Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 10.04.2014
Attendance: 90
Ticket price: €6.00
When two bands like Metalsteel and Sarcasm join forces for a joint show, it’s instantly clear that this is a gig promising a metal feast not to be missed. Both bands have fresh studio albums in their pockets. Sarcasm put out their new one, »Thrash«, last December, and Metalsteel released their new album »This is Your Revelation« just over a month ago – RockLine review HERE. The two bands are old friends. Metalsteel were already playing with Sarcasm soon after kicking off their career, so the brotherhood between them has long since passed the decade mark.
A clash of sharpened heavy metal in the classic vein and old-school thrash metal principles. Two bands that rank among the most respected on the Slovenian metal scene. Sarcasm for their venerable status as metal veterans, Metalsteel for their unity and defiant perseverance, which in a relatively short time has given them five studio albums.
Orto bar, half past nine, and we’re off! A crowd of just under a hundred heads welcomes Metalsteel as the first band on stage. The lineup decides to play the whole new studio album »This Is your Revelation« start to finish, which makes total sense, since the album is hot, barely out of the printer’s. The band premiered it on its official release day at the Pri rdeči ostrigi club in Škofja Loka – RockLine report HERE!
It’s a pleasure to watch this lineup play. They’re superbly tight and keep growing and maturing as performers. Musically too. Beny has matured into an excellent vocalist who has only gained more vocal heft over time, Rok is getting even more involved in the solo duels with Beny, while Matej Sušnik is probably the most experienced and well-rounded guy in the crew, since he’s also involved in collaborations on other music projects where you have to shine at playing and fusing all kinds of genres, jazz and funk especially, and where the occasional pop adventure demands a good dose of softness too. Behind the drums, keeping time for the band, is the always convincing, tireless and reliable Daša. The band sounds incredibly cohesive and grabs you instantly. Orto bar was properly fired up. The crowd was full of people who’ve followed the band since the very beginning. The sound gave them some trouble at first. Both guitars were muddy and way too loud, roaring away, but somewhere around the song Narcissus the sound got dialed in to the right level. In the first two thirds of the set, the band showed off a refreshed and/or reactivated, and also upgraded, crushing power and bite through the dark parts of the new album, then spiced it up, much like in Škofja Loka a month ago, with classics from all the older albums, such as White Circle (»Bad In Bed«, 2007), the ballad Topla je Smrt (»Usoda«, 2003), the expected charger Heavy Metal Is Our Religion (»Taste The Sin«, 2005), The Trip (»Entertainment«, 2010) and the surprise of the night, another »Taste the Sin« classic, The Lonely Man’s Revenge, masterfully wrapped around the Black Sabbath classic Heaven And Hell. Only that bit they lifted from Sabbath Judas Sabbath. For this part of the set Matej stepped up to the mic and pulled off Dio’s demanding vocal lines very, very nicely, while the band once again stunned everyone with a sound and performance craftily close to the original. As expected, Metalsteel wrapped up another excellent show with the classic Novi svet (»Usoda« ,2003) and handed the stage over to the godfathers of Slovenian thrash metal, Sarcasm.
With Sarcasm, unlike Metalsteel, the sound worked great from the very start. They bumped Mucy up a bit in the mix so he’d be heard better, and that was that. At the start the band faced a somewhat emptied-out room, because everyone had dashed outside during the break for a smoke and a beer. But it didn’t take long for Orto to fill up solidly again. I say solidly, because for an event like this I’d normally expect a sold-out show or at least 150 people. But times are changing, and interest in gigs, especially among young people, is generally dropping.
Sarcasm also delivered outstanding tightness. Mucy was in great form again, working his tried-and-true stage show theater, while eyes were also drawn more than once to the fantastic exchange of solo acrobatics between guitarists Aleš Blaznik and Klemen Renko (over the years these two have honed their chemistry and mutual awareness so far that they harmonize in thirds not just the solos and transitions but the riffs too). The rhythm section also bites relentlessly and stays well oiled. Dime is a real machine! Convincing and ridiculously precise even in the fastest parts, while new bassist Vito showed with his decisive, rattling attack on the bass guitar that, as a new member, he has already fully integrated into the Sarcasm lineup.
As expected, the band dedicated the opening and closing stretches to the particularly dizzying fury of their thrash metal presence, hitting straight and bloodthirsty with the classics Thrash Tonight and Divja kri, then closing the show with Road Warrior (played as a special dedication to the flinty Gorjanc) and Crematory. The setlist was spiced up by the song Revolt (»Revolt«, 2006), which returned to it after years of absence, and the band also premiered a brand-new song, Thrasher, from the new album »Thrash« (2013). A ferocious stage show, playing with everything they’ve got and great tightness in performance. Power, experience, faith, Sarcasm! Despite their »fossil value«, the guys are still thirsty and hungry for blood. The thrash metal monster keeps stomping and trampling onward with all its might! A far more intense show, charged with real performance voltage, than a month ago in the almost empty Kotlovnica in Kamnik – RockLine report HERE!
The Slovenian metal night was a success! The only thing spoiling the picture was the turnout, which should have been at least 60-70 people higher. But as already mentioned, the trend is that attendance on the club scene is dropping. Not because people don’t have money or time (the entry fee is minimal, beer prices are adjusted, but none of that helps at all). It’s simply a generational gap. There are fewer and fewer young people at gigs. Anyway. This time Orto bar had an extremely good vibe of devotion to metal music. A crew of old acquaintances and friends gathered together, beers went down, debates went down! Over great music and great performances. And that’s exactly what you go out in the evening for, to set aside for a moment the daily troubles of these crazy times.
Setlist
METALSTEEL:
1. New Way Of Thinking
2. Taboo
3. Narcissus
4. New Messiah
5. This Is Your Revelation
6. Godfather Of Nothingness
7. Man Of !000 Faces
8. Long Time Ago
9. White Circle
10. Topla je smrt
11. Heavy Metal Is Our Religion
12. The Trip
13. The Lonely Man’s Revenge (incl. Heaven And Hell)
—encore—
14. Novi svet
SARCASM:
1. Thrash Tonight
2. Divja kri
3. Something To Believe In
4. Z mano je slabo
5. Revolt
6. Thrasher
7. Vitez teme
8. Thrash
9. Slovenski genocid
10. Lit’r na mizo
11. Sarcasmatron
12. Terrorist
13. Dej mi, Sarcasm
—encore—
14. Creamtory
15. Road Warrior
16. Zdravljica
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