Author: Rok Klemše
Venue: Channel Zero / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 14.11.2007
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: 5,00€
Last week, on Thursday, November 15th, Channel Zero, the club in Ljubljana’s urban alt-quarter Metelkova, opened its doors to all lovers of the hard stuff (metal, what else?), because the legendary Slovenian metal outfit Interceptor from Žalec stopped in the capital for the first time since their reunion. Their II. Fuck Off Commercial Tour is slowly nearing its spectacular finale, which goes down on Friday, November 30th at Štuk in Maribor (where Marjan Padr, the mastermind himself, will also be giving away his cult Dean guitar!). But before that, Interceptor ran us poor saps over with three lovable acts: folk fiddlers Gonoba, horn-blowers Eruption and hit-makers Sabaium. Eeee… anyway…
The honor (or not) of opening this time went to Gonoba, rising stars of the local death/thrash scene, whose show was in question at first because of their sick drummer Rok “Koki” Capudr. But the fungus of evil exploded anyway, and the guys tore into an already nicely packed Channel Zero with half an hour of sonic waves of insanely good thrash metal mixed with Swedish-school melody and brutalized by the perversely brutal growling of resident screamer Hopsi (no need to mention again that he’s pretty and tall, right?). The punchy, energetic set was over way too soon thanks to Gonoba’s damn fierce dynamics and melodics, but the guys lit things up nicely with the opener Human: Error and Lust (mmmm… demonophilia, oh yeah), introduced a new killer track with another great bass workout from Brane, and on top of that finished us off with an avalanche from their first demo, Avalanche. But the fantastic guitar duo of Mitja and Matjaž, the crushing rhythm section of Rok and Brane, and the growler Hopsi hadn’t had enough (and neither had the crowd), so at the peak they bid farewell in misanthropic style with the Death classic Misanthrope. Gonoba prove again and again that they’re one of the best metal bands in the country right now. The guitar wizardry is breathtaking, Brane’s bass even more so, and Hopsi’s trademark confusion on stage is still endearing. Go say a prayer to Kamela!
There wasn’t much time for a beer break, since the young thrash champs Eruption were already setting up on stage. They knocked my socks off for the first time at this year’s Metal Mania, and I expected nothing less at Channel Zero. The “old-school” thrash assault was executed perfectly and precisely, a straight shot right between the eyes. The tight, coherent crew is built around an excellent guitar duo, Tim and Matic, who fire off typical but fantastic thrash solos and interesting riffs that make every thrash ear prick up, a hard-hitting rhythm section of Juš on bass and Borut on drums, and over it all watches the hellish vocal of the one and only Bucot. The guy can do everything: high falsetto screams, proper mid-range thrash vocals and crazed shrieks in the style of Paul Baloff, and I can say without a doubt that he’s currently one of the best frontmen on our stages. If he doesn’t kill you with the Ninja Turtle cap, your belly will burst at Bucot’s sexy dancing, which only lacked a pole on stage. In true thrash frontman fashion, a mosh pit opened up in front of him in an instant, at whatever size Channel Zero allows. Eruption built a gourmet thrash cake out of four layers from their first demo, Prayers Betrayers, Democracy, Monumental Mind and Sands of Time, drowned it in an instant-thrash-classic glaze in the form of the new track Electrified, and topped it off with a cherry – “if you don’t know it, you’re fucked-up posers” by Buco – BONDED BY BLOOD, the eternal thrash classic by the giants Exodus. They say the dead turn in their graves out of displeasure, and Paul Baloff (RIP) must have been headbanging like crazy. And let anyone dare say thrash is dead.
Mandatory beer break while Interceptor’s permanent touring companions, Sabaium from Žalec, set up on stage. Sabaium have been proving throughout the whole tour that they’re an excellent live band, and Channel Zero was no different. Whether you like Sabaium’s music or not, you have to admit that when they step on stage they’re like a fish in water. Their particular brand of death metal definitely doesn’t go down easy for every ear, but the Sabaium crew did the job with distinction. Special praise goes to the vocal trading of guitar duo David Kupčič and Jure Vandur and to bassist Aleš Šket’s total devotion to the stage. Sabaium are always a pleasant warm-up before Interceptor, but this time, at least to my ears, they had the toughest job thanks to two excellent acts before them.
And then the roar of an engine, fifth gear, and Channel Zero was already mauled by the legendary Interceptor from the cult film Mad Max, with the still faithfully insane Mel Gibson in the lead role. When the Slovenian metal “dream team” stepped on stage, the crowd lost it, and the main players of the reborn Interceptor were having the time of their lives up there. Seeing Interceptor come across as a brand-new band full of youngsters, with unbelievable energy radiating off them, is just beautiful. Mastermind Marco Padr and the legendary master of disaster managed to gather an excellent crew of proven names around them: the extraordinary Simon Cukjati on guitar, blaster Davorin Štorgelj (Kaoz) on drums, and the incredible bassist Dragan Bagarič with his six-string beauty. The reborn Interceptor breathe with full lungs and tore through a good hour like it was a joke. Right now smaller stages suit them even better, since in my opinion at least they came across much better than on the bigger stage of Bazen in Kranj, but I have no doubt that with the will and drive they’ve got in spades, they’ll conquer bigger stages too. The setlist: once again packed with Slovenian metal classics, from Blame, Fade, Blato, Mors Victrix and Puške namesto kruha to the closing killer, Zadnja Žrtev by the legendary Epidemic Zone. On top of all that, a highly promising new track, Homo Stupidus, and a superbly played Sepultura classic, Inner Self. Interceptor are back, stronger than ever before! “I am the Interceptor. I’m a fuel injected suicide machine. I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!”
Setlist
INTERCEPTOR: 1. Intro 2. Blame 3. Fade 4. Blato 5. Homo Stupidus 6. Inner Self 7. Revive 8. Mors Victrix 9. Pedofil 10. Got the Time 11. Puške namesto kruha 12. Mora 13. Paparazzo 14. Zadnja Žrtev
Photo Gallery
