Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Ort Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 04.09.2009
Attendance: 50
Ticket price: €18.00
The very next day after the legendary New York hardcore crew Pro-Pain played a mere hour-long set at Gala Hala in Metelkova and left us pretty cold, it was time for everyone who grew up, one way or another, on the traditional forms of heavy metal (or on reliving them), especially from the second half of the nineties until around 2004, to make the trip to Ljubljana’s Orto Bar. What we call power metal today may not fascinate modern metal ears, spoiled rotten by extreme brutality, quite as strongly, but the bands sworn to it stubbornly keep at it, evolving and putting out albums all the same. Going by the seven-year cycle, power metal, with its nurturing of old-school metal craft, should be back in the spotlight of the metal masses sometime around 2012. We’ll see.
Sacred Steel are friendly warrior metallers who made a decent splash in the second half of the nineties, when they put out “Wargods Of Metal” (1998) on the American label MetalBlade Records, with production by the fascinating Bill Metoyer. They got noticed above all for their raw playing, which in many ways leaned on the arrogance of eighties speed metal born on American soil, while breathing a pinch of well-known European pomp into it and developing a distinct, recognizable sound. Of course, the lion’s share of the credit goes to singer Gerrit Mutz, marked by a peculiar style and the tone of his shrill, thin vocals. This October the band will release a new album, “Carnage Victory”, which they partly promoted on this visit to Ljubljana. Sacred Steel, who looked like they’d grow into at least a mid-sized band, especially after we watched them play in 2001 alongside Children of Bodom and Primal Fear in Vienna (15.02.2001 to be exact, at the club Planet Music, today levelled to the ground), are now a small, modest club band that comes to entertain people for pocket change in whatever remote, godforsaken hole the electricity still reaches.
It was also a nice gesture from the promoter Dirty Skunks that Skunk gave a slot to the Slovenian symphonic power metal outfit Infidia. The show almost coincided with the release date of the band’s debut, “Reflections”. Infidia, a six-piece, found themselves on Orto Bar’s very small stage. Crowding on stage was unavoidable. So we were deprived of a view of the prettiest part of the Infidia crew: guitarist Uroš, who tucked himself away behind keyboardist Katja Ševšek’s back. In a good half hour the band played most of the debut and closed the show with Gutter Ballet by the legendary Savatage. On stage the band made no secret of not being born yesterday: they’ve spent plenty of time together, both on stage and in rehearsals, and they played most of their repertoire with confidence this time too at Orto Bar. The only things that bugged me now and then were the general feeling of tightness, a crew that wasn’t relaxed while playing, and a lack of confidence. On top of everything, singer Tina was set quiet in the mix, which meant that a few times you couldn’t quite make out what or how she was actually singing. From the girl you could have wanted a bit more fire and energy, plus a bit more confidence when linking the individual numbers in the set. Not the band’s best day, and the best way to get through it was to mostly follow the guitar playing (solos included) of the band’s excellent lead guitarist Andrej Lebar, who was thrilling throughout.
Around 20 minutes past ten in the evening, Sacred Steel take the stage. Actually, I’m lying. The low budget dictates that the band tunes up on stage and sets up all the logistics themselves. So Sacred Steel are their own roadies. Proof of the thoroughly semi-professional approach is also that singer Gerrit spent most of the time before the show among the crowd, available for all sorts of juicy chats. Definitely to the fans’ taste and a clear sign of the band’s big but modest heart.
The quintet, made up today of Gerrit Mutz (vocals), Jonas Khalil (guitar), Jens Sonnenberg (guitar), Kai Schindelar (bass) and Matthias Straub (drums), finally let loose. Only some 50 metal followers made it to Orto Bar that night, but some individuals in the crowd below the stage were all the more fiery and devout fans of the band. Gerrit in particular didn’t hide his delight and astonishment when, at one point, a handful of metalheads well versed in (and thoroughly infected by) the band’s catalog joined him in singing the chorus of Heavy Metal To The End, a “Wargods Of Metal” classic. They happily whipped their hair around wildly. Gerrit was even more astonished when the singing along didn’t die down afterwards either. A real tip of the hat to those individuals in the crowd who kept Sacred Steel standing on stage so they weren’t playing to an entirely empty room.
The band has a traditional, raw, unpolished sound. What goes down best is the combination of naive lyrics drawn from the fighting of battles in various war adventures. With Gerrit’s approach they come across as fun and thoroughly endearing. The guys confidently hacked their way through the set. A few times Gerrit scolded them for drinking, but he did that more to keep the small crowd below the stage alert and devoted. The band’s setlist spanned their entire discography and also served up the brand new Carnage Victory, which will be on their new album of the same name. Above all they “killed” everyone present with the devastating Carnage Rules The Fields Of Death (“Wargods of Metal”), which, carrying on through Maniacs Of Speed (“Hammer Of Destruction”, 2006) and the obligatory Sacred Steel (from the debut “Reborn In Steel”, 1997), followed by Wargods Of Metal, took the band’s show to its peak.
The signal for general partying came after Sacred Steel roared through a Tankard cover in the encore, (Empty) Tankard, which the crowd of course had no trouble identifying with. Who wouldn’t identify with drinking beer? The show, packed with energy and primal metal force, was lifted even higher by the band’s remarkable authenticity, their faith in the cause they preach, and the members’ exceptional accessibility to the audience. A picture that warms even the coldest, most indifferent heart. The only small black spot was that we couldn’t enjoy Croatian thrash metal band War-head from Osijek on stage, as they reportedly couldn’t play in Ljubljana because of complications crossing the “Schengen border”.
photos: Robi Lipej
Setlist
INFIDIA: 1. Vision 2. The Dreamer And The Nightmare 3. Soulburn 4. Heart Of Stone 5. One Step From Hell 6. Viva Forever 7. Salvation 8. Thirteen 9. Gutter Ballet SACRED STEEL: intro:dark angel 1. Heavy Metal To The End 2. Metal Is War 3. Battle Angel 4. Hammer Of Destruction 5.Sacred Bloody Steel 6. Lust For Blood 7. Open Wide The Gate 8. Blood On My Steel 9. Slaughter Prophecy 10. Carnage Victory 11. Iron Legions 12. Carnage Rules The Fields Of Death 13. Maniacs Of Speed 14.Sacred Steel 15.Wargods Of Metal —encore— 16. (Empty) Tankard
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