Location: Ljubljana / Orto Bar / Slovenia
Date: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
This year’s autumn concert season is undeniably packed. Besides plenty of local shows, many American bands are touring Europe. The Elder and Pallbearer concert was announced during the wave of cancellations in 2021, so expectations weren’t exactly optimistic. But the picture flipped this spring, and many bands were finally able to hit the road on tours that had been postponed again and again. After roughly a year of waiting, the tour that stoner and doom metal fans had been counting down to finally made a stop in Slovenia. There was no shortage of people at the entrance — further proof that doom/stoner/sludge metal shows are no longer the exclusive domain of a select few.
With openers Irist, it looked at first like the same old story — band plays to a handful of people right at the start. But with each song, Irist pulled more people in. Irist lean heavily into sludge metal. The music was morbid, the vocals raw and unpolished. The band — one album and an EP to their name — impressed with an interesting blend of subgenres. You could hear the influence of post-metal acts à la Isis and Cult of Luna, only Irist come across a lot more brutal. They’re definitely a band with a lot of promise, but they’ll need another release or two to really develop and sharpen their sound.
Pallbearer, the American doom metal sensation, first showed their chops here a few years back at Metaldays, but back then they only had a short slot — which made this full set at Orto Bar all the more anticipated. Pallbearer drew a solid crowd; for doom metal, Orto Bar was pretty packed. They put together a well-structured setlist of their best tracks, with a strong focus on their latest album Forgotten Days, which never got a proper promotional run thanks to the pandemic. The band delivered with their distinctly unique take on doom metal. Long, dynamic compositions, rich vocal harmonies, and an abundance of melody are their calling cards. But what really hit hardest were the heavy, punishing riffs — especially in the closing track Given to the Grave, where the band slowed everything down to the point where it brushed up against funeral doom, yet thankfully never turned dry and lifeless, which is a pretty common pitfall in doom metal. What was missing were a few more tracks from the first two albums that made Pallbearer a name to reckon with and one of the hottest acts in modern doom metal. Still, Pallbearer won the crowd over with their tightness as a unit, and a return visit would be more than welcome. Judging by the turnout, doom metal is doing just fine in 2022.
American outfit Elder really put themselves on the map in 2015 with their third studio album Lore — that’s when they tweaked and refined their sound. The direction stayed rooted in doom and stoner, but seventies prog rock crept in alongside it. Elder became something genuinely unique rather than just another band taking cues from Mastodon and the like. They backed up that originality with their next two records, Reflections of a Floating World and Omens. Elder spent over an hour running through a cross-section of their discography. Up front in the venue, the mix was a bit too loud and consequently not the clearest, but it didn’t spoil the overall experience. Elder kept surprising throughout with their energy and cohesion as a band. Above all, credit must go to how naturally they weave together doom metal, psychedelic and progressive rock, and even jam rock. The more interesting dimension of Elder is undoubtedly the instrumental side — the vocals occasionally came across as a bit of an afterthought. With their longer tracks, Elder showed real purpose; you could feel that they love to find ideas through jamming, but it never got in the way — if anything, you could tell they were genuinely enjoying themselves up there. Most of all, their knack for weaving in a strong atmospheric element deserves praise — it added a lot to the whole and never dragged. Elder also proved that a band can still sound genuinely unconventional today if they choose the right combinations. In over an hour, Elder had a packed Orto Bar buzzing, and here’s hoping we won’t have to wait another 15 years for them to come back.
Elder, Pallbearer, and Irist turned a rainy Wednesday evening into an unforgettable night with their respective styles, and this show has already earned its place among the best of 2022.
Author: Primož Novak
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
