Authors: Rok Klemše, Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Nina Grad, Sebastijan Videc
Video: Sebastijan Videc
Location: Tolmin / Sotočje / Slovenia
Concert date: 22.07.2014
Attendance: 12,000
The first act worth catching on the second stage on day two was Slovenian folk metallers Zaria. The sextet – Gašper Pesek (keyboards), Miha Merc (guitar), Jakob Konda (guitar), Nika Kos (drums), Rok Ražman (bass) and the band’s most recognizable name, singer and flautist Inez Osina – has had a strong streak of accessible musicality built in right from the start. In fact, it’s something of a continuation of the musical direction of Brezno, where Inez previously handled vocals and flute. Their half-hour set showed off a potent band that’s no stranger to the seductive blend of punchy symphonic power metal traits and the melodic accessibility of folk theatrics (a song like Modro obzorje, for instance), while the charismatic soprano of singer Inez naturally grabbed everyone’s attention the whole way through. The crowd warmed up nicely and didn’t forget to drag inflatable toys and boats down to the stage with them. The Slovenian lyrics give the band an important element of recognizability within the otherwise tightly staked-out genre range they belong to.
The curiosity didn’t let up during the set from Kranj quintet Armaroth either. The crowd turned over quickly – more »serious« listeners, more headbanging than for Zaria, or let’s rather call it »head-bobbing« with hairdos that were still dry and neatly gelled, for now. The band dropped a ton of carpet bombs on the place as they brought to life material from their studio EP »False Vision«. The band shows remarkable chemistry and awareness, the kind that comes with gradual maturing and stage experience. Singer Fifs was especially impressive with his brutal, low-pitched death metal growls, thoroughly »cursing« all perceivable reality in the universe from within the greasy vise grip of riffs from both roaring guitars and the shifting rhythms of raw death metal brutality. This band absolutely needs an experienced producer to »take them in hand«, because they’re damn good at reviving the deeds of old-school acts like Cannibal Corpse and/or Dying Fetus, so this outfit truly promises a lot for the future. And it’s Slovenian, to boot!
The main stage was deflowered on Tuesday by death metallers Within Destruction from Jesenice, who managed to pull a pretty sizeable crowd despite the early afternoon slot – a crowd hungry for modern death metal tinged with black metal influences. That’s exactly what the Jesenice lads served up, even though the big stage clearly spooked them a bit. Although Within Destruction already have international experience under their belt, what bugged us most was how static the guitarists were, staring fixedly at the necks of their instruments most of the time. They still did their job with flying colors, though, with riffs inspired by modern American death metal à la The Black Dahlia Murder flying dangerously from every direction. There wasn’t a trace of laziness from vocalist Rok, on the other hand, who racked up the miles running around the stage the whole time while effortlessly delivering an excellent, brutal growl that was devilishly varied and dynamic thanks to the switching between deep growls and higher screams. Besides Rok, the one who stole most of the attention was without a doubt the technically incredibly skilled drummer Luka, who showed off a wide range of drumming chops, from blast beats to dynamic, well-thought-out fills. In a little over half an hour, Within Destruction played the lion’s share of their debut From the Depths and threw in their fresh single Bloodbath, which promises a lot. The biggest downside of the Within Destruction set was that it overlapped with Armaroth on the second stage, so there was no way to see both bands in full.
In front of the second stage, another crowd turnover, and the water vapor of the humid early afternoon air was joined by a hefty dose of fumes from »boiling« beer. The reason it was boiling? Swiss pagan folk metal party animals Abinchova. The septet, kitted out with violin and flute, doesn’t really bring anything new to the table tradition-wise. In the context of Metaldays, though, their set definitely put a bit of a band-aid on the wounds of those who missed the parade of more popular (bigger) folk metal bands that turned up at the festival more often in past years. Abinchova lean on the tradition of Pan-like buffoonery that sticks to bands like Turisas and, more recently, Fintroll. Naturally, that comes with dressing up in pagan war paint and flayed goat skins, all part of the band’s fun stage theater. The band quickly got the crowd going with infectious bursts of folk melody and clearly had a great time themselves in front of such a lively audience. Over half an hour they presented their studio debut »Versteckte Pfade« (2011), joined by two brand-new songs, namely Wegweiser and Wandlung.
The colorful genre mix of bands on the second stage on day two of Metaldays showed no sign of letting up. Taking the stage for the next half hour were Italians Roxin’ Palace. These melodic hard rockers with a sleaze hairdo have only been around since 2011, but they’re made up of musicians who already have quite a few miles behind them. The only real greenhorn in the band is singer Axel Lessio, and he came across exactly like one. With a touch of stage fright. The Italians drew a bunch of glammed-up types to the front of the stage. In fact, they represented a rare genre detour at a festival strictly devoted to reviving the legacy of metal in all its forms. Classic stance, classic guitar brands, ripped jeans and, of course, a measure of glitz and posing. Two guitars. A few times the vibe briefly wandered toward Skid Row influences, though Roxin’ Palace are still a few light years away from that reference point. The band served up a generous helping of their studio debut »Roxin’ Palace« (2013), but you can tell they still need to chew through plenty of stages to grow tighter and more defined as a live act. Their distant »flirting« with punk arrogance didn’t really add up with everything else we saw and heard either.
The first foreigners to hit the main stage on Tuesday were Dutch band Gold, who are signed to Van Records, a label with a great nose for underground bands (The Devil’s Blood, Castle, Year of the Goat, Vanderbuyst) whose roster leans mostly toward anything that smells occult and “vintage”. Gold aren’t exactly hardcore devil worshippers, but their retro take on rock comes very close to dinosaurs like Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane. Their tuneful rock, enriched with heavy metal moments on one side and almost poppy choruses on the other, gets an extra live boost from the seductive vocals of Milena Eva, who, with her swaying and gestures on stage, admittedly came across like she was on acid – but it suits the band to a T. The infectious choruses were further enriched by fine guitar work, especially from main songwriter Thomas Sciarone, whom we remember from The Devil’s Blood. During Gold’s set the clouds properly opened up for the first time (and sadly not the last), but amid the ethereal rock of the Dutch Gold the rain felt cleansing – so much so that Milena even stepped off the stage into it.
The first genuinely pleasant and positive surprise on the second stage came from Hungarian power metal standard-bearers from Budapest Crossholder. As the name itself hints, the guys are sworn to clichéd inspiration from the historical epic of the Crusades (songs Illuminati, The SIege of Jerusalem, etc…). The theatrical stage costumes naturally go hand in hand with the stage performance. Right during this set, the sky opened up shamelessly once again, but the band didn’t lose much sleep over it. Excellent, polished vocals, tight playing. You can feel the band firmly believes in its image and its work. Even though it’s a generic rehash of the well-proven tradition of old-school heavy metal bands, Crossholder carry a big dose of heart and stage commitment, as shown among other things by the sped-up battle charge Crossholder Army, giving Crossholder the instant, easy-to-grab magnetism and catchiness that listeners crave.
We stayed in the Netherlands a while longer, as Gold were followed on stage by their countrymen Vanderbuyst. Unlike the former, they’re no strangers to our stages – they first played here as the support act for Saxon – and another link to Gold is that guitarist Willem Verbuyst produced Gold’s debut Interbellum. Anyway, Vanderbuyst made sure Tolmin got hit with a serious dose of hard ‘n’ heavy, with which the Dutch trio drenched the crowd at least as much as the sky did – though the sky finally took a little pity on us for a short while by the end of their set. Despite the rain, the punchy power trio drew a pretty big crowd that fed off the band’s explosive energy (and vice versa). Jochem reliably made sure the catchy, melodic choruses flew pompously out to the crowd, while the combination of simple hard rock riffing, a straightforward four-on-the-floor beat and faster heavy metal excursions got the audience dancing wildly through the puddles in front of the stage. Vanderbuyst are far from original, but the tradition of classic hard rock breathes through them with full lungs, and their energy is so simple, honest, positive and infectious that feet and heads moved all on their own during their set.
But that was only the prelude to the first act of real ferocity among day two’s performers on the small stage. An Egyptian band from Cairo called Scarab. With gold-painted faces. Dark epic death metal, spiced with the magic of arabesque melodies. Authentic and hugely sincere. Karl Sanders and his Nile buddies absolutely need to hear this. Excellent death metal growls. Deadly, ominous, demonic. All in one. 40 minutes of »lively deadness«, of rotting Mesopotamian flesh, of swarming, crawling sacred beetles and other vermin, as well as the deadly tide of quicksand from the endless Saharan dunes under the scorching fury of the excellent Scarab, presented one of the most original and distinctive bands not just among the second-stage acts, but of the entire second day of the festival. A band that anyone who’s into malevolent, original atmosphere spiced with a theatrical dose of Arabic melody absolutely has to check out.
After the hard rock grooves, the main stage got draped in the heavy death metal pummeling of the Florida rednecks Obituary. The legendary Floridians are releasing a hotly anticipated record later this year, but before that they came to Tolmin to deliver their unmistakable Obituary in person. I’ve never seen Obituary in bad shape, and once again the American farm boys lived up to their status as one of the biggest names in death metal of all time. Since their last show on our turf, when they summoned the »Threatening Skies« in Mostovna two years ago, the Americans have given their setlist a thorough shake-up and thrown in a few songs we hadn’t heard in ages. From that angle their gig was a real treat to lick your bloody fingers over – they greeted the crowd straight away with the Slowly We Rot rot of Stinkupuss. Overall, the band drew most of the songs from the cult trio of Slowly We Rot, Cause of Death and The End Complete, so we got a proper history lesson in death metal, and Obituary also unveiled the title track of their upcoming record Inked In Blood. The phenomenal setlist, great sound and hellish performance were matched by the crowd, which moshed wildly from the very first moment, and there was no end to the crowd surfers. The band didn’t take a breather either: John Tardy’s legendary mane was flying through the air the whole time, and from beneath it John once again coaxed out of his vocal cords one of the most disgusting-sounding growls on the scene, bar none – a beastly voice even the deaf would recognize, which Pablo Francisco would describe as, »He sings like a creature.« Donald Tardy’s drums still sound like bones snapping in old Asian kung fu flicks, and Trevor Peres’s guitar, with its massively huge tone, roared like a helicopter. Obituary are living proof that nothing stops the old death metal farts, which was only confirmed again the very next day.
Far less excitement came from one of the few death core representatives at the festival. Brutality Will Prevail. Truth be told, the planet is swimming in bands like this these days, and it’s hard for any of them to genuinely surprise you unless they bring flawless technical polish, a big dose of virtuosity and, of course, the creative inspiration that gives their expression the needed measure of originality. Sadly, Brutality Will Prevail are anything but all of the above. Not even two guitars, the down-tuned grinding of the instruments, or the ripping bass that occasionally cut through the band’s stage sound managed to steal attention away from the typical screeching core »jock«, dressed in the latest fashion from the »Intersport« store. He hopped around the stage left and right, unsuccessfully bristling and trying to »intimidate« the crowd watching the set with his appearance. Soul-crushingly dull and forgettable.
Dusk was falling, and any trace of clear sky was long gone. The rain kept washing over the hordes of otherwise tough metalheads without a shred of mercy. Against that backdrop, things buzzed nicely on the small stage when the French black metallers Nocturnal Depression climbed onto it. France is known for delivering »unhinged« acts. Well, Nocturnal Depression aren’t so much unhinged as they are recognizable, or rather distinctive, thanks to their original songwriting. They dole out black metal in long, »hollow-ringing«, measured passages that float over the pounding of slowly bashing rhythmic structures, where nothing special happens in a technical sense. On the other hand, the band manages to conjure up a devilishly real hypnotic atmosphere, which is the very essence of the band’s musical mission. The depression works! Whether in Kings Of Black Metal, Nostalgia, or the opener We Are All Better Of Dead. The volcano of depression erupted with real force. When you catch sight of the vocalist/guitarist’s left hand, a shiver runs down your spine, since his »two-fingered stump« recalls Captain Hook’s hook, but his playing, like the whole band’s performance, came off flawlessly.
After Nocturnal Depression, the road led to the main stage, where Borknagar were up next. The cult Norwegian black metal outfit, which ICS Vortex recently rejoined, is regarded as a crew of seasoned masters of their black metal craft, heavily spiced with folk melodies. Despite the high expectations, Borknagar’s set didn’t deliver the required standards. Above all, the awful sound was the problem. Instrumentally Borknagar got off pretty well, but the vocals sounded shockingly bad in the mix. The band put together an old-school setlist focused on the first four albums, with the exception of the opener The Genuine Pulse (»Empiricism«, 2002) and the only song taken from the current album »Urd« (2913), Epochalypse. A setlist tailor-made for fans of old Borknagar, who, after the band’s latest studio releases, no longer even wonder why Dimmu Borgir »sent« ICS Vortex packing, almost certainly didn’t soothe their hearts. The atmosphere was missing a little something extra, that »cherry on top« we call »magic«. Certainly at the expense of the mediocre vocal output that marred the overall concert picture, Borknagar were a letdown on the main stage on the festival’s second day, even though they’re experienced enough to have steered well clear of that. They’ll have to sort out the vocals. It’s inexcusable to crank up ICS Vortex to the point where his howling drowns out even the guitars, while next to him Vintersorg is a »little baby«, both in clean singing and in growls. Maybe he was sick or just having a bad day. Doesn’t matter. The alarm has gone off, and the band will have to do something before more embarrassments at live shows. How to dish out proper sound was demonstrated to Borknagar by their Norwegian countrymen Satyricon, who swiftly fixed the sorry impression left by their predecessors and thus justified their role as the second day’s headliner.
If Obituary haven’t known rest in death metal for a quarter of a century, that goes double in heavy metal for the cult American band Manilla Road, or rather its leader and only remaining original member, Mark »The Shark« Shelton. Over the last two years, the organizers have really made an effort and enriched the second stage with some truly legendary names, and the Kansans truly lived up to theirs. In more than thirty years of activity, they’ve released a whopping sixteen studio records, with a seventeenth announced for this year. So the fact is that putting together an ideal setlist is impossible, also because there are no big swings in quality between the albums, but Manilla Road deftly guided us through their history of primal (proto) heavy metal full of epic moments and fantastic, mythological and horror themes that, with all their pomp and epic grandeur, practically push you to sign up for some LARP club right after the gig. Sure, Mark marched onto the stage looking like a wilted, aging hippie, but he soloed with the ease and agility of a shark in water, which he proved right away with the opening virtuosity of Flaming Metal Systems. Most of the vocal duties were handled by Bryan »Hellrodie« Patrick, who sounds much better live than Mark’s nasal vocals on the records, though this time Mark, as backing vocalist, nicely spiced up Bryan’s classic heavy metal vocals with his typically whiny voice and almost death metal growls. The raw but just loud enough and clear sound showed how Manilla Road should sound on their albums (instead of the dreadful production that’s dogged them from the very start), and the excellent setlist full of iron-clad classics like Crystal Logic, Open the Gates and Death By the Hammer, the crowd (albeit thinned out by the rain) and a band in great spirits were without a doubt the reason Manilla Road were one of the highlights of the festival. Heavy Metal to the World!
As main stage headliners, the last to step onto it were the Norwegian black metal pioneers Satyricon, who, in front of a packed venue, played an almost identical show to the one in Šiška last December. They did drop a bit of the dull stuff from the still-current record from the song selection, which made the show flow much better and feel much more alive. The Norwegians know their business, and this time the sound was immaculate too: the guitars cut like scalpels, and Frost’s drumming sounded like cannons booming a hundred years ago. Satyricon managed, without breaking much of a sweat, to create a diabolical and epic atmosphere that the drizzling rain only intensified. That’s exactly why one more pure-blooded black metal wrecker from the first three records would have fit perfectly, but instead we once again got the admittedly fantastic anthem Mother North, and to close, as always, K.I.N.G. Satyr is still charisma without equal, Frost pounds the drums like Animal from the Muppets, but the only thing that set this Satyricon show apart from the one at Kino Šiška was that it took place under the open sky. Solid, but without any real standout moments.
After a seriously good experience with Satyricon, the second stage served up the last act of the festival’s second day: the excellent Polish death metal veterans Vader. A legendary band that has never put a foot wrong creatively, and that always delivers its absolute maximum. A Vader show is always a guaranteed great experience. That’s down to the sharply honed musical vision of its first commander, the only original member of the line-up, singer and guitarist Piotr Wiwczarek. The band, which at the end of May this year released its tenth studio album, »Tibi Et Igni« (RockLine review HERE), didn’t bother much with promoting it this time, since it has a whole bag of superb death metal requiems up its sleeve, which Vader used to keep dealing out sharp slaps to everyone hungry for a brutal beating. The area in front of the stage was nicely packed, and despite the rain, nobody cared one bit, given the great atmosphere. Vader set up their trademark musical formation, which spared no one on Earth and effortlessly knocked angels out of the sky. The new Where Angels Weep also slotted perfectly into the rest of the repertoire, which means Vader are staying true to their unique musical vision. Excellent playing, excellent feel, soloing, tight transitional passages and Piotr’s »growl« working at full power. An eruption of extreme energy that summoned a cataclysm, and Piotr didn’t forget to rally the crowd a few times with thunderous thanks for all the support. Vader also spiced up the setlist with a few ancient moments from their career. Right from the start, the band fiercely cranked up the atmosphere: after a megalomaniac opening with the »De Profundis« (1995) classic Sothis, they tore into Vicious Circle, then went back to the »De Profundis« album with Silent Empire and Reborn in Flames. The intro alone satisfied the fans of old-school Vader, and from the studio debut itself came Chaos in the middle of the show and, right before the end, after Piotr’s last address to the crowd, the classic Dark Age. So, the ultimate shrapnel straight to the forehead, for a dazed, peaceful sleep after day two of the festival!
Nina Grad (photos): Within Destruction, Vanderbuyst, Obituary, Manilla Road,
Sebastijan Videc (photos, all videos): Zaria, Armaroth, Gold, Borknagar, Satyricon
Aleš Podbrežnik (text): Zaria, Armaroth, Abinchova, Roxin’ Palace, Crossholder, Scarab, Brutality Will Prevail, Nocturnal Depression, Borknagar, Vader
Rok Klemše (text): Within Destruction, Gold, Vanderbuyst, Obituary, Manilla Road, Satyricon
Setlist
GOLD:
1. The Waves
2. North
3. Love, the Magician
4. Antebellum
5. One of Us
6. Ruby/Machine Gun
7. Lucky Day
BORKNAGAR:
1. The Genuine Pulse
2. Oceans Rise
3. Epochalypse
4. Ruins of the Future
5. Ad Noctem
6. The Eye of Oden
7. Dauden
8. Frostrite
9. Universal
10. Embers/The Dawn of the End
11. Colossus/Ved steingard
SATYRICON:
1. Voice of Shadows/Now, Diabolical
2. Black Crow on a Tombstone
3. Our World, It Rumbles Tonight
4. Tro og Kraft
5. Forhekset
6. Possessed
7. Die By My Hand
8. Nekrohaven
9. The Infinity of Time and Space
10. The Pentagram Burns
11. To the Mountains
12. Fuel For Hatred
13. Mother North
14. K.I.N.G.
VADER:
1. Sothis
2. Vicious Circle
3. Reborn In Flames
4. Silent Empire
5. Fractal Light
6. Return to the Morbid Reich
7. Come And See My Sacrifice
8. Triumph of Death
9. Where Angels Weep
10. Carnal
11. Chaos
12. Wings
13. Sword of the Witcher
14. Helleluyah!!! (God Is Dead)
15. Dark Age
16. This Is the War
Photo gallery
