Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Channel Zero / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 21.04.2016
April 21, 2016 is a date that will go down in history as the day the world music legend Prince Rogers Nelson passed away. But if we zoom in from the global to the local scene, two gigs went down that same day in neighboring halls at Metelkova. Over in Gala Hala it was Borknagar, whom I caught in Tolmin last year and wasn’t all that impressed by, while Channel 0 hosted local heroes MeduzaleM and France’s LizZard.
I got to the hall among the first, and by the time the show kicked off there still wasn’t much of a crowd. Still, MeduzaleM stepped up on stage and got going anyway. Luckily the room filled up as they played, and soon the club was pretty well packed, while the trio from Ankaran sounded as confident from the very first note as if they were playing to a sold-out hall. The band is made up of vocalist and guitarist Rok Soczka Mandac, bassist and backing vocalist Matjaž Karlovčec, and drummer Blaž Kocina. Their mix of progressive rock with touches of noise, post-rock and, at times, the slower passages typical of doom, plus complex rhythmic structures and excellent songwriting, sounds really fresh and interesting. They blend Rok’s clean vocals with Matjaž’s “dirty” ones brilliantly, use a ton of guitar effects, and come across as an exceptionally tight unit. The band surprised me even with my expectations already sky-high, and after what I heard, I can say without a doubt that they’re among the best bands on the modern Slovenian alternative scene.
They were soon followed on stage by LizZard, a French trio who played Metelkova last year as the opener for prog heroes Soen. Even though I came to the gig mainly to finally see MeduzaleM live (we’re from the same region, yet I’d never caught them on stage), LizZard won me over practically the moment they started playing. The incredibly charismatic and talented “frontman” Mathieu Ricou, who really nailed the role of guitarist and vocalist, shone in his rapport with the crowd too. The already pretty full hall was literally screaming with excitement, while the band kept firing off songs without compromise, ranging from slow ballads to hard-hitting, complex pieces, all executed flawlessly. The rhythm section, bassist Will Knox and drummer Katy Elwell, works really well; both are incredibly technically skilled, and together with Mathieu they paint a complete musical picture that plenty of bigger bands would envy.
The crowd was thrilled, and I have to say I really didn’t expect such a good show. Both bands did far more than just a great job, and the audience’s reaction matched. They definitely deserved a bigger turnout, but judging by what I saw and heard, I have no doubt that they’re headed for even bigger success than they’ve already had.
text: Tadej Blažič
photos: Anja Ivanovič
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