Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Venue: Gala Hala, Ljubljana
Concert date: 06.12.2014
Last Saturday the dying year 2014 dished out one of its last death metal treats (in a few days comes Deicide, which is just the thing for the blessed December season, with Benton up front singing O Holy Night and the like). Veterans of technical death metal Dying Fetus were back on our stages, and they brought along fellow returnees, NOLA devil worshippers Goatwhore, hardcore crew Malevolence and prog/tech death metallers Fallujah. At long last the show here landed on a Saturday, which also lured out the homebodies who can’t be bothered with midweek gigs. The result was an almost jam-packed Gala Hala and a great vibe all night long.
American outfit Fallujah got the warm-up slot this time, a chance to retake the exam on their not-so-convincing Slovenian premiere (they first played here last June alongside Havok, Cephalic Carnage and Suffocation). The guys, who despite the name don’t wear turbans and don’t play thrash, even though they come from San Francisco, released the well-received The Flesh Prevails this past summer, an upgrade in every way on their debut The Harvest Wombs. They’ve clearly taken a step forward live too, with no trace left of shyness or a lack of confidence. Fallujah know they’ve got their instruments down cold, and that confidence shows in their performance. In barely half an hour they wrapped Gala Hala in a chaos of technically polished drumming, dissonant guitars and atmospheric keys, and the needless detours into deathcore are gone too, apart from a few rare breakdown moments, which with the hefty support of those atmospheric keys don’t even come off too goofy. Despite the lousy sound right at the start, when all you could hear was the drums (though it got fixed fast enough that you could even hear the bass!), Fallujah were an absolute upgrade on themselves from a year and a half ago, and the cherry on top of their stormy set was a phenomenal light show that gave it an otherworldly feel.
British hardcore crew Malevolence steered into totally different waters, with zero complications and no technical angle. The obvious switch in crowd proved they come from a completely different musical world. The longhairs and black shirts were replaced by jacked-up ninjas who knew every last line of the Brits by heart and immediately cleared space in front of the stage for their hardcore acrobatics. Malevolence play heavily metalized hardcore, mostly thanks to aggressive riffing and even the odd blastbeat, but it all quickly got a bit samey and boring. Still, the guys did their job with distinction: the frontman has plenty of energy and charisma, it’s just the guitarists who seem too static and the riffs too basic. The crowd, or rather a handful of keen beans, wasn’t bothered in the slightest though, and let off steam with hardcore dancing that I don’t understand. Not one bit. A spontaneous bonus anyway was a fan jumping on stage, ripping the mic out of the singer’s hands and screaming it out even better than he did.
NOLA veterans Goatwhore then pulled the by-now almost full Gala Hala back into more extreme metal waters, this time attacking Ljubljana out of the New Orleans swamps with their current record Constricting Rage of the Merciless. The generous goat-whore once again served up a serious alligator bite of punchy blackened death metal, and once again uncompromising and merciless. Like Satan sodomizing Saddam in South Park. From the Prince of Darkness himself, the whiskey-and-who-knows-what-soaked Goatwhore received the gift of simple but devilishly catchy, punchy riffs, fired off by Sammy Duet, simplistic punk drums that are still a crushing foundation, and the raw vocal assault of Ben Falgoust. Goatwhore didn’t talk much, they just spat out their apocalyptic vision of a world ruled by darkness. And damn, do they do it effectively. True, the lyrics sometimes sound like they were written by an angry grade-schooler doodling pentagrams and upside-down crosses in a notebook, but when Falgoust screams lines à la Fucked By Satana, all that’s left to do is wreck your neck muscles with a wide grin on your face. On top of the excellent, clean, just-loud-enough sound, towering Ben once again proved himself one of death metal’s more charismatic frontmen, stealing the show with probably the best air guitar performance for miles around. Satan.
The crown of thorns once again went to the unstoppable Dying Fetus, who’ve been touring the excellent album Reign Supreme for two and a half years now. Even though they’ve been regulars on our stages these past few years, they once again proved why you’re never bored in their company. The hellish death metal trio reconfirmed their status as giants of extreme metal by hauling a hurricane of technical riffs, wild arpeggio solos, inhuman drumming and beastly vocals from the duo John Gallagher and Sean Beasley into Gala Hala. Gallagher again said very little, but made up for the lack of chatter with surgically precise playing and animal growling. In barely an hour and a half Dying Fetus served up a kind of best-of set, with the mosh pits and stage dives set off mostly by killer »hits« à la Second Skin, From Womb To Waste, Subjected To A Beating and the eternal anthem Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog. Dying Fetus’ only weakness? The techs apparently forgot to plug in Beasley’s bass again. Sure, watching his fingers work out on the neck of the guitar looks astonishing, but what’s the point when all you can still hear is the occasional »lick« or two. Regardless, Dying Fetus still rule with authority.
Setlist
FALLUJAH:
1. Venom Upon the Blade
2. Ritual of Godflesh
3. Carved From Stone
4. Cerebral Hybridization
5. Sapphire
GOATWHORE:
1. Poisonous Existence In Reawakening
2. In Deathless Tradition
3. An End To Nothing
4. FBS
5. Cold Earth Consumed In Dying Flesh
6. Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult
7. Nocturnal Conjuration of the Accursed
8. Schadenfreude
9. Baring Teeth For Revolt
10. Apocalyptic Havoc
DYING FETUS:
1. In the Trenches
2. One Shot, One Kill
3. Intentional Manslaughter
4. Second Skin
5. From Womb to Waste
6. Shepherd’s Commandment
7. Raped on the Altar
8. Subjected To a Beating
9. Grotesque Impalement
10. Praise the Lord (Opium of the Masses)
11. Pissing in the Mainstream
12. Kill Your Mother, Rape Your Dog
13. Your Treachery Will Die With You
Photo gallery
