This was probably one of the last shows — if not the last — before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared and the state of emergency that followed, two weeks ago at Orto bar. As if the crowd could sense that life was about to change dramatically and retreat behind four walls, a solid turnout showed up for what looked like an incompatible mashup of grind, black metal, synthwave, and the eighties — and live, it worked brilliantly!
First up was the duo Otrok osemdesetih, who locked the crowd in a time machine and hauled them back to the eighties, when life was simpler and childhood more innocent. Tine »Toxsick« Lukač and Matic Jeraj (ex-Eruption) wrap their music in the sound of eighties synthesizers, combining — as they put it themselves — Jeraj’s guitar string-twanging with Lukač’s spinning mouth. While Matic handles a colorful mix of guitar riffing that ranges from thrash-adjacent to full-on Whitesnake eighties solos, Lukač raps all the nostalgic lyrics — something that worked surprisingly well live and quickly pulled a good number of people to the front. Sure, Toxsick’s rapping did start to drag a little toward the end, his deep and fairly monotone Styrian-accented voice getting a bit repetitive, but the duo deserves massive props for originality and innovation, and major kudos for what is hands down one of the best sets of lyrics in the local scene: the title track from Otrok osemdesetih’s debut, which attendees — ourselves included — could even grab completely free of charge.
After a lengthy absence, the flag-bearers of homegrown grind — Ljubljana’s Glista — made their return to the live stage. The guys put out their debut Death Machinery in November 2018, with Ivan »Tegla« Cepanec lending a hand on drums both in the studio and live. His last show with the band was at Metaldays last year, leaving Glista with the tough task of finding someone to fill his shoes — so they stepped back from gigging for a while. Well, Glista has since found a new link in the chain (read: drummer) and came back to the stage in style. The long time away showed just a tiny bit, but they still delivered a proper grind assault, wowed everyone with their biggest hit Disko djevojka, and unveiled two new tracks that absolutely slapped. And the new Glista girl behind the drum kit showed what she’s made of, pounding the skins mercilessly like Animal from the Muppets.
A complete genre flip came with the next act, synthwave duo Neuromancer — who obviously borrowed their name from William Gibson’s cult cyberpunk novel. Their set shot Orto straight into the sci-fi heart of films like Tron, something the Kranj duo pulled off with their whole visual package, blue and purple lighting included. Neuromancer is one of the genuinely rare retro synthwave acts on our turf, a genre that has picked up serious traction in recent years thanks to the likes of Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, and Lazerhawk — and the Kranj pair holds their own against any of them. Neuromancer manages to conjure a fantastic atmosphere with infectious melodies and the odd live guitar part thrown in, painting sounds that call to mind the masters of the original genre, John Carpenter and Jean Michel Jarre.
The evening wrapped up with yet another complete genre reversal, as Idrija’s hooded black metal crew Valuk took the stage. The cover of their debut Kri gotove smrti — depicting a doctor in a plague bird mask — had taken on an unsettlingly timely quality given everything going on around us, with Valuk on stage feeling like loud witnesses to history and heralds of an uncertain, ominous future. The Idrija lads played most of the debut and (if I’m not mistaken) debuted some new material too, showed themselves in an excellent light, and proved once again that Slovenian works beautifully in black metal.
With the pandemic and the fallout it’ll bring, the future isn’t exactly bright for organizers and bands alike. So once things calm down, support Dirty Skunks and other promoters, bands, and metal in general however you can!
Photos: Nina Grad
