Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Venue: Channel Zero, Ljubljana
Gig date: 09.05.2013
Last Thursday was once again all about a metal gig, except the most frequent stage of the past few months, Orto bar with its Kadilnica of Death, got swapped for Metelkova and Channel Zero. And for four bands playing under the banner of Covenant of the Undivine pt. 2.
The abyss opened for the first time at nine with the arrival of Karst locals Gorge of Cerberus, who were still known as Goatblood not so long ago. Despite the name change, these guys from the Karst remain firmly rooted in primal black metal and are as merciless as the ground they come from. In half an hour the four-piece played a solid set of raw, primitive black metal full of buzzsaw guitars and bass and nonstop blast beats. Nothing overly original or fresh, sure, but with the red lights and the harsh, snarling vocals, their malice still came across as convincing and unforced. Gorge of Cerberus put out their first demo, Morbid Nekro Possession, on the very night of the gig, and they played all four tracks from it.
Postojna speed/heavy metal maniacs Vigilance stood out musically this time, being slotted between three full-blooded black metal acts, yet they still melted »ideologically« with the other three into one hellish sludge. On their upcoming record Queen of the Midnight Fire, out in two days, Vigilance are walking hand in hand with the Devil across the plains of the occult. The guys have come a long way since the EP Steeds of Time and have fully settled into waters on the debut that clearly suit them damn well. Not only that, Vigilance are probably the local band that has made the biggest leaps in a relatively short time, both in writing original material and in live activity. The guys have totally made themselves at home on stage and put on a proper headbanging ritual of songs from the upcoming record and the EP. Despite the poor sound, vocalist Jakob was especially impressive, a true vocal beast who is at home in both high and mid registers, can sound more aggressive too, and handles the between-song banter with confidence. Vigilance were at their most convincing in the extended instrumental passages, where Gilian’s well-thought-out riffs and the deep, colorful rumble of Anže’s bass really came through. We can hardly wait for the »release party« on 18.5.2013 at MC Postojna.
At eleven, domestic black metal heavyweights Somrak took the stage and pushed »the witching hour« to eleven. The fact that they’re one of the most prominent and active black metal bands on our turf was already clear from the night’s biggest crowd, which followed the band and their gloomy ritual fairly actively. Anyone who has seen Somrak before knows exactly what to expect, and this time was no different. Somrak kicked off their musical massacre once again with an opening rite by singer J.D., who stayed the center of attention the whole way through. The almost overly theatrical frontman drank from a chalice again, scared people with grimaces and moves that recalled the possessed Regan from The Exorcist, and there was no shortage of tearing pages out of a book and spitting blood either. Somrak top their black mass live with excellent execution of the material, and this time the songs from the current record The Blackwinged Serpent Crowned led the way, while the guitarist and bassist, hair covering their faces, ritually walked their fingers up and down their instruments in the background. The good sound worked in the band’s favor, and you could even clearly hear the bass, whose lines faithfully follow the guitar anyway, but still. After a good hour of black mass, the time came for the last hymn, and darkness took Somrak shortly before midnight.
With the final act, Istrian band Ater Era, we stayed firmly in black metal waters, but with much more pronounced atmosphere, enriched here and there by almost psychedelic passages. The trio has been quite active live lately, as they’re preparing the release of their new studio album Beneath Inanimate Grime, out in just over a week. Ater Era already presented a good chunk of it this time, and in between they hit like a bora wind with songs from the debut. Ater Era are indeed rooted in old-school, primal black metal of the Darkthrone kind, but they enrich it with original ambient passages that reach into other genres too, at times doom metal, but above all atmospheric and psychedelic. It’s thanks to the latter that Ater Era come close to bands like Negura Bunget while sounding completely their own. The credit goes mostly to S.S.’s unique guitar wizardry, which tosses you in all directions with raging picking for a while, then suddenly puts a solid wall of hypnotic guitar lines in front of you that blows you away into the eye of a hurricane. This band has exceptional technical chops and a remarkable feel for songwriting, and it undoubtedly belongs at the very top of the domestic extreme metal scene. Not just the domestic one, either, Ater Era can easily reach for the very peaks of modern black metal bands! The band’s superb performance carried us from rainy Ljubljana straight into the unforgiving nature of the Istrian landscape, putting the cherry on top of Thursday’s pact of the godless!
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