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Mystic isn't just Poland's biggest metal festival. It's also turned out to be a proving ground for bands old and new, giving the likes of Danzig, In Flames, Sepultura and more the chance to really shine away from depressing mid-afternoon slots with a huge production and dramatic setting in Gdansk Shipyard.
No strangers to a bit of dramatic flair are Wednesday's headliners Ice Nine Kills. Megadeth aside, they're likely the biggest band on the bill, having completed a massive arena tour of Europe and the UK last year and landed songs on the soundtrack to movies including Terrifier 3, Scream 7 and Ready Or Not 2 to help them genuinely cross over into pop culture.
But this is only INK's sixth time in Poland, meaning they face something of an uphill battle. Topping a day that featured the likes of Six Feet Under, Grave and A.A. Williams, the horror-obsessed metalcore mob stand out like a sore thumb and it's obvious that even with an enthusiastic audience, the chances of a field-wide singalong are slim.
Not that it stops them from putting on one hell of a show. Vocalist Spencer Charnas is wheeled out Hannibal Lecter style for opener Meat & Greet and from there we're off to the races. There's barely a song in the INK set that doesn't come with some big production flourish. A screaming crew member is stabbed to death on Stabbing In The Dark, a dancing deadite springs across the stage for Ex-Mørtis and for more recent single The Laugh Track Spencer dresses up as a Tim Burton-era Joker while crew members chuck fake dollars into the crowd.
It's all very familiar and a bit of GWAR gore would go a long way, but that doesn't stop it being inredibly fun. Some bits fall flat - the long intro videos suck some energy out and a cover of NoFx's Linoleum would probably be better suited to a Download or Rock AM Ring crowd - but its the mark of a great band when they can win over a crowd that isn't already theirs, and the big wall of death for A Work Of Art - orchestrated by Art The Clown himself, naturally - is a sure sign that INK are doing everything right to become festival headliners in their own right.
Ice Nine Kills Setlist Mystic Festival 2026 June 3 2026
- Meat & Greet
- Wurst Vacation
- Ex-Mortis
- The Laugh Track
- A Grave Mistake
- Funeral Derangements
- Linoleum
- The Shower Scene
- Hell Or High Slaughter
- The Great Unknown
- Stabbing In The Dark
- Welcome To Horrorwood
- Twisting The Knife
- Hip To Be Scared
- IT Is The End
- The American Nightmare
- A Work Of Art
