The lineup of the Baltic culture and extreme music festival KILKIM ŽAIBU, taking place for the 26th time, has been expanded with special guests. The Italian doom metal collective MESSA, who released their album “The Spin” last year, instantly became one of the hottest bands in the metal scene.
Although KILKIM ŽAIBU has always been a stronghold of traditional metal music – something also confirmed this year by an impressive list of stage legends – it is just as important for us to showcase what is relevant in metal culture today. MESSA is one of those bands that has been widely talked about across Europe in recent years by fans of the genre. They are not only representatives of a different sound. They demonstrate that metal is alive, still evolving, searching for and discovering new forms.
MESSA’s album “The Spin”, released in 2025, received widespread critical acclaim. Several music publications – including Metal Hammer, Decibel, and Metal Injection – named it the best or one of the best metal albums of last year.
The band’s sound is difficult to confine within a single genre. A dark doom metal foundation is enriched with psychedelic rock moods, jazz inflections, and ambient atmospheres. This musical synthesis creates a hypnotic, almost cinematic sonic world. The band’s distinctive atmosphere is further shaped by the voice of vocalist Sara Bianchin, which has become one of the most recognizable in contemporary heavy music.
In the KILKIM ŽAIBU program, MESSA will represent a kind of new blood among the already confirmed veteran and legendary acts – a reminder that the metal scene is constantly changing, opening itself to new ideas and new generations.
We have no doubt that the MESSA concert will be one of the most memorable moments of this year’s program. A dark atmosphere, strong stage presence, and a modern metal sound promise an experience that will appeal both to devoted fans of heavy music and to those who appreciate original psychedelic rock.
This year, the stars from Italy are far from the only creators of innovative metal who will appear in Lithuania this summer. Festival guests will also be introduced to modern metal sounds by the rising black pagan metal stars FIRTAN from Germany, the folk metal band VANAHEIM from the Netherlands, the Japanese experimental metal collective VIOLENT MAGIC ORCHESTRA, and the British speed/black metal project HELLRIPPER.
The KILKIM ŽAIBU 2026 festival will take place on June 25–27 (days and nights) at its traditional location – the manor estate of President Antanas Smetona in the Ukmergė district, on the shore of Lake Lėnas.
