Location: Ljubljana / Gala Hala (Metelkova) / Slovenia
Concert date: April 5, 2012
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €15.00 / €16.00 / €18.00
On Thursday, April 5, 2012, at the suggestion of our relentless RockLine photographer, I headed out for a night that was anything but typical for me. Umazani dihurji brought us an interesting mix of bands, headlined by A Wilhelm Scream. Atypical because the night’s main draw, A Wilhelm Scream, are melodic punk through and through. And to top it off, they’re touring with a couple of bands rooted in metalcore. First up were Austria’s Showyourteeth, then Hungary’s The Southern Oracle. Definitely a fascinating combination, and one that appealed more to the younger crowd, which the age range of the audience at Gala hala confirmed.
The night was kicked off by The Southern Oracle, who recently put out a new album, with some very interesting artwork, by the way. It’s written all over the guys’ foreheads that they come from our eastern neighbor, since they clearly got dressed in Lenti or some equivalent town they happened to pass on the way to the Slovenian capital. The Southern Oracle play metalcore with a touch of thrash metal, and they’ve got a hugely charismatic, if not borderline hyperactive, singer. The vocalist has a really good high-pitched scream, but unlike his well-executed high notes, he doesn’t find his footing as well in the lower register. The songs came across the same way on stage. Wherever he could cash in on his strength (the high “screamo” range), the songs sounded credible there too, compared to the moments when he fell back on lower singing, or to be precise, bellowing. I have to admit the playing on the tracks not adorned with breakdowns was solid too. In those moments The Southern Oracle even flirted with melodic death metal. The guys in the front rows, who started “actively working out” a beat behind the reflective movements of this article’s author, would probably disagree with me. Surprisingly, the floor in front of the stage filled up during their set as well.
The moment I stepped up to the stage, I was hit by the superb sound that Showyourteeth could brag about. Guitars, bass drum, bass, cymbals, vocals, everything was perfect. And even though I’m not a fan of metalcore approaches, I have to say I’d have liked it just as much if they’d sounded worse. The roaring vocals, strongly backed by the rhythm section, rang pleasantly in my ears. Once again I enjoyed the rhythmic hardcore moments far more than the breakdowns, but you could tell from their delivery that Showyourteeth have quite a few shows behind them. It was a bit awkward because most people, if not everyone, had come for the main punk attraction. So the singer kept urging people to get more involved. If the singer wasn’t entirely successful at that, the band did manage to conjure up a quality atmosphere. Nothing euphoric by any means, but they certainly didn’t leave us cold. And that made for a great warm-up before the night’s headliner. Towards the end of their set the air had already warmed up nicely. The Austrians were called back for an obligatory encore, which they gladly took, and it was the last song that fired up the crowd the most. At this point I’d also like to thank both bands for not using “clean” vocals, which spared me from even more embarrassment.
Slowly the moment approached that the by now nicely packed Gala Hala had been waiting for most. A Wilhelm Scream appeared on stage. When I found out I was going to the show, I naturally “googled” the band a bit. Judging by the photos and their logo, you’d expect some kind of metalcore invention. Listening to their latest album, though, I was surprised to discover it’s pure punk rock. Happy melodies, slightly infantile lyrics, which, given the age of the fans, are totally fitting. With A Wilhelm Scream you can’t just talk about the marginalization of the sound defined by typical three-chord punk, since the band makes use of more modern techniques. So the music includes fast solos too. The total maniac is the drummer, whose hands you simply can’t make out with the naked eye in the fastest parts. People went wild, well, at least the first ten rows did. A constant “mosh pit” and repeated “stage dives” were a given. At one point one of the high schoolers figured it would be smart to photograph all the band members while they were playing on stage, and the singer, after a witty remark that the kid was obviously doing an anthropological study for National Geographic, finally shoved him off the stage. The sound was solid, maybe only the high notes were too loud, and occasionally the vocals overpowered the other instruments. Since it’s a three-vocalist band, we can probably forgive them that. Towards the end the show faded into monotony, because of the similar song structures and samey vocals. All those who were burning calories in front of the stage, and generally created a great mood with their physical activity that spread to everyone in the hall, would probably disagree with me.
Thursday’s event made me realize that it’s sometimes worth stepping outside the musical boundaries set by your own taste and letting your horizons broaden at a gig by a band from a different genre. Especially if you’re lucky enough to run into a truly responsive crowd, which, combined with a quality band, can liven up an otherwise dull (yet another) April Thursday evening.
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