Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Gala hala,Metelkova, Ljubljana
Concert date: 02.03.2013
Attendance: 300
“Judgment of the Goats at Gala hala” would’ve been a fitting title for Saturday’s gig at Metelkova, because German (goat) death/grinders Milking the Goatmachine, old friends from Metalcamp, played Slovenia for the first time as part of a club tour. Two local death metal acts, Vasectomy from Prekmurje and Mephistophelian from Bela Krajina, made sure things stayed interesting.
Surprisingly, the opening act, the death metal butchers Vasectomy from Prekmurje, were greeted by a nice crowd in front of the stage, and over the course of their set it became clear these were obviously their loyal fans and supporters. If the band keeps up this kind of work, those numbers could grow fast and exponentially. The Murska Sobota four-piece, minus a skipper bassist, won us over with what is basically simple death metal that, despite the lack of deeper bass lines, has enough groove to keep it from getting dry. Credit for that goes mostly to the brutal vocal assault from Patrik Ritlop and some nicely varied, dynamic guitar parts. So the missing bass doesn’t stand out as much as it otherwise could. On top of that, Vasectomy stand out first and foremost for their great, strong communication with the crowd, an energetic show, and Patrik’s off-the-wall humor. That came through best in their »tribute« to the headliner. Vasectomy didn’t drink beer on stage, but alpine milk. From a carton. Through a straw. Despite their youth and the touring mileage the guys are only just starting to rack up, there wasn’t a trace of inexperience. Vasectomy come across on stage as convincing as old death metal farts.
That goes even more for the Bela Krajina monster Mephistophelian, who in just under two years have risen to become probably the best local death metal band. A band that plays death metal the way it’s meant to be played! No sugarcoating, no »bullshit«, just technically top-notch playing, brutal vocals without any pussy »clean« parts, and the energy and power of a hydrogen bomb explosion. Mephistophelian’s brutal, technical death metal is so good and so convincing that it can – without exaggeration – be compared to big names like Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse. Fat riffs, a massive wall of sound, phenomenal bass lines that follow even the fastest guitar riffs without shame and with ease, devastating drums and murderous growling; no, Mephistophelian are not for the faint of heart. After a good hour, this fantastic death metal leaves you lying in a puddle of your own blood, gasping for one last breath. In two years of existence the band has turned into an entity worthy of respect, taking the stage with all the force of a merciless death metal attack. The guitar duo toss riffs back and forth like it’s nothing, the bass works like the tissue binding everything together into one body, and the energetic, convincing vocals breathe life into the beast. Mephistophelian aren’t resting on their laurels either, because they unveiled a new, still untitled, track that shows the band in an even more complex, more technical light, and you can’t describe them any better than with the words of the devilish Otis from The Devil’s Rejects: »I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil’s work.« We can’t wait to get the devil’s work on a first record too!
The big headliners, third on the bill, were the German goats, grind/death metal outfit Milking the Goatmachine, who are no strangers to our stages, having already played two Metalcamps. This time the wolf drove the little goats to us for the first time on a club tour, and the band packed Gala hala nicely. Milking the Goatmachine, hidden behind goat masks of course, rattled off a good number of death/grind songs in about an hour, dedicated to, yep, you guessed it, goats. Their take on a potent mix of death metal and grindcore sounds energetic and punchy live, but at the same time it’s as generic and tasteless as a cold little goat. What exactly is so interesting about this band that even the kids in front of the stage are decked out in goat masks is not entirely clear to me, but I’m sure only the most hardcore fans of the genre would have sniffed them out if the band didn’t try so hard to stand out with their goat concept. Apparently Milking the Goatmachine are, for a younger crowd, an extremer version of the equally baffling popularity of Sabaton, and their many puns aren’t particularly original or funny either, like the closing cover of the Sacred Reich classic – Surf Goataragua. Personally, I wouldn’t mind at all if the wolf got these little goats under the baking lid.
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