Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Tolmin, Slovenia
Concert date: 27.07.2017
On Thursday the sun finally woke us up, and the cool-down by the Soča felt great after the rain and mud. Luckily the main stage program that day was on the meager side, so it was all the nicer to hang out under the trees by the second stage, which served up a much better lineup on Thursday. And at the last minute Architects (again) cancelled their appearance in Slovenia. Boo!
Thursday’s main stage was opened by French death/doom metallers Nemost, who deserve congrats for a confident, assured set in the scorching afternoon heat, but sadly that’s about all there is to say, because their dull, not-so-thrilling and weird mix of genres started to bore us fast.
To make sure nobody got too bored, the second stage had some more Spanish thrashers, old friends of our stages. Angelus Apatrida have won over Ljubljana several times already, and this time they were spot on again. They didn’t manage to whip up the kind of madness their colleagues Crisix did, but they still fed the thrash appetite just fine. No big highlights, but you could give your neck a proper workout, and Angelus Apatrida had no trouble putting the crowd under the stage through a good PE class.
Over on the main stage, Canadian heavy metallers Kobra and the Lotus were next. On paper at least they promised more, especially if you draw parallels with similar Canadian bands fronted by a female singer, like Unleash the Archers. Sadly, Kobra and the Lotus are nowhere near them. They served up boring, predictable heavy/power metal that not even the biggest fans of the genre would sniff at if it weren’t for sexy singer Kobra Paige out front. Kobra is definitely the center of attention while everything else stays in the background, and you’d want to rest your eyes from it if Kobra didn’t sound like Shakira or Katy Perry or whatever the MTV kids listen to these days. She did, of course, thrill the male half of the audience, who followed her every move with lustful eyes.
Since the Lemmy stage program wasn’t exactly thrilling, I parked myself in front of the second stage until late evening and actually had something to see and hear. Rectal Smegma were yet another Czech grind band that, much like Gutalax, said very little but delivered plenty of unintelligible gurgling and screaming. Nothing unexpected, then, though it bugged me that vocalist Yannic uses effects the whole time and so »cheats« when switching between ultra-deep growling and high, piercing screaming. The crowd of course showed up under the stage once again armed with toilet supplies, and Yannic had his shirt off by the first song and jumped around the stage in white athletic shorts, looking less like the vocalist of a grind band than a bouncer at an urban club in the capital.
Aversions Crown from faraway Australia were tailor-made mostly for fans of more modern sounds with a strong whiff of deathcore. Even though that’s not exactly my cup of tea, the Aussies weren’t bad at all. They didn’t overdo the breakdowns, served up some very ear-pleasing melodies, surprised with excellently nailed drum parts and impressed with technically flawless tightness. Towards the end it all wore a bit thin (for me), but still, Aversions Crown delivered way more than expected.
The high expectations, on the other hand, were completely justified by newly minted Swedish death metallers Lik, who revive the immortal legacy of old-school Swedish death metal in a respectful and authentic way. Lik are made up of seasoned tomcats of the Swedish scene: Christofer Barkensjö (drums; Witchery, ex-Kaamos, ex-The Resistence, ex-Repugnant), Niklas Sandin (guitar; Katatonia) and Tomas Åkvik (vocals, guitar; Bloodbath (live)). Bassist Johan Risberg is a wuss who doesn’t know whether he’s a full-fledged member of the band or not. The Swedes put out a superb debut, Mass Funeral Evocation, the year before last, which brought legendary Dismember to mind and put Lik on the map as one of the most promising new death metal bands. In just under an hour the guys played almost all of Mass Funeral Evocation, added one song from the split with Uncanny, Only Death Is Left Alive, and wowed us with excellent form and the real energy of old-school death metal. The HM-2 guitars droned like a swarm of hornets, and Tomas’ growl is tailor-made for Lik’s music: just sick and twisted enough to convincingly recite the excellent lyrics, which you can understand without any trouble thanks to the clear, intelligible growl. That it’s not just the fanboy in me talking about how convincing Lik were is proven by the fact that, despite the name being unknown, more and more people kept gathering under the stage. And it’s impossible to deny that songs like Necromancer, the gnarly Death Orgasmic, Le Morte Homme (an epic about World War I spiced with Maiden-style melodies) and Skin Necrosis, the song with the best verse in death metal (»Ugh, there goes my thumb!«), hit your ears like a tsunami. Superb! We’re waiting for a full European tour when the second studio album, which is already in the works, comes out!
(English version: The high expectations were completely met by the newly formed swedish death metallers Lik. The band invokes a respectful and credible nod to the immortal legacy of old school swedish death metal. Lik is formed by veterans of the swedish metal scene Christofer Barkensjö (drums; Witchery, ex-Kaamos, ex-The Resistence, ex-Repugnant), Niklas Sandin (guitars; Katatonia) and Tomas Åkvik (vocals, guitars; Bloodbath (live)), whereas bassist Johan Risberg is still kind of soft on the inside and can’t decide if he wants to be a fulltime member of a death metal band. The Swedes released their debut album Mass Funeral Evocation a year and a half ago. On it they call forth the memory of legendary Dismember and it managed to establish Lik as one of the most promising new death metal bands. The lads played most of Mass Funeral Evocation, added Only Death Is Left Alive from their split with Uncanny and totally amazed with excellent form and pure, raw old school death metal energy. HM-2 guitars buzzed like a swarm of angry giant hornets and it turned out that, also live, Tomas’ growl fits the music perfectly. His voice is a as convincing as a voice of sick, depraved, twisted man and he manages to brilliantly recite some excellent lyrics that are actually audible because of his harsh, yet clear growl. That more and more people were gathering under the stage and enthusiastically cheering on, despite the name Lik being relatively unknown on Slovenian ground, is enough proof that the high praise in not only the fanboy in me speaking. It’s undeniable that the sheer force of killer songs like Necromancer, gory Death Orgasmic, epic Le Morte Homme about the western front of the Great war (including some tasty maiden-like soloing) and Skin Necrosis with one the best verses in death metal (“Ugh, there goes my thumb!”) hits your ear cannals like a tsunami. Superior! We’re eagerly awaiting a fullblown European tour when the new album, which is in the making, is released.)
We welcomed the next act, NWOBHM veterans Raven, with open arms too, since every single time they put on a hell of an energetic show of »athletic rock«, as they call it themselves. The core of Raven ever since the band’s founding way back in 1974 has been brothers John and Mark Gallagher, joined since the late eighties by drummer Joe Hasselvander, who is still recovering from a heart attack, so Dave Chedrick (Kill Ritual) stepped in for him (temporarily). That didn’t slow the crazy Gallagher brothers down either, and the stage was full of them again from the moment they walked onto it. Even though they’re pretty baroque around the belly, that didn’t stop them from sprinting back and forth, jumping around and doing neck gymnastics the whole time. For just under an hour their ultra-fast, unpolished heavy metal didn’t stop for a second, and they won the crowd over with their likability and the hit On And On.
For his second residency at Metaldays 2017, Abbath a.k.a. Olve Eikemo took off the makeup and all the other trappings and went back to his roots. For twenty years now, Abbath has been running what is probably the best Motörhead tribute band in the world alongside Immortal (before) and Abbath (now). In Bömbers Abbath of course plays Lemmy, Tore Bratseth (Old Funeral, The Batallion) picked up the guitar, and Pez (Punishment Park) sat down behind the drums. The trio delivered an exceptional rendition of Motörhead classics and songs that even the original band hadn’t played in years. Everything worked at Bömbers! Volume at 11, the destructive power of a Rickenbacker bass, Abbath’s vocals identical to Lemmy’s, boots, rolled-up sleeves, a Snaggletooth tattoo on the upper arm and of course the obligatory cigarette. Unbelievable! If you watched Bömbers from a bit further back, you had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren’t dreaming the real Mötorhead. Bömbers’ set therefore had just one flaw: they didn’t play on the stage named Lemmy.
The Thursday main stage was closed by Swedish bigwigs Opeth, who luckily didn’t tire us out too much with the pensioner-boredom prog of their last two albums (I’ll catch hell from Peter and Primož for that one, author’s note) and even served up some older death metal goodness (Ghost of Perdition, Demon of the Fall, Deliverance). All well and good, but technical problems struck again, and this time Opeth handled them a bit offhandedly. There was almost half an hour of pure silence from the main stage, broken only by some Åkerfeldt quipping and Åkesson’s pointless soloing. The technical problems were eventually fixed, but by then the energy had already faded, and a good number of people had left the audience. Maybe next time, Opeth.
Thursday on the second stage, in front of a nicely packed crowd, was closed by Icelandic post metal cowboys Solstafir, but their musical vision, though excellently executed, just doesn’t grab me, so I chose a »night cap« on the beach instead.
Klemen Udovč (photos): Kobra and the Lotus, Blues Pills
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