Thrash gloom-merchants conjure up a world of the bleakest imagery for their fans, a world from which

Location: Ljubljana (Slovenia), VPK Mediapark
Concert date: 01.10.2005
Attendance: 1000
Ticket price: 4.990,00SIT

Well, we finally got them, right in the middle of Ljubljana! Living in a world without a spark, without a single ray of light, wrapped in the eternal wandering of a ravaged world of horrifying apocalyptic visions, highly atmospheric preachers, strictly recognizable in everything they offer, no-holds-barred oppositionists, disillusionists, the kind who point the finger last. Representatives of a unique school of their own, subtly merging elements of thrash with a gorgeous dose of melody that never carries even a gram of sugar, with an exceptional feel for creating many highly vibrant moods, with the irreplaceable Warrel Dane at the center, the main engine of the band, they came to flatten VPK once and for all. Properly, the way it should be done: let the thunder roll and the lightning flash through the gloom of rotten rainy days and the eternal grayness of the concrete masses of decadent Ljubljana.

For the warm-up they invited two tough bands, which shows plenty of guts on Nevermore’s part. First to start raging in the hall were Mercenary. Danish metalheads. You’d say classic elements at the core, an exceptional dose of melody, finely polished songs nicely spiked with more complex passages. A nice warm-up. Really nice. Of course the metal souls weren’t about to be distracted and the bar was pretty full at that point. Mercenary played for half an hour. They fired off 5 songs. The lead guitarist shone brightest, pulling off an especially artful solo in the middle of Seize The Night. The band is technically accomplished and tight. The guys actually have two lead vocalists. The bass player takes care of the brutal stuff, and alongside him there’s another dude handling the clean melodic lines and, of course, the high screaming tuned right along the tracks of good old Rob “fruita” Halford (Judas Priest). The only thing that bugged me during the set was the singer’s stage act. He pulled some sort of rapper gestures, and a couple of sizes tighter pants would have suited him nicely, instead of the “baggy shorts” and shirt he was wearing. Anyway, if you closed your eyes, you could say of Mercenary: “Well done, take a seat, A+!”. The vocal sound was a bit naughty. I was crouching on the balcony and up there I heard him best when he was screaming and singing in the highest lines, even though you could see the veins about to burst on his forehead and that he was giving it everything. The other thing was that the brutal vocal drowned him out a few times. So the sound picture simply wasn’t quite satisfying at that point.

Okay, moving on. Dew Scented. If you’re curious where the limits of the human body lie, you absolutely have to see this band. Damn supersonic-fast twitching, firing from every position through almost an hour of playing, mindless terrorizing through the band’s determined sound. Premier league. Perfect, flawless tightness. An angry, enraged, growling vocal in the center. Dew Scented took us into a world of dark ruins from which there’s no return. Utterly convincing in everything. As a result the bar emptied out, and the crowd squeezed into a pile in front of the stage. There were a good 800 people there, or rather, let me say a solid 700 (by eye). That’s it! Compact, uncompromising shaking of rage and aggression without unnecessary questions and needless fidgeting. A punch between the eyes from the get-go. The singer tried to crank up the mood even further and between breaks he announced, for example, the next song: “This one is a fadst song!” A prime example of black humor, no doubt. Dew Scented only know fifth gear anyway, and with a little imagination they could drive any track in tenth gear without a problem. Guys, hats off!

And now, the main stars of the night! It must have been around half past ten in the evening. Smoke curtains on the stage. The crowd in delirium right away. Nevermore started thundering with devotion and drive with the latest, i.e. freshest, studio album “This Godless Endeavor” (2005) and they rolled out song after song. The sharp grinding of guitars and the thunderous pounding of the drums of the in-form Van flooded the sound of the hall, while at the focal point of the whole situation, of course, the indispensable Warrel took first place. A devilish gloomster dressed in awful earmuffs, topped with a burglar’s cap, with the characteristic dictator gestures and expressions on his face, an act we know very well and an act that is the essence of Nevermore’s mission. People fell into delirium with no trouble at all, and it was a pleasure to watch what happened at the announcement of the fourth song Narcosynthesis, taken probably from what is still the finest Nevermore record, “Dead Heart In A Dead World” (2000). The audience jumped and the atmosphere went up in flames. Nevermore stuck resolutely with their fourth album and continued with The River Dragon Has Come. As far as ecstasy goes, the show hit its first mini-peak here! Red-hot metal heads had the lyrics down completely and faithfully headbanged in breath with the band. The excellent setlist kept the faithful followers on their feet. Warrel Dane proved to be an outstanding performer, the ambience clearly suited him. He varied the color of his voice superbly and so the atmosphere rippled at an exceptional level. Nevermore delivered superb sound along with it, a coherent and impeccably tight performance, without a single slip. Steve Smyth proved an equal companion to Jeff Loomis, Jeff was standard anyway, with poisonously sharpened fingers. The solos were fantastic, the rhythm line neighed thunderously…. It went up in flames again with both songs from “Dead Heart In A Dead World”, the Simon And Garfunkel cover Sound Of Silence and of course the anthemic The Heart Collector, which gave me special goosebumps and whose verses the fans sang along to especially fervently, so loud that it roared through the hall and echoed all the way to the ninth village.

The encore began with the excellent title track of the new album (Warrel announces the song: “Godless are we!”), where the closing part sparkled especially, laced with brilliant interplay of both guitars. And Enemies of Reality put the hall back on its feet completely, as a closer should. The concert was over in an hour and three quarters.

In the end, everything in one package, in an ideal jigsaw. Two excellent, convincing support bands and of course Nevermore – the destruction of humanity, or the tale of fattened piglets wallowing in mud and heaps of gold, on the mass of played-out, humbly bleating sheep. A bullseye. A bullseye in an unforgettable way, uniquely “Nevermore-ish”. Godless reality, the world of Nevermore. Pain and unstoppable rage razed VPK to the ground yesterday and wiped out every last foundation of the hall!

Setlist

Mercenary:
1. ReDestructDead
2. Firesoul
3. World Hate Center
4. Seize The Night
5. 11 Dreams

Dew-Scented:
1. Unconditional
2. Bitter Conflict
3. Turn To Ash
4. Cities Of The Dead
5. Processing Life
6. Rituals Of Time
7. New Found Pain
8. Destination Hell
9. Never To Return
10. Soul Poison

Nevermore:
1. Taped intro (from Dreaming Neon Black)
2. Born
3. My Acid Words
4. Bittersweet Feast
5. Narcosynthesis
6. The River Dragon Has Come
7. Intro
8. Beyond Within
9. Dreaming Neon Black
10. Seven Tongues Of God
11. The Learning
12. Sentinent 6
13. The Sound Of Silence
14. The Heart Collector
15. Final Product
—encore—
16. This Godless Endeavor
17. Enemies Of Realitiy

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