Deathstars Conquer Ljubljana’s Orto bar in a Gothic Embrace of the Horned Faithful (2023)
Acts: Liv Sin / Priest / Deathstars
Date: Monday, November 27, 2023
Location: Ljubljana / Orto bar / Slovenia
Catching Swedish outfit Deathstars at Ljubljana’s Orto bar just before the end of November was something of an exclusive event — especially given the musical direction this cult band stands for. After a nine-year gap they finally dropped a new studio album, “Everything Destroys You”, and brought it to Slovenia too. Deathstars have been at it since 2000 and are, by any measure, a breed apart. They started in black metal territory, then grafted on elements of industrial, glam metal, dark and gothic metal, and even some ’80s post-punk along the way. Small wonder they call themselves Scandinavian ‘death-glam’.
The choice of support acts for Deathstars’ November–December European tour was equally exciting. Swedish Liv Sin, founded in 2016 by former Sister Sin vocalist Liv Jagrell, and the absolute oddballs Priest, who draw their inspiration from ’80s synth/pop wave and especially the EBM phenomenon.
Liv Sin were first up on the Orto bar stage. The quintet is remarkably prolific — in seven years they’ve already put out three albums, the latest being “Kaliyuga”, released this past January. The lineup consists of Jagrell alongside guitarist Patrick Ankermark, drummer Per Bjelovuk, and two newcomers — guitarist Jay Matharu and bassist Daniel Skoglund. The central figure of the quintet is, of course, the charismatic Liv Jagrell, who — in a short but action-packed set — showed off some serious vocal chameleon skills. The stage was all hers. Traditional heavy metal with a pinch of dark elements and sleaze finesse, delivered first and foremost by the mischievous Liv. The band brought a high level of tightness and professionalism. Even though the club was only starting to fill up properly, the sparse crowd didn’t throw them off in the slightest. Patrick Ankermark served up some exquisite, technically filigree guitar solos, and the band as a whole delivered an energetic performance that — thanks to the ‘wild’ Liv — made for an excellent opening warm-up.
Priest are a band that’s first and foremost shrouded in mystery. Deliberately. Everything clicks the moment you clock their gothic getup, which covers their faces completely. As you may well already know, the trio consists of vocalist Mercury (Linton Rubino), who previously played bass for Ghost under the name Water; keyboardist Salt, who previously played keys for Ghost under the name Air; and third member Sulfur, a programmer and keyboardist. The band dropped their third album, “Body Machine”, last year, and by the time they rolled into Ljubljana they’d already previewed some fresh singles — none of which, however, they’re playing on this current tour.
The band conjures a dark dance synth-pop / synth wave atmosphere that pulls you in immediately. One way or another. You can’t escape the urge to move. Simple as that. The music and the atmosphere drag you into a vortex. The musical language is deceptively simple, yet incredibly infectious in both its dancefloor rhythm and musical substance — owing a clear debt to the electropunk acts that emerged from the NDW era, among them EBM representatives DAF, Nitzer Ebb, and Front 242; early-era Depeche Mode up to around 1984 isn’t far off sonically either. Mercury, naturally, worked every inch of the stage and kept the crowd busy with dance moves the whole time, while Salt spiced things up on a few occasions by whipping out the keytar and moving to the front of the stage. Mercury accompanied one of the solos with an amusing quip: “This is what a guitar solo looks like at Priest.”
Bottom line: Priest are an incredibly compelling, magnetic proposition. They get in your head immediately. Mercury ventured into the crowd twice, ritually blessing a handful of audience members. But beneath all that dark gothic latex pageantry lurks a sharp streak of black humor — even outright parody. The whole thing hits hard when you see this ‘sharply dressed trio’ and then they unexpectedly take you into the sonic world of the electronic cyberpunk scene of underground German and Belgian clubs from the ’80s — something you never would have imagined going in. Priest are a band that gained at least two new devotees that evening. Both of us writing this.
Deathstars drew around them a legion of fiercely devoted fans who knew the band’s material inside out. And more — they were in on the whole ritual of this cult band’s live show. Remarkable. A very special crowd. You won’t find one like this anywhere else. Gothic outfits, faces heavily ‘drawn’ and ‘painted’ with make-up, and no shortage of people who’d gone the extra mile with special contact lenses.
Deathstars arrived in Ljubljana as part of their “Everything Destroys Europe” tour, in a quintet lineup. Two original members represent the core: guitarist and keyboardist Emil “Nightmare Industries” Nödtveidt and vocalist Andreas “Whiplasher Bernadotte” Bergh, joined by the ‘venomous’ bassist Jonas “Skinny Disco” Kangur, returning extravagant guitarist Eric “Cat Casino” Bäckman, and newcomer drummer Marcus “Nitro” Johansson.
The band immediately established their signature stage aesthetic. Their own unique world. Their look absolutely cements their live persona. The guys stay faithfully painted up, rooted in their black metal origins; Whiplasher donned a hat for the Ljubljana gig; and the lanky, angular Cat Casino slipped into a woman’s outfit that might have even stirred a certain appeal in any visually challenged attendee (watch it, Podbrežnik — you’re approaching your mid-fifties, ed.) — specifically the allure of Tina Gaber (in other words: it’s getting dangerous — Cat Casino could steal Golob from Tina). Worth mentioning that Cat changes his outfit from gig to gig. Well, in Ljubljana he was something truly special on that stage.
Leaning on the mic stand, Whiplasher repeatedly called to mind the poses of Sisters Of Mercy frontman Andrew Eldritch, while the rest flew around the stage. The rest? First and foremost Skinny and Cat, while Nightmare diligently held everything together with his guitar precision and unwavering focus. No worries there. Deathstars have seen it all. Clubs of every kind. They’re used to stages of all sizes and felt right at home in the Orto bar. They know exactly what they’re doing. Everything is worked out. They’re showmen and professionals rolled into one. A party with a healthy dose of mischief and sharp wit — courtesy first and foremost of resident ‘loose cannons’ Skinny and Cat — was genuinely jaw-dropping.
One surprise during the show was Whiplasher’s irritability — he came across as weary and was apparently suffering from an unwanted dip in vocal capacity. Apparently he had a cold (info sourced directly from Skinny right after the show, ed.). During the announcement of the eagerly anticipated Synthetic Generation — introduced by Skinny — Whiplasher began sulking, insisting he wouldn’t sing it. In an instant, someone from the front rows handed him a red rose, which softened him up — and the crowd got another moment that at Deathstars shows isn’t just expected, it’s mandatory. It’s part of the ritual. What could have rattled Whiplasher enough to give off that checked-out vibe? It could well be the fact that Cat and Skinny are stealing a fair chunk of the crowd’s focus — because unlike the largely stationary Whiplasher, their antics and nonsense are genuinely infectious for the crowd. But I doubt it. Deathstars are too seasoned for that kind of nonsense.
There is something to it, though. Priest gave that same impression too, but in the gothic sphere it’s pretty standard practice. All that posturing and make-up gives the performance an extra charge — in terms of atmosphere, of sheer grip. The Orto bar show had you in a hellish grip and nothing went wrong, save for Whiplasher’s occasional flare-ups of irritability — which may well have been played up deliberately — though the vocalist did settle and recalibrate towards the end of the set.
Bottom line: outstanding show. The crowd was somewhat smaller than expected this time round — maybe a good 350 people. But fired up. Ignited. Deathstars remain their own story — a band that has carved out an extraordinary niche by fusing genres through a natural evolutionary path. There’s glam, there’s sleaze, there’s gothic, industrial, post-punk, and of course, under scrutiny you can trace the band’s nature all the way back to its black metal roots. A torpedo of a top-tier party that’ll turn your head — obviously only if you’re receptive to everything described in the sentence before. A concert evening that, in the context of this year’s broader gig offerings, delivered to Slovenia something definitively one-of-a-kind — a full-on experiential bulls-eye of the kind we can only hope for more of in the future!
Authors: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Liv Sin setlist:
1. D.E.R.
2. Forget My Name
3. Chapter Of The Witch
4. I Am The Storm
5. Antihero
6. King Of Fools
Priest setlist:
1. Lonely Mansion (Intro)
2. The Pit
3. Neuromancer
4. A Signal In The Noise
5. Blacklisted
6. Beacon of Light
7. The Cross
8. Obey
9. Nightcrawler
10. Burning Love
11. History in Black
12. Vaudeville
Deathstars setlist:
1. Night Electric Night
2. Between Volumes and Voids
3. All the Devil’s Toys
4. Ghost Reviver
5. Midnight Party
6. Tongues
7. The Greatest Fight on Earth
8. Death Dies Hard
9. This Is
10. New Dead Nation
11. Fire Galore
12. Metal
13. Synthetic Generation
14. Everything Destroys You
15. Blood Stains Blondes
16. Chertograd
17. Blitzkrieg
18. Cyanide
