Author: Rok Klemše, Primož Novak
Photos: Nina Grad, Aleš Podbrežnik
Video: Primož Novak
Location: Tolmin, Slovenia
Concert date: 07/22/2015
Day three on the main stage kicked off with local heroes Mephistophelian, who served up brutal death metal fit for the heat, in the vein of Aborted, Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and co. Despite the unbearable conditions, Mephistophelian pulled off their set and proved that extreme music can be played in any weather.
Next up were Diablo Blvd, a Belgian outfit who mellowed everything out with watered-down hard rock and heavy metal moves.
In the early afternoon, with another heat wave rolling in, the mysterious Brits The Devil took the main stage, a five-piece instrumental band that, Ghost-style (or rather, having jumped on the bandwagon of the flood of bands Ghost set off), stays completely anonymous behind masks. The Devil manage to conjure up the sinister atmosphere of gothic metal in a purely instrumental form, adding recordings of historical and political speeches instead of the usual vocals. Being different works for them, but sadly the idea of combining instrumental gothic metal with canned speeches sounds a lot better on paper than live.
Emil Bulls didn’t wow us either. The band uses forgotten elements of alternative and nu metal. Nothing wrong with that. It adds variety to the festival itself, but their set was a disaster. The clean vocals in particular were »botched« on every single song. With Emil Bulls it quickly became clear that live there are no studio fixes, and that they need to lock themselves in a room and polish their act.
Ljubljana’s Mist steered things into pleasant doom waters in the early afternoon, or rather four mystics and one bearded man, Blaž Tanšek (ex-Teleport) on guitar, who replaced Nina Grižonič in the band. Mist’s many gigs abroad have clearly paid off in international recognition, since a sizable crowd watched them, and the band confidently and expertly doomed out their forty minutes.
On the other hand, Bay Area legends Death Angel sound great on paper, on albums, live and pretty much everywhere else. Since their reunion in 2001 they easily outdo the Big Four and then some, in my book, even though Rob Cavestany is the only original cousin left in the band (vocalist Mark Osegueda joined Death Angel two years after they formed). A few years ago Death Angel were bolstered by the excellent Will Carroll and Damien Sisson, the band found new momentum with their arrival, and with this lineup they’ve put out two great albums, the latest, The Dream Calls For Blood, two years ago. Left For Dead from that one was also the band’s hello to the Metaldays crowd, and a Death Angel in top form whipped the audience into an hour-long mosh and/or circle pit full of shredding thrash killers. Uncompromisingly, Death Angel furiously fired off killers like Claws In So Deep, Son of the Morning and Buried Alive. Mark Osegueda, in confident vocal form, used to toast with Jagermeister a few tours back and has now swapped it for gin. The riff-machine animal Cavestany remains one of the best and most overlooked thrash guitarists of all time, and Carroll behind the kit really lives up to his nickname »The Beast«! Death Angel reached the standard closer of The Ultra-Violence/Thrown to the Wolves way too soon, but in any case they lived up to the high expectations and delivered the first Wednesday highlight.
Meanwhile, Swiss thrashers Suborned were struggling away on the second stage. They already failed to convince at Day of Metal and this time was no different. Average, generic thrash with weak vocals from singer Lucie just doesn’t cut it, even less so when Death Angel are tearing it up a hundred meters away.
Before Death Angel even finished, Savinja region’s Paragoria got their slot on the small stage, presenting songs from their debut Decomposition of Mind to the festival crowd. In half an hour the band served a nice dose of thrash, death and groove metal with occasional technical flourishes in the style of Gojira. Let’s hope the band’s potential got a boost from all the visitors from different countries, though it seemed like the crowd was mostly the band’s friends.
After Death Angel, the thrashing continued on the main stage with the Brazilian-American crew Sepultura. Going on and on about this legendary band is totally unnecessary here, and worshipping the legendary nineties lineup is pointless too, since in the event of a reunion Sepultura would sound pretty bad given the physical shape of the Cavalera brothers. You simply had to accept that Sepultura is different. And after a long time, people stopped ignoring that difference, and the band was more than well received at the festival, judging by the size of the crowd at their show. In their one hour in Tolmin, where they played the big stage for the first time, Sepultura played their set confidently, energetically and convincingly. Drummer Eloy Casagrande contributed a lot to the band, since he can actually play even those very demanding songs from the era when Igor Cavalera was still in his prime and inspired, no problem. The band summed up their current era with songs like Vatican, Kairos and the newcomer Sepultura Under My Skin, and also covered classics like Refuse/Resist, Arise, Propaganda, Ratamahatta and others. They closed their set, as always, with Roots Bloody Roots. There’s not much to reproach the band for. Derrick Green’s voice is powerful, but not the best fit for the older songs. Kisser is solidly tight, though he slips up now and then, bassist Paolo Jr. tries to keep the tempo with his simple lines, and drummer Casagrande dominated so much with his excellent playing throughout that at times it seemed like he was stealing the show from the rest. Sepultura are undoubtedly worth seeing in 2015. The band comes across as relaxed, positive and energetic for their age.
Croatian neighbors and thrash veterans War-Head shared the bad luck of the early acts, with a small crowd, but they still confidently and rawly tore through their set of aggressive, Teutonic-inspired death/thrash metal.
With Hatebreed next on the main stage, things took a turn toward hardcore. The band took the stage at this big festival for the third time and once again charmed with metallized hardcore rhythms that send the crowd into a frenzy. With songs like Live for This, This Is Now, Honor Never Dies, To The Threshold, Perserverance, I Will Be Heard and Destroy Everything, the ground in Tolmin was literally shaking. You could tell the band gave more than at a regular club show. Vocalist Jamie Jasta also strained his vocal cords harder, although (as always) he disappeared at moments. Hatebreed, who have already hit 20 years of existence, used simple moves that combine hardcore, metal and punk to get the crowd going with circle pits, crowdsurfing and plenty more. In the end, it’s confirmed that Hatebreed are always worth seeing live, since they’re even more convincing than on their albums.
After the power metal unicorn riding and Minotaur fighting, it was time on the second stage for one of the nicest surprises of this year’s festival (as far as confirmed bands go), the Norwegian hard rock/heavy metal muppets Audrey Horne. Why muppets? Because the guys marched onto the stage, as always, to the opening theme of The Muppet Show (and in their videos they appear as Muppet-like puppets), then instantly set the place on fire with punchy, energetic and fun hard ‘n heavy that explodes in a heartbeat. Like dropping a Mentos into a Coca-Cola. Audrey Horne started out as an alternative rock band in the style of Alter Bridge and Faith No More, but two years ago with the album Youngblood they flipped the record a bit and waded into hard rock and heavy metal waters, where they expertly blend the influences of bands like Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden. With Youngblood, Audrey Horne’s career curve shot steeply upward, and the reason why is clear as day live. The second stage of Metaldays practically buckled under the weight of the band’s bombastic energy. Frontman Toschie planted himself at the very edge of the stage from the first notes, goofily mimicking Axl Rose’s writhing and chugging Underbergs, the fantastic guitar duo of Ice Dale (also the guitarist of Enslaved) and Thomas Tofthagen (guitarist of Sahg) posed like the greats the whole time while sawing off brilliant three-part harmonies, and the rhythm section of the band’s energetic mascots, bassist Espen Lien and drummer Kjetil Greve, reliably provided a mighty foundation and infectious groove the whole time. In a good hour Audrey Horne served up heavy rock anthems Wolf In My Heart, Out of the City, Pretty Little Sunshine and This Ends Here, which would get even retirees spinning like the old man in the Redemption Blues video, and for the climax during Blaze of Ashes, Toschie jumped into the crowd and sang the whole song down below the stage. Audrey Horne won over even the doubters with one hand tied behind their backs, and if the band keeps going down this path, when they’re selling out stadiums in a few years we’ll be able to remember that we saw them in 2015 on the small stage at Metaldays.
Who would have thought the legendary German heavy metal institution Accept could come back from the dead and be relevant again without little bulldog Udo Dirkschneider, and in such mighty style at that? The guys prove that it’s more than possible, since after their return in 2009, when the excellent Mark Tornillo (TT Quick) took over on vocals, they’ve been putting out record after record. And all three can easily stand up to the band’s classic material! The opening thunder of a raging bull proved it already, the punchy Stampede from the current Blind Rage, and after that Accept served up an effective mix of classic anthems with a few new numbers that proved the band’s new material sounds damn convincing too. The band’s boss, the immortal guitarist Wolf Hoffman, who never runs out of ideas for great, powerful riffs, and bassist Peter Baltes showed the huge crowd what old heavy metal tomcats can do, since there was no need to beg the crowd to join in, and the lively Tornillo surprised again with an excellent vocal performance, pulling some truly goosebump-raising screams out of his throat. The crowd obviously went craziest for the eternal classics like Princess of the Dawn, Fast As A Shark and the closing Balls to the Wall, but no Accept show should pass anymore without the killer Stalingrad (where Hoffman skillfully works a snippet of the Russian anthem in to conjure up the right atmosphere for the hymn to the city of heroes) and the especially murderously good Teutonic Terror. After Saxon, the second unforgettable heavy metal spectacle of this year’s Metaldays!
Before Accept laid their eggs on the wall, Norwegian black metallers Kampfar took the other stage, the second major black metal act after Monday’s Dark Fortress. Dolk and his pagan crew managed, in the dusk, with a fantastic musical performance and fitting lighting (blue and green tones dominated), to create a mighty atmosphere of Norwegian heritage and the beauty of unforgiving, untouched nature. Kampfar stand out from the flood of black metal bands precisely because of their skillful blend of raw black metal and folk elements, which with these Norwegians are not cheap tricks with assorted kitschy folk instruments, but occasional subtle keyboards and choral singing in Norwegian. Among the excellently chosen songs, Swarm Norvegicus, Vettelkult, Ravenheart and Hymne reigned supreme, and Kampfar finished in majestically epic style with Our Hounds, Our Legion.
Finally, a whole range of surgical equipment spread out across the main stage, the air reeked of cold, unfeeling steel and fresh, warm blood as the British legends Carcass sliced into the unsuspecting bodies. Legends who, with Surgical Steel, pulled off one of the greatest musical comebacks of all time and proved that even after such cult albums as Symphonies of Sickness, Necroticism and Heartwork they still have ideas for phenomenal songs full of Steer’s guitar escapades and Walker’s growling of awesome lyrics, seemingly full of nonsense but with a very sensible meaning in the Carcass world (ASTM F899-12, for example, is the standard specification for stainless steel used in surgery, and the rattling off of the numbers 6026961 in Dark Satanic Mills is the designation for a protein used in genetically modified organisms). After the intro 1985, which immediately raised goosebumps, Carcass greeted Metaldays with Unit For Human Consumption, which made it clear with the very first notes that Carcass were going to grind without mercy. And sure enough, the crushers came one after another, and Walker occasionally tossed out a juicy one in his totally trademark English humor. His banter is always awesome, since you can hear him go on about singing along, horns in the air and so on. His sick growl remains beastly too, sounding best when Bill Steer helps out with an ultra-deep gurgle (and phenomenal solos, accompanied by his hilariously ridiculous hippie moves), and the fresh blood in the band is outstanding too, Ben Ash on guitar and above all the fantastic Dan Wilding, who with a brilliant drumming performance totally justified his place in the band and respectfully and confidently succeeded the great Ken Owen. Carcass gave Surgical Steel plenty of space, which is only right, but they completely blew us away with No Love Lost, the messy filth and nastiness from the first two albums, Genital Grinder, Exhume to Consume and Reek of Putrefaction, a surprise from the not exactly popular and beloved (unjustly, since it’s some great melodic death metal) Swansong, Black Star/Keep On Rotting in the Free World, and the hits Corporal Jigsore Quandary and Heartwork weren’t missing either. You could have listened to Carcass in that kind of form all night long, but after an hour and a half they said goodbye with Carneous Cacoffiny. By far the best show of this year’s festival!
For the cult NWOBHM warriors Blitzkrieg we sadly ran out of steam, but judging by the reports of how great the show was, there’s apparently almost no danger of the veterans going into early retirement, and you’ll still be able to catch them somewhere (a must!).
Text on The Devil, Mist, Death Angel, Suborned, War-Head, Audrey Horne, Accept, Kampfar, Carcass: Rok Klemše
Text on Mephistophelian, Diablo Blvd, Emil Bulls, Sepultura, Hatebreed, Paragoria: Primož Novak
Setlist
KAMPFAR:
1. Myler
2. Troll, Død Og Trolldom
3. Swarm Norvegicus
4. Vettekult
5. Til Siste Mann
6. Altergang
7. Ravenheart
8. Hymne
9. Our Hounds, Our Legion
CARCASS:
1. 1985 (intro)
2. Unit For Human Consumption
3. Incarnated Solvent Abuse
4. The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills
5. Captive Bolt Pistol
6. Noncompliance to ASTM F 899-12 Standard (into) / This Mortal Coil
7. No Love Lost
8. Genital Grinder / Exhume to Consume
9. Reek of Putrefaction
10. Black Star / Keep On Rotting in the Free World
11. Corporal Jigsore Quandary / The Sanguine Article
12. Ruptured in Purulence / Heartwork
13. Carneous Cacoffiny
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