Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Channel Zero, Ljubljana
Concert date: April 15, 2009
Attendance: 160
Ticket price: 5€/7€
The shaking of Channel Zero’s foundations in Metelkova continues without mercy, as the club’s up-and-coming crew keeps serving up a monthly dose of quality homegrown metal. It’s really great to see that, amid the flood of excellent metal gigs in recent months, shows by local bands are still mostly well attended and Slovenian metal still gets the “support” it bloody well deserves. This time Channel Zero was rattled by the “Rečica metalheads” The Scourge, newly discovered White Carniola death metal sensation Mordenom and the increasingly recognizable electro/industrial metallers Neurotech.
A little late, the scourge of God from Rečica ob Savinji, The Scourge, were the first to step out in front of an already nicely packed hall. They cracked the whip without mercy, and our bloodied backs took a seriously dynamic and varied thrash/death metal lashing. The guys are only just racking up stage mileage, yet their tightness and real onstage chemistry already show. Matjaž Parfant and Jernej Štorgelj trade off effective growls that are just brutal enough and still intelligible, Matjaž battles it out with Primož in fantastic riffs and melodic passages, while Jernej on bass and Blaž behind the drums make up a proper wrecking force. The original songs sound phenomenal live, the melodies get stuck in your ear fast, the approach is uncompromising, even the instrumental tracks kill, and the cherry on top was a set of carefully chosen covers (except for the worn-out Pursuit of Vikings by the Swedes Amon Amarth), Sepultura’s classic Refuse/Resist and a superbly played and sung Pantera classic, Walk. The Scourge will surely keep on whipping!
In the past year the Slovenian metal scene has been in full bloom. Where not long ago we were seeing a veritable flood of almost exclusively thrash metal bands, the scene is now developing genre-wise too, and metal is thankfully spreading across all of Slovenia instead of staying confined to the bigger cities. That’s how White Carniola’s Metlika got its first major band. And what a band! Mordenom deliver outstanding technical death metal of a kind we haven’t had the chance to hear here yet, and their debut Agnvs Dei, which has just come out, shows a remarkable level of professionalism and is a real standout on the local scene. Mordenom prove exactly that on stage too: the guys are exceptionally tight, and the music is technical death metal with demanding rhythms, tempo changes, breathtaking solos and a wrecking rhythm section, a real punch in the gut for any unsuspecting metalhead seeing Mordenom live for the first time. Too bad the sound acted up, with the bass way too loud and the snare and bass pedal barely audible. Despite the poor sound, the blazing solos, varied riffs and killer vocals still slayed, and we can be mighty glad Mordenom have spiced up the Slovenian metal scene. Buying Agnvs Dei is a must!
Closing out a nicely attended evening full of excellent music were Ljubljana’s Neurotech, who represent a more modern direction in metal, mixing black metal with industrial sounds and an electronic backing track, a “tape” if you will, in the style of later Swiss innovators like Samael. After a pompous intro, Neurotech took the stage to loud support, mostly from the female part of the crowd, and delivered a real lesson in professionalism. The guys’ stage presence is confident, self-assured and uncompromising, and the make-up is effective, wrapping the band in a veil of mystery. The music speaks for itself: the backing track dominates and came off surprisingly well live, with a nice counterweight in the sawing guitars, the rhythm section and Wulf’s recognizable growl. Although the riffs occasionally come off monotonous and the rhythm section simple, Neurotech are an unforgettable live experience. The guys on stage look like they just got back from a world tour, and the song selection was spot on, as they started with the slower ones and ramped up the speed until the very last blow.
And so another superbly run gig wrapped up at Channel Zero, which, just like the Slovenian metal scene, is going through a real rebirth. The recession can’t touch metal, and long may that last!
Photos: Nina Grad
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