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When you think about a legendary Finnish artist, who do you think of? Yes, obviously you’re going to think about Marko Hietala! We’ve had the incredible honor of hosting him in the new chapter of Beniy Talks Metal, where we speak about various topics, including of course women in metal.
Filming and editing by Niko Sihvonen – interview by Benedetta Baldin
The post Interview with Marko Hietala (Tarot) first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.
The Emerald Dawn were born in Edinburgh and are now based in St Ives, Cornwall. Lead by multi-instrumentalist musicians Ally Carter and Katrina “Tree” Stewart, they released “The Land, The Sea, The Air (Volume 2)” in 2026 as their seventh studio album since 2010 and a sequel to their previous 2015 work.
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This is the opening suite of the record and you’ll be surprised by the perfect fusion of neo-prog, jazz, folk and symphonic elements in this track, divided in four movents (i. Balance, ii. Incursions, iii. Loss, iv. Regret). Some features really are peculiar: Ally Carter’s beautiful sax, Tree Stewart’s atmospheric and bombastic keyboards and, of course, the underlying ecological meaning. Last but not least, the final electric guitar solo is simply beautiful.
Even the most sacred cow lets out the occasional stinker. From Iron Maiden to Metallica, Slayer to Morbid Angel, there’s a consensus that some of metal’s biggest and most legendary bands have at least one record that should never have seen the light of day.
Or should they? While it might seem easy to dismiss divisive records like No Prayer For The Dying and Diabolus In Musica, there’s an argument to be made that these records are nowhere near as bad as critical consensus would have you believe. That in mind, Hammer dives in on the supposed “bad albums” that deserve a second look…
Kerry King hates Slayer’s eighth album. Bummed out by the rise of Korn, Limp Bizkit and the nu metal movement, the guitarist took a back seat when it came to songwriting. Result? A phoned-in, zeitgeist-chasing record that longtime fans hated as much as one of the men who played on it.
That’s the story, but it’s harsh on Diabolus…. Sure, there’s plenty more groove here than you’ll hear on the classic Slayer records, but the idea that this is a blatant Coal Chamber or Spineshank rip-off is absurd. Listen to Diabolus In Musica today and you’ll find a set of meaty, heavy ragers with all of the things that you love about Slayer present and correct; Tom Araya’s blood-curdling scream, the King-Hanneman guitar team’s wild and unpredictable solos, and the stench of pure dread and evil permeating every facet of songs like Perversions Of Pain, Bitter Peace and Scrum.
What you won’t find is rapping, DJ scratching or any of the other nu metal tropes. Even the songs that are closer to where metal was in 1998, such as the brilliant Stain Of Mind or Love To Hate, have way more in common with Prong or Godflesh than they do Linkin Park. It might not be pure thrash, but Diabolus In Musica is miles away from being a cynical nu metal album, and is way better than the bloke who played guitar on it would have you believe. Stephen Hill
THEY SAY: “When we made the Diabolus In Musica record, I wasn’t into writing music because I was so offended by that shit. I couldn’t understand why anybody would make music like that, let alone like it. That was definitely my darkest time as a musician.” – Kerry King
1984’s Powerslave might have cemented Iron Maiden as metal A-listers, but it was a tipping point – the first glimmerings of the prog sensibilities that saw the songs get longer and more excessive, culminating in the 13-minute Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. Follow-up Somewhere In Time? Just one song under five minutes. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son? A concept album with a near-10-minute title track. Suddenly, Run To The Hills seemed a very long time ago.
No Prayer For The Dying was the antidote, even if people didn’t appreciate it at the time and certainly don’t appreciate it now. It’s regularly written off as the weakest of their Bruce Dickinson-fronted albums, a misguided attempt to get back to basics, right down to recording in Steve Harris’s barn. And what’s with Bruce’s weird, growling voice? But that’s exactly the point. This is Iron Maiden sounding hungry and hard again, in ways they hadn’t since 1982.
Yes, Bruce sounds like he’s been chain-smoking chimney stacks, but songs such as Holy Smoke need that grit. It’s hardly like the band were chucking the baby out with the bathwater, either; there are grandiose, galloping melodies on Tailgunner, lighter-bait guitar work on the title track and widdly leads aplenty on Public Enema Number One.
More than anything, No Prayer For The Dying feels like somebody had lit a fire under Maiden’s arses again. Thrash was peaking, and they were in serious danger of looking antiquated if they wrote another nine-minute song about some ancient Macedonian general. Instead, the band tightened their songwriting and gave us tracks like Fates Warning and The Assassin, whose urgency lends them a genuine sense of menace.
Of course, there’s always Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter, the record’s most obvious target and the stick that is often used to beat No Prayer For The Dying with. But this was the first metal single to go to No.1 in the UK, and with good reason – it’s a knowingly daft celebration of heavy metal’s preoccupation with horror, with a massive singalong chorus at its heart. And let’s face it, nobody’s reaching for Rime Of The Ancient Mariner to get a party started, are they? Rich Hobson
THEY SAY: “I think it’s a really strong album. At the time, we had gotten so big, with all the grandiose shows, that we were trying to go back to basics a little bit. We were trying to make it sound like a live album, which is why we got the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio to record it live in the barn.
We probably should have put audience noise on it, because it would have sounded more like a proper live album – we did that with the Tailgunner video, and it made a big difference. It got slagged off, but I don’t care about that stuff anyway. If someone says they don’t like something, that makes me embrace it even more. You’ve got to believe in what do, haven’t you?” – Steve Harris
Critics have maligned Lulu and fans have all but written it off from their discography, but it did something important. For decades, Metallica’s albums were produced to a fine polish. Lou Reed stripped all of that away and forced the band to record together live, often in one take, frequently improvising, and that’s what you hear on Lulu – it is Metallica exposed, with all the warts and scars left in.
This process took the band back to their club days, when most fans believe Metallica were at their most ‘Metallica’. Songs like Pumping Blood and Mistress Dread showcase some classic riffage that would have been applauded on a more traditional Metallica release. Even Lou Reed’s spoken-word delivery layered over the top can’t obscure what Metallica are doing underneath. Lulu did something unexpected – it pushed Metallica outside their comfort zone. Justin Beckner
THEY SAY: “It’s aged extremely well. It sounds like a motherfucker still. So I can only put the reaction down to ignorance.” – Lars Ulrich
Riding on a no-fucks-given vibe, Catharsis felt like Robb Flynn having fun by writing ragers – such as the title track and the volatile, er, Volatile. Some are callbacks to the band’s early days in LA: Triple Beam is a portrait of drug life and California Bleeding is a love letter to the underbelly of the Sunshine State. Kaleidoscope celebrates metal itself, and Razorblade Smile is silly yet topical.
There are pauses for breath, too, in the acoustic Behind A Mask and vocal harmonies of Screaming At The Sun. However, it’s not perfect. Psychotic, Grind You Down and the bizarre folk-rocker Bastards could all be lopped off.
It wasn’t only controversial among fans: drummer Dave McClain and guitarist Phil Demmel left soon after, partly because they were unhappy with the band’s direction. But ignore the haters – rarely has Robb sounded so off-the-chain. Eleanor Goodman
THEY SAY: “I’m proud as fuck of that record. I knew it was going to piss people off. A bunch of asshole trolls who got their fuckin’ panties in a bunch about it. Fuck ’em! I ain’t gonna apologise for shit!” – Robb Flynn
You don’t hate Chinese Democracy. You just hate what Axl did to GN’R. By the time the notoriously delayed album arrived, Slash, Duff et al were long gone; Axl had effectively reduced the band to himself and a revolving cast of characters. The knives were out and duly sharpened for an album that had taken 14 long years and a reported $13 million to make.
Once it finally dropped, critics and fans largely either laid into it or, worse, simply shrugged it off. Nearly two decades on, can we all admit that the album is actually pretty damn good? It’s a little overstuffed, but there’s something giddy in the way Axl let his rock opera ambitions run wild, and there are some belting songs on here. The title track and Better are now setlist staples; Sorry is a deliciously woozy doom-country ditty; Shackler’s Revenge’s NIN-indebted stomp is irresistible, and the unbelievable one-two of power ballads If The World and There Was A Time are just outstanding. Merlin Alderslade
THEY SAY: “I think Axl sang his ass off. He made the record he wanted to make and I’m happy for him. I thought he did a great job.” – Duff McKagan (er, who didn’t play on the album…)
Host bears all the hallmarks of a bad album. It’s an electronic detour from veteran metallers who’d never touched that sort of thing, and the band were in dire straits when they made it: signed to mega-label EMI (who had no idea how to promote them), facing fan outrage over their short haircuts, and weathering internal turbulence, not least the loss of frontman Nick Holmes’s father.
Few give Host the time it deserves, and many dismiss it as Depeche Mode worship. Yet, despite the genre change, PL kept the same focus on dark, catchy songs they developed on 1993’s Icon. So Much Is Lost, Nothing Sacred, In All Honesty and Host itself boast some of the strongest hooks in their canon.
Nick’s baritone over moody synths and industrial beats may betray Dave Gahan and Martin Gore’s influence, but the strings and female backing vocals had been staples since 1991’s Gothic. More people need to wrap their heads around Host’s slick synth-pop melancholy. Matt Mills
THEY SAY: “Songwriting-wise, Host is a great album. There are some great songs on there and it was always about that. It was never about playing them at rock festivals or anything like that.” – Nick Holmes
When Morbid Angel’s eighth album was released, the death metal pioneers’ unexpected reinvention as an industrial juggernaut wasn’t regarded as a brave left turn, so much as a revered band repeatedly hitting their head against a wall.
Fans bemoaned the absence of drummer Pete Sandoval and Trey Azagthoth’s leads in favour of a reductive stomp, but Illud was a riot from a band who’d earned the right to go off on one. Much of Illud’s verve was provided by Dave Vincent’s hammy vocals slathered over the gabba groove of Too Extreme! and the high-camp battle march of Destructos Vs. The Earth / Attack, and it wasn’t as if Illud was unprecedented, the band having collaborated with industrial provocateurs Laibach as far back as ’94.
Morbid Angel disowned it, yet they’d never sounded so self-assured, and this one-off, steeped in pomp and absurdity, deserves celebration. Jonathan Selzer
THEY SAY: “I thought it was gonna sound a lot more heavy. But nothing could save a silly song like [electro-adjacent track] Radikult, which I just tried to ignore. I had nothing to do with that thing.” – Trey Azagthoth
Back in 2011, electronic dance music was having a moment, and dubstep was reaching its peak. If any metal band was gonna get in on the fun, it was gonna be Korn, given their penchant for pushing boundaries whether through bagpipes or birthing a whole bloody subgenre in nu metal.
For their 10th album, they teamed up with dubstep and EDM artists to brew up huge riffs, juddering bass, spacey beats and giant anthems for a suckerpunch of a record that Jonathan Davis called ‘future metal’. But were you readdday for this future? It seems not.
Fans and critics scowled that Korn had sold out on a trend. But this inventive mash-up was a match made in metal heaven, bursting with fresh bangers from start to finish and proving that, 17 years on from inventing one of the most divisive scenes in metal, Korn were still shaking things up. Hannah May Kilroy
THEY SAY: “I love that they did that, and they got some really cool songs out of it, like Get Up. But I didn’t join Korn to do that type of music.” – Head (who rejoined Korn after The Path Of Totality)
Subject of a thousand “Teehee!” memes and even a petition to block its release in a particularly demented instance of fan entitlement, Suicide Silence is one of the few albums to disrupt the deathcore status quo.
That genre was already drawing plenty from nu metal but Suicide Silence went one step further and roped in Ross Robinson to produce their fifth album. He lent it a ragged, deliberately messy sound that called back to the audio horror of Korn’s game-changing debut, with Eddie Hermida’s vocals breaking away from deathcore pigsqueals and into tormented, unhinged wails.
It was designed to unsettle, but was too out-there for fans expecting standard-issue Pro Tooled breakdowns and vocal animal noises in all the places they’re supposed to be. Suicide Silence was an attempt to push deathcore into legitimately dangerous territory. That it didn’t perhaps said less about the band and more about the people who listened to it. Perran Helyes
THEY SAY: “We took a lot of heat for it and the backlash was much more severe than we thought it would be. That definitely affected us personally.” – Eddie Hermida
When Dave Mustaine unveiled an album called Risk and started talking about taking chances, metalheads reacted as though he’d announced a jazz-fusion collab with Sting. The verdict was swift and brutal: sellout, disaster, misfire. That’s nonsense. People judge Risk as a failed thrash album instead of what it actually is: a great hard rock record.
OK, Crush ’Em is moronic bluster, but beneath the wrestling-theme bombast lies some of the strongest songwriting of Dave’s career. Breadline is absurdly catchy, Wanderlust aches with melancholy and Time: The Beginning boasts a level of maturity and reflection few Megadeth records even attempt.
Most bands accused of selling out simply make worse versions of themselves. Risk was far more interesting: it committed to a different vision. Nearly 30 years on, stripped of expectation and outrage, it sounds exactly what it always was: bold, melodic and unfairly condemned. Joe Daly
THEY SAY: “If I drink a little bit I’m gonna want to do a bit of blow. If I do blow I want to do heroin. And if I do heroin I end up writing an album like Risk again – and nobody wants that.” – Dave Mustaine
When Judas Priest reunited with iconic vocalist Rob Halford in 2003, the metal world rejoiced. Two years later, reunion album Angel Of Retribution was warmly received. But three years after that, the British legends released Nostradamus: an overblown and ambitious double concept album about the life of 16th-century seer Michel de Nostredame, the medieval equivalent of that octopus that used to predict the results of football tournaments.
Weirdly, Priest’s unashamedly indulgent 16th studio album was given a mixed response. Too long. Too synth-heavy. Too ridiculous. Nostradamus was praised by some, but given a rigorous kicking by everyone else. In truth, Nostradamus is exactly the kind of unapologetic, aggressively over-the-top statement that such a pioneering band should be making.
Heavy metal is supposed to be big, bold and occasionally stupid, and since Priest coined the majority of the genre’s in-built clichés, they have the right to exploit them. Nostradamus is an extravagant, symphonic metal masterpiece, with several of the finest songs the band have written this century. Prophecy, Death, Pestilence And Plague and Persecution are all monsters, and the title track is both epic and catchy as fuck.
The album’s numerous interludes and atmospheric detours are the perfect showcase for Rob Halford’s still-extraordinary voice. Guitarists K.K. Downing (who quit after the album’s release) and Glenn Tipton have never been on such inventive form, and guest keyboardist Don Airey decorates the record with lavish moments of inspiration.
Although overshadowed by subsequent albums – Firepower and Invincible Shield in particular – Nostradamus was the late-career triumph that nobody saw coming. Dom Lawson
THEY SAY: “It was really fun to do. It came together very quickly too because we weren’t scratching around trying to write another Breaking The Law or another Painkiller or something. It was completely fresh. I understand that the Priest fans didn’t get it, they know what they want.
They want consistency like they get from AC/DC or Iron Maiden or something like that, where they stick to what they know and what they do best. But I’d have to say that I’m very happy that we did that album.” ex-Priest guitarist K.K. Downing
Nordic folk group Skáld will tour Europe alongside The HU starting at the end of September. Check out all their upcoming shows!
Get your tickets by clicking here.
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The Prodigy were ready for a Warrior Dance at The National Bowl. The sun set, and the crowd were flying high, quite literally along the peak of the hazy yellow grassed bowl. We were all coming together for this special night of blended music genres. Innovators, pioneers, legends. This band, once unaware of the power of their influence, had returned once again. All were ready for The Prodigy.
Words: Naomi Hefter
Photography: Gina Smith
From the silence on the stage to the hot, dusty air, drones buzzed above the crowd. Suddenly, a thunderous drumbeat and a bright electric red light filled the bowl. The crowd turned electric and prepared for a dance battle.
Opening with Omen, a fast-paced, direct, heavily lyrical favourite of the crowd, was an impactful start, and that is an understatement. From the album Invaders Must Die, this track got the crowd unleashing pent-up anger, pain, happiness, frustration, or excitement. Everyone felt the instantly powerful atmosphere.
Classics like Breath, Warrior, No Good and Voodoo, The Prodigy has carried the torch since returning in 2022, without replacing frontman Keith Flint. Founder Liam Howlett, guitarist Rob Holliday and MC Maxim have driven the band’s force and come back stronger than ever.
Headlining Glastonbury 2025 and on a single consecutive world tour, The Prodigy were now ready to take the stage at the National Bowl.
The National Bowl opened in 1979. Commonly known as The Milton Keynes Bowl, this open-air arena has seen multiple icons stomp the ground, including Metallica, Oasis and Guns N’ Roses. Now it was time for two hours of hardcore electronic dance, alternative rock and big beat, blended together.
Aggressive, full of attitude, fierce and sometimes even chaotic, The Prodigy (meaning child genius) have fans seeing them as untouchable, with unmatched live performances that make them one of the greatest acts in modern music history.
With seven studio albums, the band tried to avoid the mainstream, turning down repeated invitations to Top Of The Pops and other TV guest appearances. But with Flint’s infectious likeability, presence and opting to show his true talent from backing dancer to songwriter, and eventually frontman, Flint wrote the iconic Firestarter.
A blend of punk, Metal and techno, this track inevitably turned The Prodigy into the mainstream. This track changed everything.
Despite the controversy over the lyrics, Firestarter, raw and aggressive, marked the beginning of the band’s commercial peak, becoming their first UK number one single, a top 10 hit worldwide, and their US breakthrough. By 1996, the release of Breathe had instantly sold 1.2 million copies in the UK.
Since Keith’s passing in 2019, the band have only honoured him, and this hot Saturday night, mid-centre, its peak, and quite literally the heart of the gig, came a moment every single person knew was coming.
A sudden silence, with a faint background sound of strings and soft drum percussion. A giant statue set up at the front of the crowd, facing the stage. Suddenly, sharp laser beams shot from its eyes. These neon green laser beams, also known as aerial laser projectors, outlined Keith’s iconic silhouette on the stage for all to see.
With his famous green hair and double mohawk shaped like devil’s horns, the crowd erupted into an almighty cheer.
And like a door being kicked off its hinges, Firestarter went into full throttle. This spectacular, full-stage green laser show took over what felt like the world. It was a vision like no other. Flint’s silhouette then progressively moved and mimicked his famous energetic dancing style onto the screen on stage.
This celebration of Keith brought hard dancing, tears, cheers and smiles to every single person watching. A moment which preserved his presence,
Ending this impactful and powerful gig with Out Of Space, every crowd member sang and danced together. No one wanted the night to end.
The positive energy when leaving the bowl was radiant. This radical yet ironically positive band are forever honoured and respected. This band shall continue, and in the words of The Prodigy, “We’re here, it’s now, we live forever. The time has come. We live forever.”
Rockowizna has firmly established itself as one of Poland’s biggest touring rock festivals, drawing together a combination of rock, metal, and alternative acts across the country’s major cities and this year marked the festival’s landmark 5th edition, kicking off in Gdańsk before rolling through Poznań and finally landing in Kraków and closing out not just the tour, but the summer itself, with two final days of live music.
The first two stops had set the bar high, with the likes of Sex Pistols, Within Temptation, Airbourne, and Avatar among the acts gracing the Rockowizna stages. But Kraków was far from an afterthought. The festival’s final shows brought an impressive line-up of its own, with Lord of the Lost, Lacuna Coil, and Polish heavyweights Acid Drinkers and Coma entrusted with bringing the fifth edition to a fitting close.
With two days of live music and a line-up spanning the full breadth of the rock and metal world, the stage was set for one last unforgettable weekend of Rockowizna 2026. As a devoted live music fan, this kind of bill was simply impossible to resist — and so, yours truly showed up. A huge thank you to the organization for having us there!
Kicking off the first day in Kraków were The Analogs, veterans of the Polish punk scene who have been making noise since their formation in Szczecin in 1995. Over their three-decade-long career, the band has become renowned for their energetic, punk-rock-driven music and lyrics that tackle social issues and the realities of everyday life. They may not be a fixture on national radio or television, but they are well-known to punk fans across Poland and beyond, from Germany and Austria to the Czech Republic. That combination of authenticity has made The Analogs one of the most recognizable names in Poland’s street-punk scene, and a fitting choice to get the crowd moving from the very first song.
The festival crowd, which during both days was a mix of fans of all ages, including families with young children, needed no encouragement. From the very first note, they were singing along and moving to the band’s familiar punk anthems. The set was generous to long-time fans, featuring beloved tracks like “Strzelby z Brixton” (The Guns of Brixton) and “Pieśń Aniołów” (The Song of Angels). And looking at the crowd during their performance, it was clear that the band’s energy was infectious from start to finish, drawing in even those unfamiliar with their catalog. It was the perfect warm-up for everything still to come.
From Poland, the baton passed to England. Hailing from Hastings, Kid Kapichi have established a reputation for their gritty British punk and riff-heavy sound. The band formed in 2013, but it was their debut album in 2021 that truly opened the doors to wider audiences. Their lyrics zero in on social and political frustration, and the everyday struggle of British life, themes which reflected The Analogs‘ spirit closely enough to make them the natural successor act.
As someone who grew up in the UK, I found Kid Kapichi’s set hit me with a surge of nostalgia. The band ran through some of their most popular tracks, including “Party At Nr. 10”, a nod to Partygate, the infamous gatherings at No. 10 Downing Street during COVID-19 lockdowns, alongside “New England,” “Rob The Supermarket,” and the song that has been stuck in my head ever since: “Can EU Hear Me,” with its irresistibly catchy chorus. The crowd had an absolute blast, but it was clear the band were enjoying themselves just as much. Vocalist and guitarist Jack Wilson even slipped away to take advantage of the Vean Studio tattoo tent on the festival grounds, a souvenir I fully understand, having done the same myself on Day 2.
While The Analogs technically opened the festival, Pull The Wire got the pre-party started. As soon as the festival grounds opened and the first attendees began trickling in, the band set up near the official merch stands for an acoustic warm-up set, a tradition they had carried from the previous stops in Gdańsk and Poznań. The day also held a personal reason for celebration for the band, as the drummer Marek Adamek was celebrating his birthday, with the festival crowds singing “Sto Lat” (Polish birthday song) several times. The Żyrardów-based band has been a fixture on the Polish live circuit since their formation in 2005, and everything about them suggests they were built for the stage. And such an opinion was only strengthened through years of festival appearances, culminating in a Złoty Bączek (“Golden Spinning Top”) award, voted for by attendees of the Pol’and’Rock Festival, which they won in the “Small Stage” category in 2023.
Coming onto the stage during their main set with the graphics and stage decor resembling a pirate ship, Pull The Wire wasted no time getting the crowd on their feet with their rousing pirate shanty, “Klątwa Czarnej Perły Strong” (The Curse of the Black Pearl Strong). The band has long described their shows as a night out with friends over a beer, and that spirit was noticeable, coming from the stage and bouncing right back from an audience that had grown considerably and was riding a flood of energy. The atmosphere hit new heights when the band kicked off into fan favorites “Pirat Drogowy” (Road Pirate) and “Kapslami w Niebo” (Bottlecaps to the Sky). And in the middle of the party that was going on in the crowd, the band’s inflatable unicorn floatie was launched into the crowd, which was a welcome touch that made for a far more memorable sight than the usual inflatable balls that make appearances at festival crowds.
With the crowd thoroughly warmed up, it was time for Nocny Kochanek to take the stage and push things into heavier territory. Nocny Kochanek — which translates to “Nighttime Lover” — brought a distinctly different flavor of Polish metal to Rockowizna. The band, formed in 2012, has made an art form out of not taking themselves or the genre too seriously. Musically, there is nothing casual about it: soaring vocals and heavy riffs have drawn frequent comparisons to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. But that is where those comparisons end. Lyrically, Nocny Kochanek operate in a world of absurd humor, sharp wordplay, and tongue-in-cheek observations on everything from relationships and drinking to the stereotypes of metal culture itself. Opinions on the band may be divided, but this formula has earned them a sizeable following in Poland and, much like Pull The Wire, it is a formula tailor-made for a festival crowd.
The setlist was packed with fan favorites, including “Dziewczyna z Kebabem” (The Girl with a Kebab) and “Zdrajca Metalu” (Traitor of Metal). Pyrotechnics were out in full swing, Nocny Kochanek being one of only two acts on the bill to deploy them, and the crowd responded in kind, growing rowdier with each song as pits of all varieties broke out and crowd surfers became a near-constant presence. For their three-song encore, the band saved a special moment: “Koń Na Białym Rycerzu” (A Horse On A White Knight), a track during which the drummer trades his kit for a recorder. Singer Krzysztof Sokołowski called out to the audience to ask if anyone had brought their own, and, as it turned out, two young fans had come prepared. One had a horse mask, the other a knight’s helm, and both were invited onstage to join the band for the performance. And the goodwill didn’t end there: once the set was over, the band made their way along the front barrier, trading high-fives, shaking hands, taking selfies, and signing whatever fans thrust their way.
As the night’s penultimate act unfolded, the mood shifted, and for many in the crowd, it became deeply nostalgic. Few bands on the Rockowizna roster carried quite as much history as Acid Drinkers. Formed in Poznań in 1986, the Polish metal veterans have spent decades earning their place among the most recognizable and influential names in the country’s heavier music scene, built on a foundation of thrash, heavy metal, and crushing riffs that has kept them with a devoted following across generations. Their appearance at Rockowizna also came with an added sense of occasion. In 2025, Acid Drinkers reunited their original lineup: Tomasz “Titus” Pukacki, Robert “Litza” Friedrich, Dariusz “Popcorn” Popowicz, and Maciej “Ślimak” Starosta, after 27 years apart, with Rockowizna hosting that long-awaited reunion. One year on, all four were back together on the festival stage once more.
The band walked onstage to Hans Zimmer’s “This Land” from The Lion King before launching into hits including “Masterhood of Hearts Devouring,” “High Proof Cosmic Milk,” and “I Am the Mystic.” While the band tore through their set onstage, things were equally intense in the fans below. The pits that had been a feature throughout the night reached new levels of chaos, something the bruises on my back can personally attest to. But in my opinion, walking away with a few battle scars is the mark of a successful festival, given that they are not too serious. Acid Drinkers is a band I had heard of but never followed closely, yet watching them perform made it immediately clear why they hold such legendary status in the Polish heavy metal scene. Seeing them in their original lineup only added to the occasion. Alongside their biggest hits spanning four decades, the set also featured covers of Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” and Percy Mayfield’s “Hit the Road Jack”, the latter bringing the set to a rousing close.
Once Acid Drinkers left the stage, the audience had a brief window to catch their breath — though not for long. For readers outside Poland or unfamiliar with the Polish music scene, most of the night’s acts may have been new names. The final band, however, needs no introduction. As darkness settled over Rockowizna, both in the atmospheric kind and the literal late hour, it was time for the first day’s headliner to take the stage. Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, Lord of the Lost have spent well over a decade constructing a world where gothic and industrial metal collide with dark rock, glam, and electronic music. Led by the unmistakable Chris Harms, the band is as famous for their theatrical visual aesthetic and commanding live performances as they are for their refusal to be confined to any one genre.
It had already been a relentlessly busy year on the road for Lord of the Lost. The band kicked off 2026 with their Dark Winter Tour across the United States and Canada before heading down under for a run of shows in Australia. From there, they returned to Europe for an extensive run of dates alongside the release of Opvs Noir Vol. 3, the concluding chapter of the Opvs Noir trilogy, a brief pause, and then straight into the summer festival season. After months performing for audiences around the world, Lord of the Lost arrived in Kraków for a second time that year, for the final stop of the festival run.
Many fans had been holding their spot at the barricade since the festival gates opened, decked out in Lord of the Lost merchandise, and it was finally time for the night’s most anticipated act. The 16-song setlist drew heavily from the Tour Noir run, opening with “Bazaar Bizarre” and rolling through fan favorites including “Drag Me To Hell” and “Priest.” When the band reached their hit “Loreley,” Chris Harms did what he so often does during that song: descended into the crowd. At his first stop, he flung his jacket into the audience (and no, I am absolutely not jealous of whoever caught it), before working his way along the barricade at several points, giving fans that rare and treasured close-up moment with the frontman. No Lord of the Lost show in recent memory would be complete without their Eurovision entry “Blood and Glitter,” and this was no exception; and in Eurovision spirit, the set also featured their now-beloved cover of Käärijä’s Eurovision hit “Cha Cha Cha”.
As the set came to a close, Chris took a moment to address the crowd, as he always does. He also shared some significant news which some fans might have already heard: after this year, Lord of the Lost will be stepping back from touring for the foreseeable future, a year or maybe slightly longer. For fans who managed to secure tickets in time, there is still one final opportunity to see them — their annual Lordfest, taking place in Hamburg on December 18th and 19th.
The first day of the festival served as a musical journey in every sense, from classic street-punk to gothic metal, with each act ratcheting up the intensity until Lord of the Lost brought the night to a thunderous close.
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Dragonland has released a video for ‘The Prophecy Unfolds‘, second single taken from the new album ‘Prophecies‘ to be released on October 23rd by Scarlet Records. ‘Prophecies‘ is a hard-hitting and meticulously crafted symphonic power metal journey set to engulf the listener in an ocean of soaring melodies, fast riffing, and epic orchestrations. The vision […]
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