Hypocrisy / Vomitory / Vreid / (Abbath did not perform)
Friday, 17 April 2026
Ljubljana / Cvetličarna / Slovenia
Hypocrisy, the Swedish death metal legends, set out in early April this year on a new European tour they dubbed the “Mass Hallucination Tour”. The band has been driven since its founding in 1991 by one of the most important figures in the world’s extreme metal scene — vocalist, guitarist, and all-around engine of the group, Peter Tägtgren. In recent years the man has been focusing on his other band Pain, which has become more commercially lucrative on a global scale, but still. Roots are roots. And not just Peter — the masses of devotees in the brutal heavy metal sphere know perfectly well where this revered musician and producer came from, and where his first love lies: Hypocrisy.
To make the tour as enticing as possible, Hypocrisy invited three acts that are, to put it mildly, more than exciting. Norwegian black ‘n’ roll masters Vreid, who have been hosted by the Slovenian club and festival scene multiple times since the band’s founding in 2003 — though eleven years had passed since their last show in Slovenia — followed by the cult Swedish death metal brutes Vomitory, who have rarely played here, and then the act meant to reel in an extra quota of curious onlookers: Norway’s Abbath, fronted by former Immortal member Olve Eikemo, whose real name also gave the band its name. Hjamm… Abbath’s somersault at Metaldays on 26 July 2017 remains the stuff of legend. The only thing that even comes close might be Jelinčič’s on television back in 2022. In short — an absolutely savage package of ungodly debauchery, and it landed in Ljubljana as part of its concert odyssey!
And the venue was packed to the rafters. Cvetličarna was bursting at the seams. Even when Vreid stormed the stage at 6:40 PM — for many the highlight of the whole evening, as they cultivate a completely distinctive sound that draws listeners with a very specific taste — you could already feel that Cvetličarna was about to become the devil’s own living room. Vreid didn’t have much time. Just over half an hour. So they didn’t talk much; they just played with gusto. The quartet brought their latest studio album “The Skies Turn Black” to Ljubljana, and after a brief intro, they launched straight into it with the single Kraken, followed somewhere in the middle by the title single, and near the end by another new track — From These Woods. The quartet is in great shape; since 2010 they’ve been running the same unchanged lineup, with no fewer than three original members, and there’s nothing hidden between them. That ‘Motörhead-ized, rhythmically punishing drive’ beneath an ice-cold black metal rhetoric grabbed you by the throat. In a short time the band built a uniquely hypnotic atmosphere and wowed the crowd with their tight cohesion. For a proper deep cut they dug into Pitch Black from the second album “Pitch Black Brigade” (2006) already in the first part of the set, while the rest of the setlist was filled out by Into the Mountains (album “Wild North West”, 2021) and the closing title track from “Lifehunger” (2018). A shame there wasn’t time for more.
Vomitory, veterans of Swedish old-school death metal, took the stage after Vreid. The band, founded back in the eighties, had just released their new studio album “In Death Throes” during this very tour. By the time they arrived in Ljubljana, the new album had clocked exactly one week of age. Vomitory are a quartet in which the brothers — drummer Urban and guitarist Tobias Gustafsson — are the surviving original members, rounded out by bassist and vocalist Erik Rundqvist, who has been with the crew since the second album “Redemption”, and newcomer Christian Fredriksson, who took on lead guitar duties in 2025. On this showing, Vomitory proved they remain a limitless old-school death metal machine of relentless brutal destruction, one that keeps a firm grip on mountains of riffs and rules alike. They are a spewing meat grinder. The quartet’s performance format stays unyieldingly sharpened, razor-edged, and merciless. The band opened with an older career cut, the title track from “Revelation Nausea”, wheeled out two tracks from the newest album “In Death Throes” (For Gore And Country and Wrath Unbound), and wreaked havoc with their half-step, low-tuned avalanche riff cannonade through a string of old-school death metal carnage: Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize, Rage Of Honour, All Heads Are Gona Roll (taken from the previous self-titled album), Regorge In The Morgue, and the closing Chaos Fury. The crowd joined the band in neck-snapping ecstasy. The dose of Satanic, mountain-grade destruction was nothing short of dreamy.
Abbath were supposed to hit the stage at 8:20 PM. Half past eight came and went. Still no sign of Abbath. The grumpier veterans among the extreme metal faithful had already started grumbling: “That Immortal poser is pulling a diva act again.” But then, suddenly, it’s 8:40 PM, the members of Abbath’s band appear on stage with their heads hung between their shoulders, and they tell the crowd that tonight’s show is cancelled because the boss has been rushed to the emergency room. What exactly happened still isn’t clear, but Abbath played normally the very next day in Geiselwind, Germany. Most likely the man had looked a few too many times into the bottom of a glass and keeled over. The main thing is that by the time these lines are being written, Abbath is doing fine. That something was off had already been hinted at by the stage itself, which had ‘grown spacious’ — meaning it was waiting for the headliner — and the Hypocrisy guitar picks stuck in Tägtgren’s microphone stand were another dead giveaway. So, Abbath in Ljubljana? Well, maybe next time.
So Hypocrisy hit the stage ten minutes before nine in the evening. The front rows were boiling over. Entire legions of young women and men, packed in tight — let’s just say sharp-dressed. Primed and ready! When the quartet locked into position, the crowd’s reaction was nothing short of tribal. Right after the opening number They Will Arrive, Tägtgren threw his arms up high and bellowed: “Ljubljanaaa!!!”, pulling even more adrenaline out of the venue. Backdrop visuals tied to released music videos and album imagery, thick fog absolutely everywhere, a flood of red light in the back that kept crossing paths with green and white. Not a smile in sight. Pure carnage! The double bass drum torpedo fire, combined with a rasping devastation of phrasing and raw, punishing bass lines, hit Cvetličarna like the whole venue was being swallowed by tongues of flame. Tägtgren’s growl holds up well. Even toward the end of the show he was still holding strong. Maybe at moments his level was set a touch too low in the mix, and some of the solos here and there came up a little short in the sound.
Either way, the band delivered a setlist that represented a proper career cross-section, and for the first time on this tour played the ancient Left To Rot from the debut studio album “Penetralia” (1992). The fourth album Abducted (1996) also stepped into the spotlight, with Carved Up, Killing Art, and the closing Roswell 47, along with other album classics! “Into The Abyss” got two demolishing classics — Fire In The Sky early on (right after which the band poured fuel on the fire with the classic Inferior Devoties from the second album “Osculum Obscenum”), and Deathrow (No Regrets) in the second half of the show. When the band cut into the “The Final Chapter” track Adjusting The Sun, followed by the ferocious “Hypocrisy” shrapnel of Fractured Millenium, it was clear we were approaching the boiling point of the night. The “Virus” album didn’t get overlooked either, near the finale with Warpath, and the band wrapped Cvetličarna in final annihilation with the classic The Final Chapter, followed by the aforementioned Abducted sweetener Rosewell 47.
In short, the band delivered exactly what the crowd came for. A great setlist, tight execution, a focused and meticulous performance, with Tägtgren and crew giving necks a proper workout — and the front rows in particular looked like nothing short of a full-blown war zone. An hour and twenty minutes. Done. A shot and a projectile of a primal dose of Swedish-school death metal, backed by a truly excellent turnout, hellish energy, and beautiful chemistry between crowd and band.
Author: Edita Klemen & Aleš Podbrežnik
Photography: Aleš Podbrežnik
Hypocrisy – setlist:
1. They Will Arrive
2. Fire in the Sky
3. Inferior Devoties
4. Chemical Whore
5. Left to Rot
6. Carved Up
7. Children of the Gray
8. End of Disclosure
9. Killing Art
10. Eraser
11. Deathrow (No Regrets)
12. Adjusting the Sun
13. Fractured Millennium
14. Warpath
15. The Final Chapter
16. Roswell 47
