Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Ljubljana / Rollbar / Slovenia
Concert date: 09.03.2012
Attendance: 120
Ticket price: €0.00
Ljubljana’s BTC shopping center isn’t exactly a regular Mecca for Slovenian metalheads, but every now and then it happens. On Friday, Rollbar, across from Kolosej, opened its doors for a free show, and despite a reasonably interesting lineup and promo for the gig through every pore imaginable, the »thanks to« the unusual location meant turnout didn’t hit the expected numbers. Oh well, no big deal!
I’d already seen Slovenian heavy metal pioneers Lene kosti at this club a year ago, so the location was no mystery to me. But watch out: the setting was completely different this time! We watched the sets from a go-kart track, fenced in, while the bands were stationed up by the tables, so about three meters higher. From the crowd’s point of view, the whole scene looked a lot like something out of an American prison movie. While some people complained about neck pain (the stage was seriously damn high), I’m all for the one-of-a-kind ambience of this particular experience.
The night was kicked off by the special guests of the evening, Decrepancy from Serbia. They represent the extreme end of metal, which also earned them the title of the night’s most aggressive band. Decrepancy play old-school death metal, but with their dynamic song structures they add touches of some other metal subgenres to their style. Muffled growling over an express-train rhythm section flirted with grind, and with a pile of breakdowns the Serbian metalheads bet on a touch of modern metal relevance. There were also occasional bits of technical madness, but sadly too underdeveloped to compare with the champions of that craft, Atheist or even Death. Decrepancy pulled in quite a few opium-thirsty metalheads and handled the warm-up band job like pros.
Up second were Veto, alternative torchbearers from Nova Gorica who, despite a by now rather long run on the scene, haven’t stirred up much of a reaction among metalheads over the years thanks to a lack of media interest. But Veto don’t give up! They brought a busload of booze-soaked supporters with them from the Gorica region and threw a proper little party in the »Ljubljana Alcatraz«! Veto approach the music business in an utterly professional way! They played with demolishing force and made good use of the roomy stage, with frontman Matej leading the way with his natural Phil Anselmo-style moves. Veto presented their vision of metal, which is akin to that of their Domžale friends I Scream. The Primorska boys cross a modern alternative metal sound of bouncy rhythms and screaming vocals with more melodic hooks and the odd hip-hop interlude. But the flirting with nu metal is purely cosmetic: Veto are really a heavy metal machine with fast-changing tempos and a thousand screams.
It was already midnight when Negligence took the stage third. These are the guys from Jesenice who have a deal with Metal Blade in their pocket, and who, if they came from, say, America, could turn their musical talent into a pile of greenbacks. But thank God, it’s not all about the money! Negligence played in front of a nicely packed Rollbar and ran through both of their studio albums, »Options Of A Trapped Mind« (2007) and »Coordinates of Confusion« (2011). Their stage mileage showed (last fall, for example, they knocked out a Polish tour with Artillery), and Alex made the most of it this time, leaning out over the fence into the crowd. Ružo on drums and Lipnik on bass proved once again why they’re probably the best rhythm section in the country, and the guitar duo of Jey / Aljo has also gelled with the time that’s passed since the guitarist switch. Time will tell whether the pair are creatively strong enough to fill the big gap Dyzy left on guitar. The best thrash metal band for miles around was marked by a polished performance and a rock-solid stage presence, riding on the wings of Alex’s rowdy antics and making good use of every bit of stage language.
A package of three metal bands from different corners was tailor-made for fans of the more extreme side of metal, but sadly, despite the interesting-on-paper names, the event didn’t get the turnout it deserved. Still, the smiles on the faces in the crowd showed that the latest in the series of concert Fridays satisfied most of those present.
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