Eurovision 2018: 9 Other Hungarian Bands You Should Hear
Hungary's Eurovision entry warmed the blackest of hearts, but what else do they have to offer?
May 2018 saw the yearly tirade of overly-camp theatrics, gouda-level cheesy pop and the UK proving they know nothing about music.
Amongst the highlights were a stage invasion during the UK performance by a political activist demanding freedom from the UK media, both Cyprus and Czech Republic achieving their highest ever finishes (second and sixth place respectively), the competition-winning song by Israel features some bizarre chicken clucking acapella and Hungary tried to submit a Lordi Lite.
Metalcore mob AWS won the Hungary Eurovision song selection competition A Dal fending off drum and bass duo yesyes and music competition sweethearts Viktor Király and Gergely Dánielfy. Their song "Viszlát nyár" (Goodbye Summer) electrified those in attendance and on social media, complete with screams, breakdowns and crowd-surfing.
Dark horses Hungary are not everyone's first point of call for any genre of music, with their biggest export coming in the form of former Mayhem vocalist and extreme metal journeyman Attila Csihar. So what is going on down there?
From Twitter-scaring metalcore, to trippy psychedelic rock, to dissonant dream pop, and everything in between, lets delve into Hungary's current music scene that definielty deserve ypur attention.
9. AWS
Metalcore
FFO: Beartooth, The Devil Wears Prada.
Let's start with the band that inspired all of this.
Formed in 2006, AWS (an abbreviation of Alternative Wine Selection) are a melody-ladened metalcore quintet from Budakeszi. The troupe are three albums into their career with 2016's Kint a vízből being their latest and have travelled to the likes of Austria, England, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain.
Following their win in Hungary's Eurovision song selection competition A Dal, AWS travelled to Lisbon to represent their country at the global contest.
Their performance included more pyro than the demon baby of 4th July and Bonfire night, vocalist Siklósi Örs putting his absolute all into his vocal delivery, a stage dive from guitarist from Kökényes Dániel and the band rounding off with the Ginyu Force pose. It was both lauded and condemned by social media, identifying the divide of people that enjoy big, shouty music and those that do not.
The band have confirmed a new album is currently being written and they are continuing to put on shows in and around their homeland. In the run-up to their Eurovision performance, legendary metal festival Wacken Open Air had invited AWS to the 2018 edition of the event.