MOM X-mass Metal Party & ABC Band Contest Pt. 1

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 11 June 2026

Author: Rok Klemše, Aleš Podbrežnik

Location: Ljubljana / Cvetličarna / Slovenia
Concert date: 28.12.2006
Attendance: 300

On Saturday, December 23, three of us from the Rockline crew headed to Media Park for the second all-Slovenian metal party. We sadly missed the first one because of a mountain of work, but this time we covered the event that much better. This time the Media Park hall hosted the so-called ABC (Austrian Band Contest) competition. It’s a well-established international band contest, organized this year by Master of Metal. A whopping 30 groups entered the quarterfinal round, and the jury picked the 10 best, who made it through and got the honor of playing two consecutive Saturday shows. The Saturday before, December 16, Sweet Sorrow, Sabaium, Just Swallow, Morana and Wintersoul went head to head, and this time it was Vulvathrone, The Fifth Season, Hush, Forgotten Eden and Noctiferia.

Around eight o’clock a little sea of black had already gathered in front of the hall, which is more than enough proof that the Slovenian metal scene is alive and kicking! And fully deserved, as you’ll read in the lines below.

VULVATHRONE:
Vulvathrone from Murska Sobota drew the thankless job of opening, and it showed big time in the size of the crowd inside (most people were still drinking out front) and in the quality of the sound. Vulvathrone are considered the only death/gore, or porn grind, act on Slovenian soil, and I’ll admit that even I personally don’t get into the extreme brutality of the lyrics. The band expresses its obsession with extreme perversion, sadomasochism, disgust and pornography through lyrics that would give plenty of people goosebumps. Just look at the song titles: Toilet Slut, Force Oral Fuck, … Despite all the prejudices that might come up, the guys from Prekmurje handled their job on stage with confidence, and even though they didn’t get the sound they deserved, it didn’t stop them. Herman’s guitar kept disappearing at moments, the transitions were hard to hear, and the backing vocals were barely audible too, so Herman’s animal screams didn’t really come through. Sebastijan’s brutal vocals were audible enough, though a bit muddy, and the rhythm section wasn’t exactly perfectly mixed either. Even though the sound problems left the half-hour set with a bitter aftertaste, I have to say the band proved themselves. Especially with a fifth member in the form of an inflatable doll. The band’s extreme brutality was also proven by Herman’s pink piggy slippers.

THE FIFTH SEASON:
Up second were the thrashers from the coast, The Fifth Season, and they did a great job. These guys play really great thrash in the old-school Bay Area style; the spirit of old Metallica, Testament and Exodus is very much present in the band’s songs, yet they’re original enough that you can’t call it copying old ideas. Frontman Edi did his job superbly. He showed considerable vocal range, equally excellent in the more melodic singing in Hetfield’s style and in the more brutal growl parts, where he recalls the snarls of Souza or Baloff from Exodus. On top of the great singing, he also showed off some great work pulling on the bass strings. Interesting bass lines that, together with Igor’s dynamic drumming, make for an excellent rhythm section. Of course, Iztok’s guitar needs a mention too; Hammett-style soloing and Testament-style riffing at their peak. What the guys on stage might lack is a bit more dynamics and communication with the crowd, and above all another guitar would fit the band perfectly, helping to build a fuller sound. No complaints about the sound either; considering there were three instruments, it was up to par, only the solos could have been mixed better. The guys definitely surprised the Rockline crew and promise a lot. Thrash ‘Till Death!
HUSH:
After two heavy bands to warm things up, it was time to calm the evening down. Next came Hush from Carinthia with a more laid-back melodic rock, or metal. Maybe a bit of a black sheep of the evening genre-wise, but the guys and the girl proved they definitely earned their spot in the final. In a good year (as long as they’ve existed in the current lineup) they’ve already gotten well used to stages, and they played their half hour with confidence. The band really comes across as one unit; singer Kristina impressed both with her vocal skills and with her communication with the crowd. Even though their sound follows bands of the Nightwish type, you can still find plenty of original ideas in the songs, especially by Slovenian standards. Tomaž excelled on keyboards, and guitarist Rok and the rhythm section of Žiga (bass) and Matej (drums) add their share to the whole. It’s also worth praising that most of the lyrics are written in Slovenian, and their best-known song is probably Magneti (they shot a video for it), which got the most applause from the crowd. It has to be admitted that the crowd’s response was most likely also thanks to Kristina’s sexy outfit, which the front rows were drooling over, but that’s no reason to reward the band’s performance with a good grade.

FORGOTTEN EDEN:
Forgotten Eden, a band about to hit 9 years of activity, played fourth and got the biggest support of the night so far. If Hush, with their statuesque, charming singer and their Nightwish-style windmill-chasing, hadn’t come right before them, the gap in response between the two bands would most likely have been even bigger. Anyway, the guys gave it their all, opening by urging everyone present to vote for them and reminding us once more exactly where in the hall to drop the filled-out ballots. It’s obvious their debut has found quite a few followers and the band has a loyal base of fired-up fans, while on the other hand the band perfectly illustrates a gap in Slovenia, since it broadly tries to fill exactly what we don’t have, or don’t yet have so firmly rooted. Melodic heavy metal, not to say even hard rock. So all of you who also get fired up by, say, Lady’s First, won’t hesitate over Forgotten Eden for long either. Even though in terms of quality the band doesn’t reach any particular recognizability of its own, it offers a “Pyrrhic” freshness on Slovenian soil. This already shows in the structure of the original material itself, which is totally average when you compare it with the rest of the world. The five-piece does offer an enviable level of punch, which could easily be upgraded by adding a separate lead/rhythm guitarist, or at least a skilled (separate) singer, provided the current singer/guitarist takes over rhythm guitar only. Forgotten Eden managed to squeeze the maximum response out of the crowd on this day. The reason can be found in the well-done advertising of their show beforehand, which is absolutely commendable and which brought them, among 400 attendees, the most fans who came to cheer for the band, and in the simple fact that they offer simple, punchy, catchy melodicism that crawls straight into your ear and lifts you up into the air. The band is talented, but it needs upgrading and polishing to someday rise above average. Especially when it comes to finding its own recognizable identity, not to mention that they urgently need to work out their outward image.

To the general delight of the audience, Forgotten Eden spiced up their show with a cover of the Van Halen classic Jump. The metalheads below the stage were torn, the stage dives came one after another, but I couldn’t hide my doubts about how average the rendition was, and I actually wondered, what the hell did you need that for, guys? Not the keyboard sound, not the drum precision together with the tuning, not the guitar solo, then the unfortunate vocal timbre, the singer’s blunder of stepping on the mic cable so the mic got yanked out of his hand mid-show and he stayed mute for a few verses of the song,…. In short, not good enough. They’d have been better off tackling something easier, some old Judas Priest, Kiss or Saxon. They probably would have earned a pretty much identical grade to what they got for Van Halen if they’d gone for The Final Countdown by Europe. In short, a band that urgently needs a clear, distinctive vision of its own.

NOCTIFERIA:
Noctiferia, the last band of the evening, proved they already have plenty of live mileage behind them, which shows strongly in their performances. Noctiferia have several European tours under their belt, including with big bands like Marduk and Deicide, and as a result of such big shows the band is highly professional. With their latest record the band changed its sound quite a bit, and that shows in the live set too. Frontman Gianni gave up playing guitar and can now devote himself more to singing and communicating with the crowd. That was strongly present at Saturday’s show as well. Gianni truly proved himself an excellent frontman; with his posture and gestures he even slightly recalls the legend Max Cavalero (Sepultura, Soulfly). The other members don’t lag behind. Mastermind Igor Nardin truly enjoys himself on stage and in his music, and session guitarist Roman (Prospect) fit into the band superbly. The evening was also something special for Noctiferia: for the first time in three years, former drummer Robert Steblovnik sat behind the kit and did his job superbly. Noctiferia’s setlist was mostly made up of songs from Slovenska morbida, and unfortunately, because of somewhat worse sound, all the samples and the electronic and ethno elements didn’t come through as much. All the more did Gianni delight the fans of the band’s older material when he dedicated the last two songs to all the black metalheads; what followed were two classics from the previous record, Per Aspera. The biggest crowd-pleaser was probably the band’s best-known song, the one they shot a video for, Fond of Lies. And for the very end we got a real treat in the form of the cult Sepultura song Territory.

To wrap up, props to Master of Metal for the excellent organization, to the crowd for contributing to the crazy atmosphere in the hall, to the bands for solidly played sets, and last but not least to the DJ for an excellent music selection. “Finally!”, I can say as a fairly frequent visitor to metal events at Media Park, we were served real classics by Megadeth, Metallica, Death, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest… The winners of both evenings, by audience and jury vote, are Sweet Sorrow, Forgotten Eden and Noctiferia. Fingers crossed for the best possible placement of all three in Vienna!