Blast Fest III [Lublin, PL, 18.04.2026]

The third edition of Blast Fest, held on April 18, 2026, at Lublin’s Fabryka Kultury Zgrzyt, served as another vital link in building a strong brand for extreme music in this part of the country. Huge credit goes to the organizers (DF-Promotion and Fat Ass Records) for their determination in animating the scene on Poland’s so-called „Eastern Wall,” where there is still a noticeable deficit of such uncompromising sounds. The event beautifully continues the tradition established by the first edition in 2024—which hosted legends like Disharmonic Orchestra and Blood—and last year’s installment featuring German veterans Gut. Socially, the event was a bullseye, drawing plenty of familiar faces, including a large crew usually seen only during summer trips to the Czech Obscene Extreme festival. Attendance at the club was spot on; there was a great crowd creating a fantastic atmosphere, yet enough space remained to avoid exhausting congestion, allowing for full freedom during the performances.

Unfortunately, the positive impressions were somewhat overshadowed by the attitude of the club’s security, who showed a complete lack of willingness to cooperate. The guards caused major issues regarding a backpack containing a DSLR camera, refusing to perform a thorough search, which ultimately means this report must go without a photo gallery. An additional downside was the sound quality, which was mediocre for most of the sets, occasionally stripping away the full joy of experiencing such high-decibel music. The festival gates opened at 17:30, and the evening was inaugurated by Polish acts: the (to me) anonymous Leucotome, the more familiar grindcore outfit Nuclear Holocaust, and death/grinders Unborn Suffer at 19:40. I arrived only for the second half of the festival, starting my journey at 20:30 when the Czech duo Purulent Spermcanal took the stage.

This band stepped into the lineup as a replacement for Jig-Ai, who unfortunately did not play. This was a significant disappointment, as their approach to goregrind is always a guarantee of total carnage. Purulent Spermcanal—known to underground maniacs primarily for their split with Coffee Grinders (a project featuring musicians from the legendary Dead Infection) —delivered a likable set, though it lacked the devastating impact that Jig-Ai would have undoubtedly provided. At 21:20, the Finns from Cadaveric Incubator took the helm, hitting the audience with slimy, basement-dwelling death metal in the best old-school fashion. Shortly after, at 22:10, American veterans Cardiac Arrest demonstrated exactly how rotting, raw Chicago death metal should sound.

The undisputed winner and absolute headliner of the chaos, however, was Sweden’s General Surgery, who at 23:10 performed a full operation on the living organism of the Lublin crowd. It was wonderful to see them in the eastern region. The Swedes put on a brilliant show, appearing in their classic blood-stained medical scrubs and proving that their surgically precise gore death grind remains an unmatched standard in the genre. They also fared better sound-wise than the rest, and their compositions were a true treat for fans of that gritty, Swedish tone.

Despite certain technical shortcomings, Blast Fest III proved that Lublin is a solid bastion for extreme music, and the organizer’s passion gives reason to believe that future editions will be even more powerful.