The excellent French post-metal duo Alcest, whose warm-up set when they played ahead of Anathema at Kino Šiška blew us away, are coming back with a completely new album as the new protégés of the legendary Nuclear Blast label and as headliners! They’ll be accompanied by their tireless hardcore compatriots Birds In Row, signed to Deathwish Inc., whose 2018 second album has taken them to metal stages all over the world, and one of the newest Icelandic music gems, synth-punk trio Kælan Mikla, who were invited by none other than Robert Smith (The Cure) to his curated festival.
The Alcest project, led by versatile musician Neige for nearly 20 years, is regarded as a pioneer of the so-called blackgaze genres, which intertwines harsh black metal terror with melodic shoegaze introspection, and was taken to broader audiences especially by our anniversary guests Deafheaven. Alcestare regular guests in the parts, having for example played with MONO and Primordial as well as the MetalDays festival, and they performed at Šiška ahead of British doom outfit Anathema. They proved themselves to be the more convincing of that evening’s shows in the eyes of many, and this time around, they’ll be headlining the night with their latest album. Their sixth record, titled Spiritual Instinct, will be their first for acclaimed metal label Nuclear Blast, and will be released in late October 2019.
French hardcore trio Birds In Row are quite established in our country as well – not only did they play at Metelkova in 2018, they conquered Cuba on a tour with Slovenians The Canyon Observer and other bands two years before that. The band has toured with a majority of the most prominent bands in its field, for example Touché Amoré, The Chariot and Converge, releasing both of its studio albums via the label of the latter’s frontman, Deathwish Inc. Especially the 2018 release We Already Lost the World established them as one of the best such bands right now, and their ceaseless, almost incredible concert schedule has taken them all over the world, including renowned festivals such as Bloodstock, Roadburn and Dour.
Icelanders Kælan Mikla met in high school, when they spontaneously decided to stage a performance piece at a poetry competition – and won. What started as a joke soon turned into a band that gradually replaced poetry and performance art with synths and a shadowy darkwave sound that drew the attention of Fabrika Records, home to bands such as Lebanon Hanover and She Past Away. The band’s 2016 self-titled debut album is today regarded as a cult release in the contemporary goth revival scene, and the band has since released two more albums. The latest one, Nótt eftir nótt, was published towards the end of 2018, just a few months after none other than Robert Smith of The Cure invited them personally to perform ahead of Placebo at the 25th edition of London’s Meltdown festival, which he curated.
Tickets on sale online and at Eventim outlets.
Organisation: Kino Šiška.
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