Location: Ljubljana / Gala hala / Slovenia
Concert date: 15.04.2013
Pioneers here, resurrections there: is the core (still) the core?
The pioneers of the mixed subgenres of heavy-sounding music born at the start of the new millennium are also bowing out en masse. The American sextet Bleeding Through is no exception with their “fare-thee-well” tour. You could catch them (for the last time) last Monday at Metelkova’s Gala Hala, as part of the spring-summer concert blows from the local promoters Dirty Skunks, of course.
Seeing that these kinds of “departures” of all-round artistic, musical creations lately do have their purpose, and, with the “miraculous return” as the consequence ( $-) pick your own dollar-sign emoticon shades), I’m wondering whether I should expect a “Risen from …” tour?
If I praised the punctuality of the last gig, this time it buried me. I missed the first band (yes, I’m spitting in my own bottomless bowl), and I only caught the last three tracks from Australia’s Hand of Mercy, and the whole thing sounded like a “proper”, copy-pasted, hardcore-to-the-bone band. Nothing new, but I reckon it’s easier to hide behind the norms of the genre, both in playing and in expression, than to bring a personal stamp within it. Stunned by the meticulous uniformity of the hardcore fans, local ones and, post-“Schengen”, soon-to-be-local ones, I waited it out until America’s This or the Apocalypse, a pretty melodic blend of new-millennium metal and hard-core that now and then “spices things up” with an increasingly audible progressive, or prog, subgenre. With three albums under their belt (I think they also presented the latest one, Dead years (Lifeforce rec. 2012)), you can see and hear that the five-piece lads have already played quite a few big halls. The thinned-out crowd (off the top of my head, between 25 and 35 heads), which was of course down to the pretty steep ticket prices of this kind of event in general, witnessed a solid guttural vocalist and, above all, a showman (respect for the corded mic and the length of the cable, used to the fullest, the guy thought he was in a stadium, jeez=), plus a tight bass-and-drums rhythm section with melodic and attacking guitars, with the obligatory gear of helping, melodic singing. The house crew didn’t skip out either, in the lineup of sound tech and lighting guy, both very pleasing, not to mention the routine work of the bartenders, security and everyone else involved. (raised fist)
After a few minutes’ break, the pioneers (and a female pioneer) of the new-millennium hardcore hybrid from across the ocean, Bleeding Through, marched onto the stage, and the obvious fans woke up too, waiting for their breakdown*. It was also the turn of the youngest lady in the band, who more than excellently matched the Henry Rollins-inspired singer on stage, in the guttural antics and in singing the melodic chorus of that final song. I’d single out the keyboards, which are Bleeding Through’s trademark and which, toward the end, were well audible even to the devoted 25-35. Date of the Resurrection? Farewell!
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