Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Gromka, Metelkova, Ljubljana
Gig date: 07.02.2013
Attendance: 120
Ticket price: 3€
I hope the title of this article doesn’t earn me the rage and wrath of Disney, the new owner of the Star Wars license, but I couldn’t have come up with a more fitting stolen title. Just like the Empire, the local death/thrash machine Gonoba has announced its campaign of conquest once again. Only instead of dull, asthmatic breathing, their ominous arrival is heralded by the thud of camel hooves. Gonoba let everyone down well over a year ago with the news of a split and retirement, which luckily turned out to be only temporary. On the very eve of the Slovenian cultural holiday, the band released their second studio album Endless Cycles on the local label On Parole, and premiered it on the Gromka stage. This »release party« was therefore also the band’s announcement of their return to live stages. So a good turnout was only to be expected, but a completely packed hall probably surprised everyone, including both bands on the bill.
First on stage at ten, if memory serves, and also after a longer absence from the stage, were the Savinja-region death/thrashers Paragoria, once known as The Scourge. Still under their old name the guys put out an excellent demo, From the Ashes (2009), then vanished for a while and rose from the ashes as Paragoria. Under that name the foursome of Matjaž Parfant (vocals, guitar), Jernej Štorgelj (vocals, bass), Primož Brezovnik (guitar) and Matija Kadliček (drums) are currently working on their long-awaited debut in their own studio, and last Thursday they showed off the songs that will end up on it. Paragoria carry on the story The Scourge started: aggressive, raw but melodic death/thrash metal, except the new incarnation of the band has added loads of modern elements, more complex structures and, first and foremost, fat »groove« riffs. Paragoria built a truly thick, mighty wall of sound with a dynamic dual-vocal attack that was pulled off very well, and even more so with a thundering, tight rhythm section, lively guitar passages and dueling clashes. Sadly, the solid performance lacked a bit more life from the band this time; I know zombies are all the rage right now, but still, the band could have squeezed out more energy. Anything beyond standing still, plus better contact with the crowd, could only have rounded out a musical experience that was otherwise on a high level.
And then the high point of Thursday night – the long-awaited comeback of one of the most beloved acts in the local metal scene, who threw in the towel far too early over a year ago. But you could hardly imagine a better comeback than one with a record as good as Endless Cycles. The album is strong proof that the band has kept all the essential elements of the punchy, energetic death/thrash metal that lifted them among the better local metal bands, but the more pressing question was whether, after a year of rest, they had kept the live energy they were known for. The answer is almost entirely yes, and how! Gonoba greeted the crowd with an instrumental intro that showed what to expect. A stormy blast of technical death/thrash metal and nothing else! It was fantastic to once again hear Branimir’s incredible, rattling bass lines and Koki’s drum stampede live, along with, of course, the guitar tornado of the duo Mitja Prelovšek/Grega Kamenšek. There was no end to the virtuoso guitar duels and catchy melodies, it’s just a shame that bad sound buried most of the guitar parts. Still, it was a pleasure to watch Grega (and Branimir) fuse completely with their instruments. Gonoba is of course unimaginable without the crazy frontman Hopsy, who, while Gonoba slept, was racking up miles and experience with The Canyon Observer. It paid off, because he has become a real vocal beast and a much better, more confident frontman. He easily brushed off the crowd’s demands for older songs, since the whole point of Thursday night was the album Endless Cycles. True, the crowd showed far more love for the older tracks like Procreation, In Vain and Fall of Mankind, but it’s also true that most of the album, which came out on the day of the gig, they hadn’t even heard in full yet. I believe it’ll be different in the future, because every single song has the power of a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Above all, the band will get tighter from gig to gig; this time, after a year of lying low, it just couldn’t go without a few small slip-ups and flubs. Despite the poor sound, which didn’t let either band squeeze out everything they’re capable of, the key takeaways are that Paragoria proved they hold quite a bit of potential, and maybe even more so that Gonoba’s return was more than a success, and that we got one of the better local bands back. With the new record and with the gigs, too!
Setlist
GONOBA:
1. Endless Cycles
2. Existence Denied
3. Awareness
4. Procreation
5. Between the Lies
7. Rational Conclusion
8. In Vain
9. Blame Game
10. Fall Of Mankind
11. As Bridges Fall
12. Camel Metal
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