Zardonic in Sofia on October 2 - the Venezuelan who welded metal to drum and bass at Mixtape 5

Zardonic, the Venezuelan producer who fused metal with drum and bass, plays Sofia's Mixtape 5 club on October 2, 2026. The night is part of the Element Klan programme titled "Metal vs Bass", and Eric Hutchens shares the stage with him.

Behind the mask that became his trademark is Federico Agreda Alvarez. He has used the Zardonic alias since 2004, when as a teenager he started releasing drum and bass productions, and has been active since 2001. His sound, which he calls "Metal & Bass" himself, takes the aggression of industrial metal and the speed and precision of drum and bass.

He has worked as a remixer with Fear Factory and Bullet for My Valentine, and his music has appeared in video games including Superhot. His biggest platform came from the American wrestling organisation All Elite Wrestling, whose Revolution programme on TNT carries his theme. He also runs separate projects under other aliases, among them the black metal names Gorepriest and Sol Nocturno, plus releases in dark ambient and industrial noise.

Eric Hutchens is a DJ and producer out of the metal scene, unusual in that he performs metal sets alongside a live drum show. The two of them on the same night is exactly what the event title promises: two speeds of the same aggression, set side by side.

Tickets range from fifteen to thirty euros, roughly 920 to 1,850 denars, through bilet.bg. Doors at 21:00. Mixtape 5 is a club room, which means the bass is felt in the floor, not just in the speakers.