The time when Gonoba were at their peak was a time of innocence: the legendary Metal Mania nights in Komen, Jordan’s “braveheart” moment, pasta in the urinals at Tribute to Miki gigs, and other shenanigans like that. It was also a time when Gonoba were one of the pillars of the local metal scene, which the guys confirmed with the albums Chains of Ignorance and Endless Cycles, both of which still count as some of the best stuff the home-grown metal scene has ever produced. Their absence was keenly felt, which made the announcement of a 15th anniversary show that much sweeter.
Saddling up the camels for the evening’s main act were Licence to Hate from Postojna, who have been around since 2010 and dropped their debut studio album Immune to This Brutality last fall. The guys delivered a solid warm-up: their take on death/thrash metal, with a distinctly melodic edge, slid into the ears of the crowd quickly and easily, and that crowd was slowly but steadily trickling into the upstairs hall of Orto. Licence to Hate still live a bit in the shadow of fellow townsmen like Vigilance or Morbid Creation, but judging by what we heard, that won’t last long. In a good half hour, Licence to Hate laid out their vision of technical death metal, ruled mostly by fast guitar riffs, blast beat drums and a confidently growling vocal. They did more than well, though they still need a bit more stage mileage, which shows mainly in the awkward pauses between songs that kill the momentum a little.
An even more complex and technically demanding story was then recited by the technical death metallers Paragoria from Rijeka, who came back to the live stages last year after a pretty long break and, luckily, are sticking with it. Paragoria have been working with a new drummer for a while now, Bojan Bebr-Vovk (ex-Thraw), who has settled into the band nicely, and with his contribution the band actually sounds even more destructive. Paragoria sank their teeth into a three-quarter-hour set without mercy, made up of killers from Decompostion of Mind and promising new songs, and once again had no trouble whipping up a proper hurricane of technical death metal inspired by bands like Death and Gojira. Too bad about the technical trouble, namely a broken bass string for Jernej Štorgelj near the end, so he had to finish the rest of his set on nothing but his vocal cords, but never mind, Paragoria once again lived up to the high standard we expect from them every time.
The news that Gonoba would rise from the camels’ graveyard for a show marking their 15th anniversary was one of the loveliest and least expected surprises on the home turf in the last few years. When Gonoba first bid farewell to the stage around 2011, we shed camel tears, but after a good year away the guys made the Slovenian metal scene happy with their second album Endless Cycles, only to say goodbye again, relatively quickly, sadly. After such a long absence, there was some skepticism mixed in with the joy, but Gonoba killed every last doubt with the very first few notes, proving that the time away hadn’t left a single mark on them. They sounded devilishly good, just like in the best of times! An even bigger touch of specialness and celebration was added by the fact that original guitarist Matjaž Jurjevec joined his old buddies, and together with Hopsy, Koki, Mičo, Brane and Grega he tore through a top-notch set of dynamic, infectious heavy/death/thrash metal that made the heart race. How badly Gonoba had been missed was all the more obvious as the guys, perfectly in sync, showed off in the best possible light the unforgettable Procreation, Human Error, The Black Side of Life, Victim of Myself, Endless Cycles and even the ancient Avalanche from the first demo! Gonoba proved once again that their metal, full of gorgeous guitar work, the best-sounding bass lines on the Slovenian metal scene, earthshaking drums and raw vocals, is like a parasite that burrows deep into your brain and never leaves. The jam-packed hall at Orto spoke for itself about how much Gonoba had been missed and what a strong mark they left on the local metal scene. And as Hopsy nicely put it: if halls had been this full a few years ago, the way Orto was this time, they would never have stopped. So, if this wasn’t really Gonoba’s last show (and I really hope it wasn’t), then at their next gig, go wild like a stampede of rabid camels!
Photos: Nina Grad
