Author: Primož Novak
Location: Gala Hala / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: January 30, 2014
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: 22/25 €
Kataklysm are old friends on Slovenian stages by now. They’ve played Slovenia more than ten times, and their popularity hasn’t dipped one bit. If anything, the younger generations have made them even more popular. So popular, in fact, that this show sold out, which meant around 150 more people than last time, when they played Gala Hala at Metelkova in 2011. But the brutal Brazilians Krisiun and Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse helped pull in the crowd, too.
To many people’s surprise, the hall filled up already for the first act, Fleshgod Apocalypse. The band, who were presenting last year’s album Labyrinth, looked on stage like classical musicians in some kind of zombie version. As a result, the music, which was full of classical elements, came across as seriously brutal. Fleshgod Apocalypse wanted to squeeze as much pomp as possible onto the small stage, the kind you’d expect from a proper symphony orchestra. Besides the look, the keyboardist got a lot of attention, playing on stage through a big wooden piano that actually had just an ordinary electric keyboard built into it, but it definitely felt more authentic. The backing vocalist added to that, throwing in some soprano here and there. Fleshgod Apocalypse came across as pretty original in their own way, since orchestration in brutal death metal hadn’t really been done before. But go overboard and you end up with kitsch, which showed in certain songs where the band tried to sound too epic. And some of the arrangements felt like they made no sense at all at times. Still, you have to admit that the crowd’s reaction was simply outstanding, as they followed the Italian extremists with wild headbanging through the whole set.
Next up was the brutal death metal trio from Brazil, Krisiun. Unlike the band before them, Krisiun delivered a more old-school take on extremity, with no orchestration or operatic vocals. Put simply, Krisiun ran on pure grit. The band’s tightness deserves praise, and the rhythm section in particular didn’t show any slip-ups. Drummer Max Kolesne got plenty of attention, of course, proving to be extremely fast and pretty precise, which he also showed off with a short drum solo. In his own way, Kolesne was a real attraction thanks to his speed, but in a more technically accomplished band he’d come off as rather monotonous, always falling back on the same rhythms. Krisiun also served up a cover of Venom’s Black Metal, which pushed the crowd to go even wilder. You could fault Krisiun for the lack of variety in their songs, since there was nothing even remotely slower or groovy to be heard. Still, the Brazilian trio was more than thrilled with the crowd, as the vocalist/bassist said »Thank you.« countless times.
After a half-hour break, old friends Kataklysm took the stage. They’ve been around for more than twenty years, but they only started getting really big after the album Shadows & Dust, which came out in 2002. In their early days Kataklysm were known for more brutal death metal that didn’t emphasize melody or groove. Today, though, that era doesn’t mean much for the band, since Kataklysm’s music now rests on catchier melodic hooks and simple, hardcore-flavored lyrics. With a repertoire that also included new material from the album Waiting For The End To Come, Kataklysm basically delivered their best-of, made up of some fast songs and those catchy melodic ones that also come with slower, more groovy passages.
The Canadian »hyperblasters« showed up in great form. The band was tight, Maurizio Iacono’s vocals are still powerful after all these years, the performance was energetic, and the sound was more than up to par. New drummer Oli Beaudoin definitely deserves praise, playing convincingly and with metronomic precision, and above all he’s nailed the gravity blast technique, which sounds like a machine gun. Iacono tied the set together nicely with his banter, which sounded a lot like hardcore-style shout-outs. The intros to Kill The Elite and Iron Will especially stood out. What was annoying was the pretty predictable song selection, since Kataklysm don’t surprise with anything older than the album Shadows and Dust. You could hear the staples like As I Slither, Push The Venom, At The Edge Of The World, Prevail, Crippled & Broken and of course In Shadown and Dust. Definitely a bit routine and maybe boring for anyone who’s seen the band several times already. Regardless, Kataklysm managed to throw a proper death metal party, which the very loud crowd met with wild moshing and constant stage diving. Despite their frequent visits, Kataklysm are still in demand, and this show confirmed that, thanks to their authenticity, the band belongs more on club stages than festival ones.
Gala Hala hasn’t seen a turnout like this for death metal in a long time. Sure, these are commercially well-known bands, but it still proves that death metal is alive and well today.
Photo Gallery
