Somelye" bar, where they apologised to every single fan in the room at least ten times for the delay. First, they hadn't slept in 23 hours, having flown in directly from a festival outside Stockholm. Second, they simply could not get set up — from what I understood, there were problems with the mixing desk and, as they put it, the sound engineers' "insufficient knowledge of English." Though I suspect the engineers' English was perfectly fine. Nevertheless, the sleep-deprived metalheads had to endure two hours of soundcheck. It was hard, sure — but then what followed…
The English band effortlessly and casually obliterated everything that had been played and sung on that stage. Every other act simply faded into the shadows and dissolved somewhere in the depths of memory, swept away by the fury and power of NAPALM DEATH. Barney Greenway, despite clearly looking exhausted, convulsed wildly and savagely onstage, channelling every drop of rage into the delivery of his lyrics. All of this was accompanied by non-stop running across the stage. The energy pouring into the crowd was absolutely ferocious, and it immediately ignited the crowd in front of the stage. There were now two pits — one closer, one further back. I managed to last through exactly five songs in the pit before feeling like I'd been run over by the steamroller that lays asphalt. It was a genuine meat-grinder, after which I thought — not many pits could scare me now. The feeling was simply indescribable — the air was literally charged with fury and aggression. Yes, those two and a half hours of waiting were absolutely worth it. They played a mass of material from the new album The Code Is Red…Long Live The Code, alongside classic tracks from Harmony Corruption, Diatribes, and Death By Manipulation. The CRYPTIC LAUGHTER cover "Lowlife" was mind-bending — the tempo had been cranked up dramatically compared to the original — and for the DEAD KENNEDYS cover "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," the crowd responded with a roar of pure fury.
After the festival I managed to speak with and get photos with all of them except Barney, who had worn himself out completely and gone to sleep, while the rest of the band drank beers at "Somelye."
Afterword
Scorpio: And so the sixth Metal Heads' Mission festival came to a close. The growth is clearly evident: stylistic diversity, three concert days, a metal market, broader geographic scope — these are the things that stand out immediately. Not everything was perfect, of course, but the organisers can't be blamed for all of it. I'm also pleased to report that negotiations are already underway to bring the excellent American death metal outfit MORBID ANGEL to the festival next year. See you in a year, same time, same place.
Agressor: In closing, I can say that the fest I'd been looking forward to all year ended with a wealth of vivid memories. I hope there'll be even more next year.
One last thing: our deepest disrespect to the "Sonechko" resort management for their idiotic policy of extorting money at the gate every single day, and for their utterly rude staff.
Nebel: Huge thanks to everyone who was there, to all the bands who delighted us with their music — I hope and believe that next year there will be even more of you, and your music will be even more interesting and diverse.