Author: Rok Klemše, Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Orto bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 25.09.2014
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry!)
This year’s season of Kadilnica of Death was kicked off by the vampirized rock ‘n’ roll troublemakers from Medvode, Street Creeps. The quartet – N.J.C. (vocals), Jamnik (guitar), Štuhec (bass), Križaj (drums) – has been hitting stages since around 2011, and RockLine first caught the band on stage at the latest edition of the famous Komen festival Metal Mania Open Air – RockLine report HERE! A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since that still »wet-behind-the-ears« gig on a fresh summer August afternoon, and over the past two years the guys have racked up plenty of experience and know-how, and with it leveled up their stage confidence. They proved it at the Orto bar show! It’s most obvious in frontman Nejc’s far more confident and upgraded vocal approach, as well as in the livelier movement of the other three, who tamed and took command of the small stage in no time. Sadly, the band didn’t get the best sound, so throughout the Street Creeps set the crowd was subjected to an indistinct roar, caused mostly by overly cranked bass. However you slice it, the set by a band building on original material was another step toward realizing its musical vision. Street Creeps are definitely a different beast from what usually comes to mind with »Slovenes and rock«. Street Creeps are vampirized, cranked-up, loud rock ‘n’ roll troublemakers who learned from bands like Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe, armed with the flinty arrogance of a punk rock veil, and judging by the makeup and theatrics, we can say the band’s charisma carries some real »sleaze« weight too! The band came across as tight, well-oiled and, as said, confident! In line with their progress. Unfortunately the sound wasn’t the best, which took a bit of the fun out of the set, but all in all: bold and credible! Let’s hope the guys get their studio debut together as soon as possible. And let’s wish them lots of luck!
The other act, Maribor’s Battle X, are also only just building up their live mileage, and a debut is slowly in the works, but they still lifted Thursday night up quite a few notches. Maribor has been plagued over the past few years not only by the crisis of vampirized capitalism but, at least as far as metal goes, by a crisis of musical creativity too. Maybe Battle X are precisely the saviors from the silence of the Styrian capital, because a real storm of (creative) energy erupts out of them. That Thursday the guys managed to dial in probably the best sound of the night, with guitars burning like Maribor’s radars and a rhythm section crushing like granite cobblestones. Although Battle X’s sound is built primarily on thrash metal, they manage to achieve more variety and dynamics in the music by reaching into several genres. Word is that one of the band’s biggest inspirations is old-school Metallica, but the guitar dynamics reminiscent of the thrash forefathers get extra modern influences à la Machine Head, the groove of Pantera and the rock ‘n’ roll gusto of Motörhead. In original songs like Break Your Bones and Circus of Trust, Battle X show excellent command of their instruments; the interesting solos, crunchy riffing and punchy drumming impress above all, and when it comes to tightness, the whole thing is of really high quality. The vocals lag a bit behind the instrumental side, with plenty of room left to grow and improve, but the cherry on top, and the absolute surprise of the night, was an outstanding rendition of Črnine dobrog drugara.
After a hundred years, the veterans… well, the veteran of the home metal scene, Nicky, and his God Scard also returned to the Orto stage. They showed up in a new lineup, as Nicky was recently joined by Bojan Sinkovič (guitar; ex-Root ‘a Balluta, ex-Almost Rage), Samo Mrak (drums; ex-Entreat) and Miha »Obleey« Oblišar (bass; ex-too-many-to-count, heh). The new trio breathed fresh energy into Nicky and the band, since you can see from a mile away that they’re hungry (and even thirstier) for stages. Almost ten years have passed since the debut … and We Could Have It All… and the video for To Have It All, which we even saw on national TV, and God Scard are obviously finally closing in on a second record. Most of the set was therefore new songs, a logical continuation of the hybrid metal we know from God Scard, only even more brutal and catchy at the same time, somewhere in Machine Head territory. God Scard, the old bastards, thundered through a punchy set that was convincing, but after a while started to repeat itself a little, as the songs suffer from a bit too much similarity to each other. But any monotony was once again smashed by Nicky and his unfailing banter; this time he scored mostly with the line that the next song is about how he cried during Terminator. God Scard, so we’re waiting for the record!
Kadilnica of Death has thus stepped into the new season, and although this opening didn’t draw quite the crowd the premiere did, Thursday nights are becoming »a must«. Next up is a gig on 23.10., when Morost will present their debut Solace In Solitude!
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