KILKIM ŽAIBU 2024 began preparing for the upcoming summer as strongly as ever and will welcome fans of metal music and Baltic culture from Lithuania and abroad for the 24th time. 18 bands that will rock the stages at the Manor of President Smetona near Lake Lėnas have already been announced. And that’s not all.
The festival lineup is boasting of big word-class metal names coming to Lithuania from beyond the Atlantic. Rest assured, the upcoming midsummer will be one of the best in KILKIM ŽAIBU history. Moreover, the list will get even longer with high-calibre stars of the metal scene.
Lithuanian metal fans are already well-acquainted with ROTTING CHRIST that have visited our country countless of times. However, the Greek metal titans, led by the brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis, deliver an excellent musical experience and warm communication both on and off stage. No doubt, that the audience will be enchanted by their charisma and artistry once again. And there’s also room for surprises – ROTTING CHRIST is planning to release a new album soon, so KILKIM ŽAIBU audience will be among the first to listen to their latest works.
Meanwhile, the cult band CARPATHIAN FOREST from Norway will be visiting both KILKIM ŽAIBU and Lithuania for the first time. Mesmerising the world with their gloom and cold since 1992, the band doesn’t have many albums with the latest released back in 2006. Yet this definitely does not keep them from headlining the largest metal festivals around the world and could even be referred to as an example of quality – their music is timeless.
Medical staff may think of GUTALAX as a laxative. Metal fans know a completely different story. You may get the impression that the Czech gore grind metal band, coming to Lithuania, look like some infantile funmakers. You wouldn’t be wrong – after all, all of their songs are closely-related to the effect of the medicine they’re using as the band’s name. Yet music does not have to be serious all the time. It’s point is to mesmerise and bring out some emotion. And this Czech band will definitely do just that.
Another first-time visitor to Lithuania, is the BLACKBRAID black metal solo project. Throughout his short musical career (a little more than a year), this musician, paying tribute to his ancestors – the Mohawk tribe – has already released two albums, full of rage, sadness and Native American spirituality.
Other bands coming to celebrate Midsummer in Lithuania from beyond the Atlantic are the Canadian black metal stars PANZERFAUST and the American death metal band JUNGLE ROT. KILKIM ŽAIBU will also feature the Swedish death metal band NECROPHOBIC, the German Gothic darkwave team (DOLCH), the Portuguese black metal discovery GAEREA, the atmospheric folk/black metal creators from England SAOR, the Norwegian metal avant-garde VULTURE INDUSTRIES, the black/speed metal band BÜTCHER from Belgium, the German heavy metallers ALL FOR METAL, and the Czech black metal band INFERNO. Lithuanian metal scene will be represented by the black metal star LUCTUS, the black/speed metal band NIGHT SLASHER, the folk and metal synthesis ŪKANOSE, and the fun thrash metal creators SHVININIAI SHARVAI.
The list is already long, but it will get even longer! We’ll have to come up with smart solutions to fit them all on KILKIM ŽAIBU stages. And there are quite a few well-known bands from all over the world that would love to share the experience. That is probably the best compliment our festival could get from the musician side and a sign that more than two decades of hard, yet inspiring work, bears excellent fruit.
KILKIM ŽAIBU 2024 is looking forward to seeing you on 21-23 June at the historical Manor of the President Antanas Smetona near Lake Lėnas in Ukmergė district.
