Kublai Khan TX, Malevolence, Boundaries
Tuesday, June 9, 2026, 7:00 PM – 10:30 PM
Ljubljana // CUK Kino Šiška // Slovenia
Kublai Khan TX, Malevolence, and Boundaries. A triple dose of crushing metalcore straight to the skull! Exactly at the kind of venue where you want this to go down! At Kino Šiška! After a long time, some proper metalized hardcore for all the true believers of the genre! It promised to be a real night of obligatory metalcore communion for every soul that loves a ‘regular Joe’ snapback, isn’t allergic to tattoos, and wants nothing to do with jeans. Loose black threads all the way.
While the British metalcore speed merchants have practically earned Slovenian citizenship by now, Kublai Khan TX — a massive name on the world metalcore scene — were making their very first career appearance here in Ljubljana. Every self-respecting metalcore head in Slovenia knows Kublai Khan TX, of course. They deliver a collision between classic steeled-out early-nineties hardcore and internalized deathcore aggression! A riff stampede that hits like a herd of giraffes running you over, with sharp breakdowns where you find yourself caught in the merciless pounding between chopping block and anvil. The vocals are the furious dictates of someone trying to blow the front door clean off its hinges! In short — an angry, socially charged beast, bursting at the seams with rage and aggression!
First up were their American compatriots Boundaries, who are no spring chickens themselves — they’ve been at it for over ten years and have nearly four studio albums under their belt. Why nearly? The fourth, “Yearning: The Unbeautiful After”, drops in mid-July this year! The Connecticut quintet made excellent use of their 40 minutes to showcase their take on modern metalcore craft, built on rhythmic groove loaded with the punch of breakdown moments, all commanded by the authoritative growl-sermon of vocalist Matthew McDougal. Drummer Tim Sullivan covered and complemented the melodic — including chorus — vocal lines with clean vocals. It was mostly bassist Nathan Calgano who worked the crowd and fired them up, also handling backing vocals. An absolute detonation, great sound, and a bold opening act for the evening. The crowd was still finding its footing inside CUK Kino Šiška, but Boundaries rewarded everyone who showed up between seven and eight with an explosive and finely crafted performance. They got the mosh and circle pit going multiple times with barely any effort. The closer it got to the end, the more intense things became on the floor.
By the time Malevolence hit the stage ten minutes before eight, the picture had already changed. The crowd had packed in properly, and when the quintet stepped out they were met with a thunderous roar from their followers. Malevolence came out vehement and without hesitation. Their commander and charismatic frontman Alex Taylor, decked out in a military vest layered over a white tee that looked more like a fishing vest, proved himself a master of crowd control — an impossibly skilled juggler when it comes to working a room and stoking the fire. The crowd got a serious physical workout during Malevolence’s set, and this was, if I’m not mistaken, their fifth appearance here; the audience claimed them as their own a long time ago. That showed in the way people knew every verse and joined in for the singing. But it didn’t stop there. The crowd eagerly carried out Taylor’s commands from the stage, and the energy throughout the set was truly magnificent. Malevolence are a world of their own. They’ve got their own metalcore thing — occasionally crossed cleverly with sludge metal elements, and heavily backed by a swaggering groove that pulls you in immediately! The latest album “Where Only the Truth Is Spoken” is a year old, and the band closed with its lead single If It’s All The Same For You, with the bulk of the setlist drawn from the beloved “Malicious Intent” (Higher Place, Karma, Life Sentence, On Broken Glass, Still Waters Run Deep), which served as the main engine of the hellish energy that took over the venue. The band is terrifying! Riffs crushing, with a diabolical swing. The drive relentless. An excellent one-hour set. Malevolence are an exceptionally tight and precise outfit, at the peak of their live powers, and the show brought the crowd to exactly the right temperature to meet the headliners.
Kublai Khan TX had been genuinely long-awaited in Slovenia. The band was in fantastic spirits throughout, and charismatic frontman Matt Honeycutt — through deep bows to the crowd as much as through words — announced more than once just how much it meant to them that they’d finally managed to put on their first show here. Unlike both opening acts, Kublai Khan TX are just a quartet. But that does nothing to blunt their ferocity and roughhewn directness, driven by crushing riffs and an unmistakably rebellious anger at every injustice done to the little guy.
Although the band thundered through mostly material from the latest, two-year-old album “Exhibition of Prowess”, they didn’t skip their biggest crowd favourites that hold any live show together — including, midway through, Resentment and Loyal To None, then Self Destruct, and in a blazing finale Swan Song and Theory Of Mind — all of which confirmed that the band’s followers know their catalogue inside out. Even when Matt seemed to doubt it, the crowd came back with incredible sing-along responses. Mosh pits, circle pits, crowdsurfing, and everything else that goes with a proper metalcore communion — none of it was missing. The closer it got to the end, the more the foundations of Kino Šiška shook!
And the band — incredibly tight, locked-in, and charged up. With a single guitar they cover practically all the sonic space you need, while the springy groove suspension comes courtesy of the intense rhythm section of drummer Isaac Lamb and bassist Eric English! An hour and twenty minutes of full-throttle that pushed an already fired-up crowd to boiling point and squeezed out every last quantum of energy! And yet. Kublai Khan TX could have stretched it a little longer that evening at Kino Šiška. Another twenty minutes minimum, at least. The crowd did seem mildly inconsolable when the band wrapped up with Theory of Mind. But that’s how it ended. The debut appearance of this outstanding metalcore outfit, which spun Kino Šiška clean off its bearings and rattled the foundations. And when something works this well and hits this convincingly, it always flies by too fast. Here’s hoping for a return visit soon — because what Kublai Khan TX conjured, and Malevolence and Boundaries before them, belongs in the category of the sweetest concert experiences around. And we’re only halfway through the year.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Boundaries – setlist:
1. Skies Cast Amber Black
2. My Body Is a Cage
3. Darkness Shared
4. Is Survived By
5. Death Will Follow Me
6. Turning Hate Into Rage
7. Scars on a Soul
8. Bitter Ash, Bitter Love
9. I’d Rather Not Say
10. Only Endless
11. Easily Erased
Malevolence – setlist:
1. Trenches
2. Life Sentence
3. So Help Me God
4. Still Waters Run Deep
5. Karma
6. Self Supremacy
7. Higher Place
8. Keep Your Distance
9. Serpent’s Chokehold
10. On Broken Glass
11. If It’s All the Same to You
Kublai Khan TX – setlist:
1. Darwinism
2. Supreme Ruler
3. Low Tech
4. Antpile
5. Boomslang
6. Cannibal
7. Resentment
8. Loyal To None
9. The Hammer
10. The Mountain of Corsicana
11. Antpile 2
12. Self Destruct
13. Mud
14. Swan Song
15. Theory Of Mind
