Zavírák Mezivrchy 2026: From a Laid-Back Afternoon Straight to Hell. Lomnice Closed the Summer Without Mercy

When One Festival Offers Several Musical Worlds

There are festivals people attend because of one particular band. And then there are events whose greatest strength lies in the fact that, in a single day, they can take you through several completely different musical worlds. Zavírák Mezivrchy 2026 was exactly that kind of festival.

The moment you entered the grounds of the swimming pool in Lomnice, you could immediately feel the energy of the last proper summer festival day. The pool, beer, the first visitors in front of the stage, more people gradually coming through the gate, and the feeling that summer definitely had not said its last word yet. And Zavírák intended to give it a farewell that would not be forgotten anytime soon.

The festival's dramaturgy was built like a journey. First came a pleasant afternoon pace, then a punk awakening, and finally the heavy part of the programme, during which the character of the entire venue changed almost beyond recognition. From lighter ska rock through punk to metal, death metal and other heavy styles. Zavírák was not afraid to mix genres, and that was exactly what gave it its own identity.

Neo Mr. Day – a pleasant opening to the day

Neo Mr. Day were given the task of opening the festival, and their lighter ska-rock sound fitted the beginning of the afternoon perfectly. There was no reason to attack the audience with the very first notes. People were still arriving, finding their spots, having their first beer and gradually getting into the festival mood.

The band worked as a gentle warm-up. They got the blood moving a little, while still leaving enough room for the atmosphere of a summer swimming pool. Even at this point, it was already clear that the day's programme would not be confined to a single musical box.

Rachot Band – one of the strongest human moments

They were followed by Rachot Band, a band connected with the Jedlička Institute in Liberec. Their performance was one of those moments that warm your heart in a completely different way than a heavy guitar or a raging mosh pit.

People with disabilities also make music together on stage, and seeing their enthusiasm made it clear that music simply does not recognise boundaries like these. There was strength, determination and, above all, an enormous joy in standing on stage and playing for people.

Rachot Band relied on well-known cover songs, making it easy for the audience to join in. But this was never about pity or judging who was holding an instrument. It was about music. About a group of people who clearly enjoy playing together and can send that joy straight out into the crowd.

Moments like these are a reminder of why music has such power. Rachot Band showed that passion, determination and love for music can overcome boundaries that can sometimes seem impossible to cross from the outside.

Pluto – the last calm before the gradual increase in intensity

Pluto continued the more relaxed part of the day. Vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar created a lighter rock atmosphere where you could stop for a moment and simply enjoy the afternoon.

Meanwhile, more visitors were arriving at the venue, and fans of heavier music were becoming increasingly visible. They already knew very well what was coming later. Pluto still worked for them too. Pleasant music, strong vocals and another logical step in the festival's gradual build-up.

HV Kvartet – punk got the crowd moving in front of the stage

With HV Kvartet, the atmosphere began to change colour. Punk did what punk does, and the first people appeared in front of the stage who no longer wanted to just stand around with a beer. A light pogo started up, and Zavírák got its first more noticeable kick.

The band played their own material with the kind of energy that belongs to punk. No unnecessary frills, just movement, music and contact with the audience. They did punk proud and at the same time confirmed that genre diversity is one of the greatest strengths of the entire event. It still was not hell yet. But someone had already taken out the matches.

Carniwar – the metalheads got up from their beers

And then everything changed. Carniwar.

If anyone had been sitting with a beer up to this point, waiting for their moment to finally arrive, the rest ended right here. The metalheads started getting up, people moved closer to the stage, and within a few moments the same swimming pool felt completely different.

Carniwar brought pressure and a sound that was not heard with the ears alone. You felt it through your whole body. The guitars began cutting through the space, and the laid-back festival afternoon took its first truly heavy blow. This was where the gate to the second half of Zavírák opened.

The live form of their music had enormous power. Suddenly it was clear that everything before had been a gradual climb, and now the part of the evening was beginning that the metal section of the audience had been waiting for all day. From this moment on, things were only going to get heavier.

Plán To Kill – more fuel on the fire

After Carniwar, there was absolutely no reason to ease off. Plán To Kill kept up the heavy pace and definitively confirmed that the metal part of the programme had taken control of the swimming pool.

The contrast was fantastic. Just a few hours earlier it had been a relaxed summer afternoon by the water; now there was heavy music, people in front of the stage, and a venue that was beginning to resemble a metal stronghold.

This was where you could really see how Zavírák worked with the entire day. It did not simply line up ten similar bands next to one another. It allowed the atmosphere to build gradually. Each heavier act added something more, and Plán To Kill were another serious dose of fuel on the fire.

ČAD – a Železný mejdan that tore Lomnice apart

Then came one of the absolute highlights of the entire evening. ČAD.

The Slovak trio do not need elaborate scenery, lengthy introductions or exaggerated stage theatrics. All they need to do is pick up their instruments and start playing. At that moment, everything that makes ČAD such a distinctive live band immediately kicks in: rawness, pressure, complete authenticity and energy that travels straight from the stage into the crowd.

Pišta Vandal's distinctive vocals immediately cut through the swimming pool grounds. Bass and drums created a massive foundation, while the guitar sliced into it without unnecessary mercy. By now, nobody had to wonder whether the metal part of Zavírák had really begun. It was in full swing.

And when Železný mejdan rang out, there could hardly have been a more fitting song. Because that was exactly what Lomnice had become at that moment: one huge Železný mejdan.

Zbojnícke móresy then brought out another characteristic side of ČAD. Heaviness, a distinctly Slovak signature and a song that gains even more power in a live setting. The audience had long since stopped being passive observers. This was where people shouted. This was where people lived. This was where everything was played at full force.

What is so fascinating about ČAD is that you never get the feeling of a calculated show. There is something genuine about it. The band perform as if playing at half speed simply does not exist for them. Whatever audience stands in front of them gets the full dose.

ČAD not only lived up to the high expectations, but became one of the performances that defined this year's Zavírák. After their set, there was no doubt that Lomnice was ready for the final two blows of the evening.

Neurotic Machinery – the first of the final two blows

After ČAD, many bands might have felt like a sobering comedown. Neurotic Machinery certainly had not come to calm the atmosphere down. Quite the opposite.

The heaviness took on a different form. More technically refined, tighter and crushing. After the raw assault of ČAD came another onslaught, and suddenly the fatigue of the entire day seemed to disappear. Neurotic Machinery managed to follow up without simply copying the energy of the previous band.

Their performance felt like a precisely executed attack. Heavy music poured from the stage, the pressure never let up, and the entire venue was now definitively on a completely different planet from where it had been at the festival's afternoon opening. This was where the final chapter of the evening began to be written. The last two bands were no longer there merely to bring Zavírák to a respectable close. Their job was to finish it off.

Neurotic Machinery launched the first part of the final assault, and it was clear that if anyone had been saving their last reserves of energy, now was the time to use them. The swimming pool in Lomnice was no longer a place for a relaxed summer sit-down. It had become a metal battlefield.

I Survived a Horse Attack – the final blow and hell in Lomnice

And then came the final band. I Survived a Horse Attack.

After an entire day, you might expect the audience to be tired, the energy to start fading and the ending to settle into a pleasant comedown. But nothing of the sort happened.

I Survived a Horse Attack took whatever energy was still left in the venue and squeezed every last drop out of it without mercy. The final set of the evening was not a calming epilogue. It was one last attack.

At that point, it was almost absurd to think back to the relaxed start of the afternoon. The very same place where lighter music had been playing only a few hours earlier and people had been sitting around peacefully was now being hit by the final heavy storm.

Neurotic Machinery and I Survived a Horse Attack created an ending together that can be described very simply: hell in Lomnice.

The final two bands did not give an inch. There was no time to catch your breath and no reason to slow down. Zavírák hurtled towards its end exactly the way a festival like this deserves: loud, heavy and with the last reserves of strength being spent in front of the stage.

And it was I Survived a Horse Attack who were given the thankless but beautiful task of bringing this entire journey to a close. Not quietly shutting the door. Slamming it so hard that it would still be heard long afterwards.

If Zavírák was meant to symbolically close the summer, this ending did not send it to sleep. It sent it straight to hell.

Raffle, beer and the character of Zavírák

The festival was not just an uninterrupted sequence of concerts. After ČAD came a lighter moment in the form of a raffle, with prizes including beer and other treats. Moments like these highlighted the pleasant community character of the whole event.

Zavírák did not feel like an anonymous giant festival where you disappear into the crowd. There was still a sense of closeness between the stage and the people. Bands, fans, organisers, the swimming pool, beer and music. A simple recipe, really, but one that worked brilliantly in Lomnice.

Conclusion – this is how you close the summer

Looking back over the whole day at the end, it was almost hard to believe that all of those musical worlds had belonged to one festival.

Neo Mr. Day opened the day in a relaxed fashion. Rachot Band delivered one of the strongest human moments. Pluto kept the pleasant afternoon mood going. HV Kvartet woke up the punk spirit and the first pogo. Carniwar then got the metalheads up from their beers, and from that point on a completely different chapter began to be written.

Plán To Kill kept feeding the fire. ČAD delivered one of the absolute highlights of the evening and turned Lomnice into a genuine Železný mejdan. And when Neurotic Machinery and I Survived a Horse Attack arrived, there was nothing left to save. The final two bands transformed the ending into full-blown metal hell. And that is precisely the greatest magic of Zavírák Mezivrchy.

The festival does not try to claim that there is only one correct musical style. In a single day, it can place very different bands side by side and take the audience from a relaxed afternoon all the way to an extremely heavy evening. Yet the whole thing still holds together. The common denominator is not genre. It is the joy of live music.

Zavírák Mezivrchy 2026 began as a pleasant final summer afternoon at the swimming pool. It ended somewhere completely different. In noise, heaviness, the last remnants of energy and an atmosphere that the final two bands pushed all the way to the ceiling.

Summer is slowly saying goodbye. And if it was meant to leave with a proper concert explosion, Lomnice nad Popelkou gave it one hell of a worthy full stop. From a laid-back afternoon all the way to metal hell.

This is how you close the summer.

More photos on our zonerama. 

Text: Denča
Photo: Vojta