Artillery (support acts: Mercenaries, LIV)
Wednesday, 18 February 2026, 8:00 PM – 11:30 PM
Zagreb / Hard Place / Croatia
There are days when our region gets a tour stop from some cult thrash metal act born in the eighties — one that never quite made the big international breakthrough. That’s exactly why they’re cult. These days with a downright historical glow of pioneering about them. Denmark’s Artillery. In Zagreb! Nearly 12 years had passed since the last encounter with them at the Metaldays festival in Tolmin — that was the third day of the festival, the one — if anyone remembers — when their fellow Dane Michael Poulsen lost his voice and headliners Volbeat walked off stage after the sixth song! Well, now they’re here. Close to Slovenia. In Zagreb. For the first time ever in Croatia in their long career, and with a tour called Fear Of Tomorrow! You read that right. The emphasis is on the debut album! The band is marking the 40th anniversary of that record with this new tour. The first three Artillery albums account for a full two thirds of the setlist on this run. Any self-respecting old-school thrash metal fan simply cannot miss this. To do so would be, putting it mildly, an unforgivable sin!
The opening hours belonged to the local acts. At eight in the evening, Zagreb’s Mercenaries took the stage — formerly known as Annexed. They’re a speed/thrash metal quartet that formed (under the Annexed name) in 2023! I wouldn’t put my hand in the fire that the show right before Artillery wasn’t actually their very first outing under the Mercenaries name. The quartet: Jurica Matas (vocals, guitar), Fran Očić (guitar), Andrija Biondić (drums) and Anastazija Debeljak (bass guitar). In just over half an hour the band let rip with a furious mix of old-school thrash and speed elements, weaving in original tracks (including Castle Bravo) alongside two covers: Beast in the Night (orig. Randy), and closing with Iron Maiden’s eponymous classic. Both covers played their way — fierce and unhinged. The guys and the girl made great use of their slot with that old-school revivalism. The sound was pretty terrible, but these wild youngsters fought through it with a ton of heart and left a solid impression.
LIV are a band with serious mileage behind them. They only have one album to their name — a self-titled debut from 2017. They performed as a quartet: Leo Budinski (vocals), Marko Vrljić (bass guitar), Pavao Jušić (guitar) and Mihael Bosak (drums). A completely different sonic proposition compared to their predecessors Mercenaries — excellent sound characteristics throughout. The band thundered away for three quarters of an hour, with the old-school Bay Area scene’s influence all over their sound and style; certain tracks pulled hard toward Exodus — even the later era, when the band was already recording with Dukes on vocals. There were also moments traceable to Slayer’s legacy. Absolutely mental. People were getting knocked sideways and LIV delivered a genuinely excellent warm-up for the night’s headliners — you could feel just how at home the band is at this venue, the quartet was incredibly relaxed, and vocalist Leo kept things lively with some sharp sarcastic quips between songs. A few mid-set drum issues when bolts kept working themselves loose on their own, but otherwise no complaints. Shrapnel — more like a bomb straight to the skull.
Everything changed, of course, the moment the legendary Artillery took the stage. The band had been waiting their turn at a table outside the club, where the quintet had been passing the time — among other things — with pints of beer. In 2023, Artillery went through another lineup tornado. Founding original member Michael Stützer on guitar — with bassist Peter Thorslund as his senior-guard companion (who joined just before the third album “By Inheritance”) — was now joined by a set of younger faces: fair-haired longhair Martin Steene on vocals, drummer Frederik Kjelstrup Hansen, and rhythm guitarist René Loua. Around ten in the evening they charged onto the stage. The first four songs were a direct strike into the golden age of the eighties. The band had the crowd up from the very start with two Fear Of Tomorrow classics, Into The Universe and The Eternal War, and stayed in that golden era with the title track from “By Inheritance” (1990) and The Challenge, from the second album “Terror Squad” (1987).
Hard Place had filled up nicely before the show. And then… everything was suddenly airborne! And never came back down. Arms, legs. Crowd surfing… People lost their minds completely. The band, meanwhile, impossibly assured. Martin — both in look and performance — fits the crew perfectly. A superb frontman. The crowd was eating out of his hand. Stützer commanding, unbelievably calm and utterly focused on the job. In a sharp Kiss tee. Beyond compare. The band didn’t shy away from newer material either, which in every way authentically embodied the pioneering era the band came from.
Artillery are a band that, with this new lineup, have caught a massive wind in their sails and are playing stages relentlessly again. Perfectionism and brilliance. Not a single bum note, and they radiate an incredible traditionalism — the two oldest members of the crew especially. An hour and a half of unrelenting action, encore included. The boiling point never let up. Minutes flew by like seconds. Then, after Legions, the band closed out the main set — only to return immediately and deliver two mandatory shrapnel rounds that can never be missing from the setlist. Back in the mid-eighties again as Artillery serve up the classic The Almighty from the debut and close the show with the title assault track from “Terror Squad”. A concert in perfect harmony with the name that embodies the legendary Danish forefathers of thrash metal. They left a trail of devastation behind them, justified every expectation and then some. Here’s hoping the band heads back into the studio in this lineup and this form as soon as possible, records a new album, and returns to European stages.
Author: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist – Artillery:
1. Into The Universe
2. The Eternal War
3. By Inheritance
4. The Challenge
5. The Face Of Fear
6. Bombfood
7. Turn Up The Rage
8. Khomaniac
9. Deeds Of Darkness
10. 10.000 Devils
11. Legions
—–encore—-
12. The Almighty
13. Terror Squad
