Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Orto bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: December 3, 2010
Attendance: 40
Ticket price: €0.00
The new “merry” December has arrived. The gig scene usually starts fading around now, just like the year itself. By now you all know the Slovenian metal reunion of 2008 only too well! The reunion of Ljubljana’s legendary heavy metal outfit Lene kosti. It has gotten well under everyone’s skin by this point, so there’s no need to open this report with long introductory “chants”. Clearly, this reunion is hugely important for the Slovenian heavy metal scene. Since October 2008, when they officially confirmed they were back in action, Lene kosti have taken an enormous step forward. All the talk and promises weren’t just empty chatter. The band is now busily reaping the fruits of its past work. It put out an excellent studio debut and keeps successfully building its base of loyal listeners, both at home and abroad.
Still, a band’s growth and development always come with ups and downs. That’s unavoidable. In mid-September this year, Lene kosti got a little shock therapy when their rehearsal space in Vič, Ljubljana, got flooded “big time”, wrecking vital pieces of their live and rehearsal gear. But the guys gritted their teeth. That’s the kind of therapy called “perseverance” or “defiance”. After March 19, 2010, when they presented their then-new album “Do Or Die” to the public, Lene kosti “occupied” Ljubljana’s Orto Bar for the second (and last) time this year. They invited along Wild Ones from the coast (Trieste) and old Ljubljana acquaintances Stone Orange.
There were no signs of any serious euphoria in Orto Bar when the clock struck well past nine in the evening. Well, not exactly. Downstairs, a nice line of fans of this kind of music snaked toward the box office. What drove them there, above all, was the fear that this gig, like the one in March, would sell out completely. It’s a quarter past nine and Wild Ones are fooling around on stage. This Slovenian-Italian melodic hard rock alliance, sprinkled with a distinct pinch of sleaze/glam, proved to be a real little discovery of a revival of the once-rich worldwide movement that the “grunge” virus so ignominiously devoured in the early nineties. A very bold and solid performance all around. You can definitely tell the guys are just starting out and racking up mileage, but they’re doing it with huge drive, pleasure and dedication. So they promise a lot. Right from the start they also take care of their look, which adds to the coquettishly erogenous rock vibe they brew up together. There’s still room to grow, and no doubt the guys will build on it in the future. The vocalist is young and his voice will surely gain character over time. And it’s equally safe to say that the impetuous enthusiasm for extreme speed, generic flying up and down the guitar scales, will one day soon give way to more thoughtfully structured solos with clear content and a developed character (and there will be fewer mistakes on stage as a result). Like I said: Wild Ones are a band that promises a lot! Let’s just hope they stay in the firm gallop dictated by faith in rock ‘n’ roll and a great passion for music!
A nice heap of people had gathered by now, though from a comically cautious distance of two to three meters from the stage they nicely filled the room. During Stone Orange the crowd thickened even more, and the band warmed up the room mostly with a few songs from the studio debut “Nori mlin” and some evergreen classics. Most of the attention naturally went to the charismatic singer and guitarist Marko, with sound and guitar perfectionist Tomo and the jokey bassist Davorin close on his heels. The band picked a repertoire that made no secret of its ambition, as the guys clearly wanted to rip the roof off Orto bar, and yet some all-too-painful (even fundamental) little blunder cropped up far too often. The complaints fly mainly at the tightness of the rhythm section (drums). Some of the sound hiccups also came down to the club’s own sound setup at Orto bar. Evidently Stone Orange are simply too demanding a bite technically, and the sound guy gave them just a smidge too little attention this time. The guys did, however, more than successfully disarm the crowd, which was one of the key goals of the set. The band is already forging new material, which we hope will materialize as soon as possible. Long live melodic hard rock!
At the start of September, Lene kosti swapped out their bassist. Grego Brenka was replaced by Aaron Cernatič from Postojna, who made his debut in front of the crowd at Orto bar on this night as Lene kosti’s new bassist. Aaron is a far more experienced musician. Judging by his listening profile, his past stints playing in rock bands, his genuine rocker image, and even the way he moves on stage, he’s a man who fits Lene kosti much better. The band, which has been rehearsing regularly all fall, also played its best gig of the year given this new addition to the lineup (unless they top it at the show announced for December 30, 2010 in Postojna). Aaron brought that element to the band that further strengthened and chiseled Lene kosti’s outer visual and sonic image. Lene kosti now truly tear the place down. Aaron was tempered in rocker waters and knows how to convincingly “dig” into the bass guitar.
This time Lene kosti really didn’t allow themselves any visible mistakes. The riff tandem of the Kavaš brothers worked like a well-oiled machine and was fully in sync, while W.U.K.O. unleashed a proper cannon rodeo on the drums in a brilliant performance. And the band’s main magnet? Milan “Dr. Evil” Krušič, of course! An exceptional vocal performance. Milan has really hit remarkable form in this period. He effortlessly beat all the leaps between the lower and ultra-high vocal lines. This time he was truly hard to catch. Even in the especially tough Warrior and Rock Power, which always demand a huge amount of energy from the singer. This time Dr. Evil sang the whole repertoire with flying colors, and there wasn’t a single moment hinting that he needed to hit the brakes anywhere and save his energy. The guys kicked off with Uninvited Guest, which, as a mid-tempo song with toxic riff-rolling, proved a terrifically successful opening warm-up. Above all, the one-of-a-kind Nightmare confirmed the current indestructibility of the legendary band’s iron mission!
Charisma without equal. Like wine. The older it gets, the riper and tastier it is. Marco Kavaš’s soloing, even the way both brothers stand shoulder to shoulder and headbang, which draws grateful parallels with the elders of the metal bible, Judas Priest. Needless to mention Dr. Evil’s feather-light command of the crowd. He’s simply a man who knows what to do and how to do that “what” on stage. He works with a sort of naturally inherited demonic magnetism that you find in only a few Slovenian frontmen in metal, or more broadly, in rock. And when you feel you’re in vocally superior form, the whole stage game gets that much easier and comes across as even more genuine and commanding.
Lene kosti chopped through the 15 songs of the set, where the especially insightfully structured Time For Love, Iron Dragon, Sunrise, the fantastic Nightmare and the obligatory Russian Girl really sparkled, vehemently solid, without hesitation, extremely relaxed, at full tilt and ultra cocky. Firing with full balls. There was no shortage of mischief, titillating tickling, and a pinch of deliberately occult toying around, for which Dr. Evil is of course “to blame” with his love for bare-peeled skulls. So a good hour with Lene kosti flew by before you could blink.
The packed house, the great crowd participation, and above all a performance in which you could feel the renewed lineup had grown another notch and further upgraded its essence, already foretell a wealth of unforeseen mischief in the coming year. These are the deeds of the brave, faithfully written by the unique and cultivated charm, singular presence and (rediscovered and revitalized) untamable lust of Lene kosti.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
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