Location: Mostovna / Solkan (Nova Gorica) / Slovenia
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2016
And just like that, we’ve waded deep into an almost absurdly packed concert fall. October’s gig hell kicked off at the very spot of this doom crime, since two days earlier Mostovna hosted the Portuguese masters of darkness Moonspell. Between now and the end of the month we’ve still got at least John Garcia, Venom Inc./Vital Remains, Enslaved, Inquisition/Rotting Christ and Obscura, and I’m not even counting the smaller shows. But before all of those, last Wednesday belonged to a doom spectacle with genre elders Pentagram and their mascot Bobby Liebling, who with his not exactly dashing looks is starting to resemble Yogurt from Spaceballs more and more. Anyway, one of the founding fathers of the genre came back to us after three years, following that excellent show at Metaldays 2013 (you can read what Bobby told us back then HERE), and this time the return was even more eagerly awaited, because after a two-year absence the legendary guitarist Victor Griffin was back in the band. At Mostovna, Pentagram were joined by Tytus and Mother’s Cake, who proved, to everyone’s delight, that you can find good music among our western and northern neighbors too.
At nine o’clock sharp, Tytus from neighboring Italy climbed onto the Mostovna stage. Given where they come from, I was pretty skeptical about what they’d deliver, since most Italian bands are (deservedly) saddled with a reputation as bad as Bobby Liebling’s with anything that has two legs and a pair of cheeks. But a rule doesn’t mean there can’t be exceptions, and luckily Tytus, who probably named themselves after the giant from He-Man’s universe, are one of them. The four-piece from Trieste just released their full-length debut Rises, packed with devilishly good NWOBHM/heavy metal with the obligatory Thin Lizzy/Iron Maiden guitar harmonies, and that’s exactly what they served up live. Sure, musically they offer nothing new or original, but Tytus do their job brilliantly. A crushing rhythm section with a beast of a drummer, a guitar duo that’s pure “worship” of Maiden’s twin harmonies, and a great, powerful voice made Tytus one of the nicest and least expected concert surprises of the year.
An even bigger unknown was the second band of the night, the Austrian trio Mother’s Cake, who turned out to be an unexpected surprise just like Tytus. These guys mix funk, stoner and progressive rock, and in places season the whole thing generously with psychedelic bits. So it was nothing unusual to hear influences ranging from bands like The Mars Volta on one end to bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Jamiroquai on the other, except it all sounded considerably heavier. Still, it came with the obligatory fat funky bass and instrumental excursions that stretched out into improvised jam sessions. Fitting the music, the stage was ruled by a relaxed, positive energy, and the only thing that soured Mother’s Cake a bit was the rather annoying vocals of Yves Krismer.
Bobby Liebling can probably thank his friend Sean “Pellet” Pelletier and Don Argott, the director of the excellent documentary Last Days Here, for the fact that he’s still among the living at all. The film showed Liebling living in his parents’ basement, nearly a walking corpse from relentless drug abuse. As such, even though he was always the mastermind of Pentagram, Liebling was also the main culprit behind the band’s total failure, which was practically a contemporary of Black Sabbath. Luckily, the film turned out to be cathartic, and a few years ago Bobby returned to the stage with Pentagram and recorded another very good “comeback” record, Curious Volume. At Mostovna, Pentagram once again showed how real doom metal should sound, led by a thoroughly burned-out frontman. Bobby did his thing a lot more mumbly this time than at Metaldays, but he’s still an unmistakable icon just by showing up, and the somewhat weaker vocal performance quickly faded into oblivion next to the band’s superb instrumental side: crushing thanks to the top-notch rhythm section, and diabolical and ominous thanks to the outstanding Griffin, who is the very definition of a doom riff. In an hour and a half, Pentagram reminded us that Curious Volume is one of the better entries in their long career, and cast their spell once again with immortal classics like Sign of the Wolf, Forever My Queen, When the Screams Come, Relentless and the closing 20 Buck Spin. The sad thing with Bobby is that nobody knows how much longer he’ll be shambling around stages in anything resembling “good health”, so Pentagram are a band every fan of the genre has to see live at least once in their life.
author: Rok Klemše
photos: Nina Grad
PENTAGRAM:
1. Too Late
2. All Your Sins
3. Close the Casket
4. Sign of the Wolf
5. Sinister
6. Forever My Queen
7. The Tempter Push
8. When the Screams Come
9. Dead Bury Dead
10. Curious Volume
11. Dying World
12. Devil’s Playground
13. Relentless
14. Broken Vows
—encore—
15. Last Days Here
16. Be Forewarned
17. 20 Buck Spin
