Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Concert date: 22.01.2015
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: 0.00€ (free entry!)
Noctiferia have already given their recently released fifth studio album Pax a thorough airing across Europe, and the record is getting great responses from critics and fans alike. After plenty of stages in Slovenia and abroad, Noctiferia finally brought Pax home to Ljubljana, to Kino Šiška, where the veterans of the local metal scene threw a killer night under the banner Metal za metal (Metal for Metal) – three bands in a top-notch venue, totally free! And since Pax is such a socially critical record, Big Brother kept us from publishing the lines below until today (heh).
In front of an already nicely packed hall, Morywa (ex-Hanged Alice) were first up on stage, rumbling away with what they themselves call progressive djenty death metal. And the guys were a pleasant surprise with dynamic, crushing original tracks that skillfully blend the influences of bands like Sepultura, Meshuggah, Decapitated, Gojira and Feat Factory. The influences are clear and obvious, but never so strong that Morywa come off as copycats. With good energy and a confident performance, but above all with the hurricane force of eight-string guitars and the roar of grooving riffs and broken rhythms, they won over the crowd without any trouble, and up front people even kicked off a few small mosh pits. Judging by what we heard and saw, Morywa are definitely a band to keep an eye on.
The next band steered things into more ornate musical waters: Austria’s Rest In Fear, the only foreign guests of the night, who sadly just confirmed that there isn’t much room for originality and a distinctive musical voice in the Austrian metal scene. Like many others, Rest in Fear are just a generic clone of modern melodic death metal outfits, with Soilwork and In Flames front and center. The latter in particular are Rest In Fear’s obvious inspiration, cheap melodies and soft, whiny vocals included. That said, there’s nothing to fault about the performance itself: it was solidly done, the energy on stage was right where it should be, and vocalist Bo gave it everything despite being sick.
Shortly before ten the hall filled up to its last corner, and soon the intro to the local veterans Noctiferia’s brand-new record, Pax, came blasting out of the speakers. Matjaž sat down behind the drums as totalitarian slogans and instructions were projected, soon joined by Uroš and… poof! Big Brother cut the power on the socially critical Noctiferia. A swarm of techs and band members on stage tried to fix the technical problems, but the second attempt went down the drain too. Third time lucky, though, and Noctiferia roared back in the best style through a superb run of the new album from start to finish. Pax sounds even better live, louder and more organic, so its message hits home with even more (loud) force. The band delivered a top-level show, above all with their incredible tightness and relaxed stage presence, and this time they upgraded it with fantastic projections and even better lighting that burned Pax even deeper into your cerebral cortex. This gig would be worth a higher ticket price, let alone free. In the spirit of the Metal za metal project, we urge you to support Noctiferia and support the Slovenian metal scene, so it can keep serving up more events like this one!
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