WATAIN

For the past several decades, Sweden’s WATAIN have been an elite name in the global black metal scene. A band embodying the genre’s core values, sound and aesthetics – everything that is genuine, authentic and forged through lived experience. Individuals who know their worth and their place in the world, their beginnings and... their end! WATAIN have already announced that the release of their new album in autumn 2028 will coincide with the final chapter in the band’s existence. Their appearance at KILKIM ŽAIBU festival will be a special and exclusive memento mori performance – the Swedish band’s one and only show in the Baltic States!

Everything Erik Danielsson and his fellow musicians touch is genuine, serious and uncompromising. Earning recognition from the very outset of their career, the band have always maintained the right balance between the underground and the mainstream. Repeatedly branded as provocateurs and troublemakers, WATAIN have always remained true to their unbreakable principles – the fundamental ideas of black metal and an extreme guitar-driven sound: fast, uncompromising and multi-layered, proudly deserving of the true black metal label.

Although their creative universe is inseparable from artistic inspiration, the Swedish outfit is also recognised as one of the hardest-working (and, arguably, highest-earning) bands on the heavy music scene. WATAIN’s performances are terrifying, radical and sometimes shocking, yet always charged with extreme ordeals, spiritual symbolism, paranormal energy and the darkest of emotions. The band have never concealed their esoteric and mysterious worldview, with their music serving as a tool through which they channel visions of the otherworldly.