Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Venue: TrainStation SubArt, Kranj
Gig date: 15.04.2017
Mid-April doesn’t just bring the usual shitty weather and arteries clogged with Easter treats, it also brings something that gets welcomed with a lot more open arms. The traditional Metal Weekend at Trainstation Subart in Kranj! This time, on the »sober« first day, the brand-new black metallers Grob played their premiere show, along with Medvode heavy metallers Hangar 55*, metalcore crew Curse of Instinct and veterans Metalsteel, who are slowly working on a new record. We, on the other hand, visited Kranj on the second day of the metal weekend, which was painted a little more extreme.
Especially with the opening act, Ljubljana grinders Glista, who lured everyone into the hall with the EP Ribi ribice ribice and then, in just under half an hour, served up probably the best grind on our soil since Extreme Smoke 57. Glista are made up of seasoned dudes from Panikk (Gašper Flere on guitar) and Sober Assault (Rok Novak on bass), rounded out by animalistic vocalist Matija Majcen, guitarist Alojz Rop and the wild man behind the drums, Jure Bućan. In just under half an hour, the five-piece sawed through a pile of one-to-two-minute wrecking balls marked by polka rhythms, oom-pah drum insanity and excellent riffing that at times recalls Carcass from the Symphonies of Sickness era, which can only make your heart skip a beat. Matija is a grind vocalist of the true kind, since what came out of his throat was not little fishies but brutal growling and raw screaming, while between songs, with his endearing banter, he sounded less like a grind frontman and more like Boris Kopitar on a Sunday afternoon. The wild stage antics of the energetic Gašper livened things up nicely, so the excessive stiffness of the other two guitarists was a bit distracting, but never mind, because songs like Disco, Pesticide and Kafana/Izza žice crawled into your ear in no time, like, well, a worm.
The evening continued with slower, heavier death sludge from Gorenjska’s Brutart, who came back from the dead after years of silence with their just-released »comeback« record Wear My Skin. A good solid decade has passed since the well-received debut Mimic, but any lack of live form doesn’t show on the band at all. The goofing around we got during Glista was over, since Brutart swim in more serious waters, and their music is much darker and heavier too. Brutart gave us a good chunk of the new record, marked by punchy, massive riffs, superb double-vocal assaults from Blaž and Sebastijan, and the latter’s crushing, dynamic drumming. Because Brutart are quite a demanding listening experience, they tend to stand out live from a lineup of bands like this one, but this time that didn’t bother anyone, and the guys proved that the new album was more than worth the wait and that Wear My Skin is a must-listen.
The tempo was cranked up again by Grosuplje death/thrash force Sober Assault, who already have two EPs and a nice number of live miles behind them, which more than shows in their performance. With great sound and a great stage presence, the guys sawed out a serious death/thrash blast marked by a meat grinder of riffs, a thundering rhythm section and David’s supersonic, razor-precise soloing. It’s a bit distracting that instead of Enej, who’s the frontman, it’s bassist Rok who links the songs together and talks to the crowd, but luckily with Sober Assault it’s first and foremost about a high-quality assault of melodic death metal and thrash. The crowd realized that too and rewarded the band with intense moshing, and Sober Assault even had the densest crowd of the night. Plus points for the visuals too, although Enej’s white shirt and everybody else’s black ones reminded me of Mustaine and Megadeth, hehe.
The night was closed out by hometown heavyweights Noctiferia, who’ve spent the last few months celebrating twenty years of the band mostly by playing their »unplugged« album Transnatura. This time Noctiferia played in their classic metal lineup, and Damjan Tomoski was missing too, so there were a bit fewer electronic bits than usual. As has been the custom for the past few years, the setlist was made up of songs from Slovenska morbida onward, which means we mostly got roaring eight-string guitars and a massive industrial stomp. Noctiferia on stage always means pure confidence and top-notch playing, and it was no different this time, with Gianni standing out in particular thanks to his excellent vocal form. Given the anniversary, though, the guys could have surprised us with a classic or two from Per Aspere, or maybe peeked even further back into their past, to Baptism at Savica Fall.
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