Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Sebastijan Videc
Video: Sebastijan Videc
Venue: Kino Šiška / Ljubljana
Concert date: 11.07.2018
Metaldays 2018 is right around the corner, the impatience is already building, and that makes a warm-up like the one at Kino Šiška last week all the more welcome. The Metaldays Warm Up was courtesy of American veterans Iced Earth, and to make the crowd even happier, the local duo of Eruption and Metalsteel came along for the ride. And after a night like that, counting down the days until we’re back in T’mina is a whole lot easier.
At first there was only one announced support act, but, probably to the delight of many, thrash veterans Eruption joined the bill. They recently played as support for another band from the Century Media family: in May they played Brno and Bratislava with Spanish thrashers Angelus Apatrida, and this time they shared the stage with Century Media heavyweights Iced Earth. Eruption had the bad luck of being the opening band this time, so for the first song or two they were playing only to themselves and a handful of people in the hall, but luckily more and more folks slowly trickled in. The girl and the guys got to show how thrash metal is served up, squeezed just the right dose of energy out of themselves on stage, and despite a few minor slip-ups and the high volume (and, as a result, somewhat worse sound), they made it clear why Cloaks of Oblivion lodged itself in your ears like the aliens in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The title track of their current record, Drones, Seven Archons, Empty Shells and the nicely aged The Sands of Time flew by at warp 9.975 speed, with top-notch instrumental and vocal performances. It’s just a shame about the merciless schedule, which didn’t let Eruption answer the calls for more and play at least one more song.
It was great to see that this time two local acts got the support slot. Wednesday night continued with another pair of Slovenian heavy metal veterans, Metalsteel from Medvode, who are still promoting their successful and well-received album from last year, Beyond the Stars. There’s no doubt about Metalsteel’s stage performance, since they’re one of the most experienced domestic metal bands, delivering an outstanding live show along with a generous helping of positive energy that proves the girl and the guys were simply born for the stage. It’s even more obvious live, since especially on the vocal side the combo of Beny and the reliable backing vocals of Rok and Matej comes off confidently, further enriching vocal lines that were already well thought out and crafted. The songs from Beyond the Stars have already lodged themselves firmly in the crowd’s ears, which was especially obvious on the title track, the epic The End of the World and Vrillon, which will soon get its video premiere and for which the dancers of Tribale Bizarre once again joined the band on stage. Metalsteel carried their set confidently to the end with the classics Novi svet and Heavy Metal is Our Religion, and warmed up the crowd for the main band of the night and then some.
American heavy/power metal champions Iced Earth are no strangers to Slovenian stages. They’re pretty frequent visitors, and not least, it was on the stage of what was then still Metalcamp that they recorded one of the three concerts that made it onto the DVD package Festivals of the Wicked. Even though they’ve played here quite a few times by now, they’re one of those bands that will always get a warm welcome here, and this time too, despite the initially bleak outlook, Kino Šiška filled up nicely. The crowd gave a loud welcome to the opening Viking raid with the new song Great Heathen Army, and the band generally leaned pretty heavily on last year’s Incorruptible. Considering that it’s not exactly Iced Earth’s discographic peak, it was a bit of a shame the guys didn’t live up to the banner about the band’s 30th anniversary and serve up a “best of” set. The first part of the show was therefore firmly in the light of Incorruptible, and with the Dark Saga classic I Died For You, the journey started reaching a bit further into the past. In the seven years since boss Jon Schaffer took him under his wing, Stu Block has become an indispensable part of the band, one you can no longer imagine it without, and he deserves real congratulations for filling Matt Barlow’s gigantic shoes. This time Block wasn’t in his best vocal form, since a few times he straight-up ate the verses, but he impressed with inhuman screams, and a bit less with his failed Barlow impression, which was painfully obvious especially in the aforementioned I Died For You, inspired by the comic book classic Spawn. But this time it was Jon who stunned and surprised, having hit the big five-oh this year and still looking downright beastly on stage, especially when your eyes land on one of the strongest right hands in metal, which was obvious in the outright brutal riff-sawing in the outstanding Vengeance Is Mine. One of the top 5 rhythm guitarists in metal. Period. Later the Horror Show classic Dracula fit in nicely, but is it really the only song from that album worth playing live? The answer is of course no, but the band made up for it at the end of the main set by surprising with the classic Angels Holocaust, in which the band’s newest member, guitarist Jake Dreyer (ex-White Wizzard, and I’d recommend Witherfall even more), showed off with devilish soloing, and with an epic journey through the Night of the Stormrider epic Travel in Stygian.
In the obligatory encore the band had one more top-notch surprise in store: by far the best song from the new album, the nine-minute epic Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862), which has everything you expect from an Iced Earth epic – plenty of ups and downs, a strong chorus, dynamic vocal and instrumental lines, well-thought-out, memorable and catchy melodies, and historical American subject matter tailor-made for Schaffer, in this case about one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War, the Battle of Fredericksburg. An Iced Earth concert is unimaginable without the anthem Watching Over Me, and this time too the crowd sang along at the top of their lungs to the emotional hymn that always reminds us of those who are no longer with us. The Americans bid farewell to Šiška with the wicked classic Pure Evil, and got everyone there more than warmed up for the coming week of metalizing.
Setlist
ICED EARTH:
1. Great Heathen Army
2. Burning Times
3. Dystopia
4. Black Flag
5. Seven Headed Whore
6. I Died For You
7. Vengeance is Mine
8. Brothers
9. Dracula
10. Raven Wing
11. The Hunter
12. Angels Holocaust
13. Travel in Stygian
— encore —
14. Clear the Way (December 13th, 1862)
15. Watching Over Me
16. Pure Evil
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