Author: Primož Novak
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Concert date: 22.02.2017
Attendance: 50
Ticket price: 18€/22€
Every so often, the death metal fans who back the lesser-known bands, the underground scene crowd, get their fix too. It’s usually brutal death metal acts that don’t go in for frills and stick hard to their style, which is intense and uncompromising, and that’s exactly why it doesn’t draw a big crowd. The show with Malignancy and four support bands in a half-empty Orto Bar proved the point. But that said nothing about the quality of the bands on stage.
First up were the brutalizers from California, Stages of Decomposition. The band has just one album and one EP under its belt. The Californian trio set out to present its material with confidence, but the bass guitar started acting up pretty quickly, so the show ended up being played without bass. Maybe that spoiled the overall impression, but there was nothing special to pick up on before that either. The guitar was anything but inventive, and the drummer wobbled quite a bit holding the rhythm. So the band has plenty of work ahead before it convinces more than a handful of people in the crowd.
Next came Embryonic Devourment, who lifted the whole thing up a level compared to the openers, though there’s no point talking about anything outstanding here. Still, ED undoubtedly showed a bit more variety in the songs, more technical tricks and a more dynamic rhythm section. The band did start repeating itself fairly quickly, but the set was solidly delivered.
One of the bigger surprises was Nader Sadek. It’s a project led by the Egyptian Nader, who is joined at shows by various musicians well known in extreme metal waters. This time Hannes Grossmann (Alkaloid, ex-Obscura, ex-Necrophagist) sat behind the kit, Ben Claus of Gorod laid down excellent bass lines, and Norwegian guitarist Destructhor, who clocked up the miles earlier in Morbid Angel and Zyklon, picked up the guitar. In short, Nader Sadek were made up of nothing but top-notch musicians, and the performance matched. It was fast and tight. Musically it recalled a good mix of death and black metal. It stumbled a bit with Nader’s vocals, which were at times annoying and in places unnecessary. That didn’t ruin the overall impression, though. With their great playing, Nader Sadek convinced us we’d happily see them again.
The brutalizing hadn’t let up. Up next were Spain’s Carnivore Diprosopus, who delivered brutal death metal most convincingly of the night. The sound was suitably filthy, fast songs were plentiful, and there were some slower stretches too for better variety. The vocals were unintelligible and the instruments weren’t crystal clear either, which is just as it should be for the band’s style. With their uncompromising playing, Carnivore Diprosopus warmed the souls of those who swear by brutal death metal. The band didn’t reinvent the wheel, but you could pick up influences from prominent death metal names like Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Skinless, Devourment and others.
Last to take the stage were Malignancy, who are marking 25 years of existence this year. In their set Malignancy showed they approach things in a more technical way, though that applied most of all to the drums, which dominated the whole show. Behind the kit sat Mike Heller, who also earns his living in Fear Factory, among other things. The guitar was technically skilled, fast with slow parts mixed in, and there were simpler grind interludes too. The vocalist deserves special praise for communicating with the crowd in a humorous way, adding an extra spice to the band’s repertoire. The biggest praise goes to drummer Mike Heller, of course, who obviously has to hold back in Fear Factory. In Malignancy Heller showed he’s extremely fast and knows how to season every part with cymbals in a way that makes sense. There’s no hole in his playing that Heller couldn’t fill. His approach is progressive, and we’d definitely love to hear him in a more progressive project. And here it’s confirmed he belongs at the very top of extreme drummers, alongside John Longstreth, George Kollias, Flo Mounier and others. Malignancy were definitely a positive surprise, giving brutal death metal some hope yet. Malignancy, Nader Sadek and company played more than decently at Orto Bar despite the small turnout, and showed just how merciless death metal can be today.
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