From crushing death metal to nefarious dance music – the program of the upcoming edition of Mystic Festival will be enriched by The Kovenant, Skeletal Remains, Cattle Decapitation, and Perturbator.
The Kovenant
Return from the stars. In 1998, with their sophomore record, Nexus Polaris, Covenant led Norwegian black metal out of the pitch-black woods and ice castles and launched it into the outer space. They changed their name to The Kovenant, but, more importantly, they changed the face of dark music into something a lot more cybernetic, industrial and futuristic than anyone thought possible. After years of silence, they are coming back – in their own words – older, uglier, but also more professional than ever before.
Skeletal Remains
“We were pushing ourselves to be more extreme” – this is how the Californian quartet describes their own creative method and the latest putrescent fruit of their labour is Fragments of the Ageless, an album released in spring 2024. This uncompromising, dripping-in-blood material is simultaneously a homage to the past of death metal and a road to the genre’s future.
Cattle Decapitation
“We Eat Our Young” is the lead single off Terrasite, Cattle Decapitation’s latest record, and a fantastic example of the equilibrium between the sonic extreme, advanced musical vision and the environmentally engaged message the band has struck. This five-headed, death grind monstrosity hailing from San Diego eats not only its young but virtually everything it meets on its way. Don’t try to run, don’t try to resist, it won’t do you any good.
Perturbator
Dance music enthusiasts hold French electronic music in high esteem… but Perturbator is nothing of the sort. Despite the positively dance-inducing rhythms, riding the wave of synth-produced melodies, it still spoke to metal fans. James Kent, after all, has a metal past and his synthwave does not belong with the golden beaches of Ibiza, it is the perfect soundtrack for plunging into the depths of darkness.