Brutal Assault 2024: Cult Of Fire exclusive show with Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague paying tribute to composer Bedřich Smetana

This year, worlds of classical music and black metal will meet for the very first time at Brutal Assault. Czech epic black metal maestros Cult Of Fire will play a special set commissioned by Brutal Assault to pay a tribute to Bedřich Smetana and his works. The band has joined their dark forces with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague led by Martin Šanda, and this expanded group of musicians will deliver an experience not yet seen at Brutal Assault before – and rarely elsewhere.

Year 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of the biggest composers in the history of Czech classical music. Bedřich Smetana, born on 2 March 1824, rightly earned a special place in the hearts of his contemporaries and generations that followed. And his music and his passion for the Czech culture have helped pave the path for the Czech modern era nation.

More than a century and a half later, an extreme metal scene started forming in what was still Czechoslovakia. A handful of bands planted seeds for what would later become part of the so-called second wave of black metal. True to this tradition, Cult Of Fire have picked up the torch of the black flame and become one of the very few internationally known metal bands emerging from the homeland of Brutal Assault. By now, they have brought their music and visual experiences to most continents of the world, and have grown into a headlining act for many special events.

This unique performance will exclusively feature new music by Cult Of Fire, directly and indirectly inspired by Bedřich Smetana. While you may have seen black metal bands with symphonic orchestras before, you have not seen one at Josefov Fortress yet. It’s important to note that this is not a usual concert of a metal band playing their own songs with orchestral arrangements. This is a commissioned piece of music, written by Vladimír Pavelka (Cult Of Fire) and arranged by Martin Šanda for the band and Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague, paying homage to a classical composer – either by directly reworking Bedřich Smetana‘s music, or writing their own music inspired by his works.

This performance may as well become the fastest one in the history of the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague (or any other such metal-meets-symphonic collaborations on that matter), as Cult Of Fire bring their fury along with the passion for one of the greatest composers in the Czech history. This special project is poised to become yet another milestone in the history of Brutal Assault. One that has to be eye-witnessed.

The Brutal Assault organization announced recently that four stoner bands will join the 2024 lineup. To the previous confirmed bands, Blockheads, Hatebreed, Humanity’s Last Breath, Julie Christmas, Laibach, New Moder Army and Spiritworld were added, gradually completing the lineup for its new edition that by the moment is not completely closed.

“Brutal Assault has announced 84 % of the lineup! LAIBACH will be back on the Brutal stage, NEW MODEL ARMY, and JULIE CHRISTMAS will be coming for the first time. HATEBREED will celebrate their thirtieth year on stage, and other core acts will join them“, says the Brutal Assault organization when announced the confirmation of the aforementioned bands on its social networks.

LAIBACH will return to the fortress this year with a special Opus Dei + The Greatest Hymns set to celebrate the remastering and re-release of the iconic 1987 Opus Dei album (featuring songs such as “Life is Life,” “Leben heißt Leben,” and “Geburt einer Nation”). In addition, the Slovenian band will play other important tracks that preceded this album, as well as include a few new surprises. As always, expect the unexpected from Laibach once again.

Making their debut on the Brutal Assault stage are English rebels NEW MODEL ARMY and JULIE CHRISTMAS, former Battle of Mice/Made Out Of Babies vocalist best known for her work with Cult of Luna. While “The Bad Wife” separated her from the metal scene more than a decade ago, her collaboration with Cult of Luna on “Mariner” brought her back into the post-metal mainstream – and left no one in any doubt that her audience needed another round.

HATEBREED, an unstoppable hardcore force formed in Connecticut in 1994, will celebrate their thirtieth anniversary at Brutal Assault. From overseas, they bring their signature aggressive sound and intense live performance that blends elements of hardcore punk and metal.

The core line-up will also be expanded by French grind BLOCKHEADS, core with a western twist from SPIRITWORLD and modern post-apocalyptics HUMANITY’S LAST BREATH.

New confirmations on Brutal Assault’s official website.

Among the bands that are added to the Brutal Assault lineup during the past months, the return of the death metal of the British Carcass or the Swedish melodic death metal masters Dark Tranquility stands out as well as the genuine Vltimas led by the great David Vincent, not without forgetting some emerging Unto Others or the Finnish Kalmah who will also delight lovers of melodic death metal. In addition to those already mentioned we find bands like Escuela Grind, Cancer Bats, Aborted, Cytotoxin, Deathstars, Madball, Master Boot Record, Misery Index, Cynic, Pig Destroyer, Rotten Sound, Show Me The Body, Soil, Svalbard, This Is Hell or Yellow Eyes.

Some of the bands that were unveiled during the month of December were Red Fang, Plini, Riverside, Stoned Jesus, Night Verses, Dopethrone, Textures and Village Of Ioannina City. At the end of November, the a few more bands such as Armored Saint, Exodus, Havok, Laid To Waste, Sadus, Testament, Toxic Holocaust, Abbath performs Immortal, Darvaza, Devil Master, DHG, Grand Magus, Impaled Nazarene, Khold, Primordial, Triumph Of Death performs Hellhammer, Tulus, Uada and Ved Buens Ende were added to the Brutal Assault 2024 line-up.

low you can see the whole list of bands that would be performing at Brutal Assault 2024:

Tickets for Brutal Assault 2024 can now be purchased at a price of €192 through the festival’s official website. You can also purchase tickets for children between 0 and 12 years old at a price of €4.49 and for teenagers between 17 and 17 years old at a price of €85. Both festival passes and tickets for the camping area (includes tent) or bus trips to access the festival can be purchased on the Brutal Assault website.

The Brutal Assault takes place in the Czech Republic’s Josefov Fortress, a 18th century military fortress with unique and amazingly atmosphere which consists of four stages plus the experimental KAL club with absinthe bar.

You can also visit the art galleries and exhibitions that the festival offers, relax at the chill out zone with merch stands and also enjoy its horror cinema with family or friends. The festival line-up consists of 125 bands in a 4-day edition whith a warm-up party that would take place on August 6.

As if all this were not enough, the festival is totally committed to the environment and it is for that same reason that since 2011 they have been using reusable cups to reduce the environmental footprint. In 2012, organic plates were introduced to serve food, in addition to providing only wooden cutlery. The straws and cups are also made of paper, they have their own waste recycling.