Avtor: Rok Klemše
Izvajalec: Gonoba
Izid: 2007
A blasphemous quote from M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, “I am not wasting one more minute of my life on prayer! Not one more minute! Understood?”, takes us into half an hour of sinfully good thrash/death metal. It’s not even a full year since their first demo, and the camel caravan from Kamnik, Domžale and Rogaška Slatina known as Gonoba is already treating us to a fresh dose of gate-crashing metal. With the new demo Human: Error, the guys have outdone themselves yet again!
Human: Error surprises you at first glance with a great cover (with the obligatory camel on it, of course), drawn in the pencil strokes of the talented artist Psycho, who managed to capture the essence of Gonoba’s metal incredibly well. The music on this demo hits you roughly the way you’d feel standing in the middle of Hiroshima in 1945, or planted right at the epicenter of a devastating earthquake. Human: Error is a wild ride all the way to the end!
Gonoba mercilessly step on the gas with the opening track Human: Error, and they don’t let up until the end of this half-hour thrash/death massacre. Sadly, those 28 minutes fly by way too fast, because the demo serves up complexly structured songs that are also damn dynamic and written so well that they’re over faster than Chuck Norris wins a fight… with one roundhouse kick. With Human: Error the Gonoba lads have climbed a few more steps up the ladder, since the demo offers some of the best, highest-quality metal we’ve had the honor of hearing in this little valley of ours. The guys know full well how important progress is, and compared to the first demo, Human: Error is a real lesson in how to level up.
Instrumentally, the guys are killing it. The guitar duo of Mitja Prelovšek and Matjaž Jurjevec is getting more and more venomous, tighter, sharper, and on top of that the two are turning into real riff masters, shining in some excellent “Maiden”-style harmonies in thirds too. But Gonoba is a big whole instrumentally, and that includes one of the best rhythm sections in metal around here. Rok pounds his drum kit like there’s a bet riding on it, with a colorful palette that includes everything from galloping double bass to killer fills and cymbals that spice up the whole thing. And in bass master Brane hides the real driving force of the band. It’s beautiful to hear a bass pushed forward in the mix, pulling off lines that make your jaw drop. Last but not least, there’s the resident screamer Matic, who has shown the biggest improvement since the first demo. The guy growls and screams like there’s a bet riding on it, and the combination of high screams and deep growls wraps everything up in a dynamic, appealing whole. He could still work a bit on his pronunciation, but Matic gets better with every passing moment.
Gonoba have also made huge strides in songwriting, with the standout being the eight-minute masterpiece The Black Side of Life, which boasts a phenomenal instrumental section where the guitars trade duels and harmonies in thirds while the bass lays down a fantastic foundation. An instrumental part that even Iron Maiden wouldn’t be ashamed of! The songs are so varied and lively that they stick in your memory without any effort, and the excellent, catchy choruses in Human: Error and Lust surely help with that. The guys also know how to slow the ball down and leave you time to catch your breath, with a calm intro to Victim of Myself that quickly explodes into yet another thrash treat. And there’s still a new, improved version of the band’s anthem, Gonoba 2007, where the out-of-this-world bass lines steal the moment. As per tradition, the demo ends with a goof-off, and this time Gonoba pay tribute to the greatest of the greats, Chuck Borris.
Gonoba are right now one of the most promising metal bands around, and the new demo shows off their quality. Dynamic, death-metal-tinged thrash metal packed with raw energy won’t leave a single fan of heavier sounds cold, and I just hope my ears, hungry for metal this good, will hear a studio album as soon as possible. Chuck Borris says: “Listen to Gonoba!”
The Human: Error demo is available for “downlowd” on the band’s official site: http://www.gonobatheband.com
Line-up
Matic Babič – vocals
Branimir Tkalec – bass guitar
Mitja Prelovšek – guitar
Matjaž Jurjevec – guitar
Rok Capuder – drums
Production
Gonoba
Track list
1. Human: Error
2. The Black Side of Life
3. Lust
4. Victim of Myself
5. Gonoba
6. Chuck Borris
