Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: September 14, 2008
Attendance: 100
Ticket price: 16.00€
The summer festival season and a handful of one-off concert spectacles are behind us, and it was high time September kicked off the autumn club season. The hard-working Dihurčki, who keep delighting us with a rich lineup of metal shows, started the season off in black metal colors with Singapore’s Impiety, and the concert calendar rolled on with a thrash feast at Orto. Sworn Amongst, Bonded By Blood and Gama Bomb stopped by on the Thrashing Like a Maniac 2008 tour, brought to us by Earache.
Orto Bar kicked off the new season with a slightly weird policy: the doors only open at a late nine in the evening, so the roughly hundred-strong thrash crowd stood freezing outside, waiting for a well-deserved bottle of beer. First up on the Orto stage, in front of a still sparse crowd, were Sworn Amongst from the UK. Which was a bit unfair, because these guys showed off some good thrash led by the semi-growl of singer and guitarist Liam Liddell. The four-piece blasted through tracks from their debut Derision of Conformity (2005) and the current album And So it Begins, loaded with energy. After a quick half hour they said goodbye to the applause of a slightly fuller Orto.
With a roaring welcome during the instrument tuning and a quick soundcheck, the only overseas act of the night took the stage second: Bonded By Blood from California. These guys are one more of the many new-wave thrash bands, or crossover representatives, that Earache scooped up during thrash metal’s second boom and heyday. The label put out their well-received debut Feed the Beast, which Bonded By Blood are presenting on this tour. BBB pulled off something incredible with the very first song: the moshing just would not stop, and stage diving went on like people were queuing at the bank. The Americans couldn’t get over the crowd’s insane reaction, especially singer Aladdin and bassist RuD, who were grinning nonstop, and Aladdin even rubbed the magic lamp himself in the end and threw himself off the stage. By the end both guitarists came alive too, especially the lead player, who looks like a six-and-a-half-foot version of Igor from Frankenstein. Bonded By Blood fed the monster well and played pretty much the entire debut. Immortal Life, Feed the Beast, Mind Pollution, Another Disease, Vengeance and Necropsy killed before they even asked, in true “Take No Prisoners, take no shit!” style. They proved they’re real eighties nostalgics with a fantastic cover of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme, which Aladdin introduced by asking, “What do you guys wanna eat?”, and the answer was of course crystal clear: “PIZZAAAAAA!!!!!!” And of course the obligatory thrash anthem by their idols Exodus, Bonded By Blood, was there too, and the American thrash ninja turtles said goodbye to us far too soon. But judging by what the Slovenian crowd gave them, they’ll no doubt surf back into our sewers. Cowabunga, dude!
Last on stage were Bonded By Blood’s label mates, Ireland’s Gama Bomb. They’ve also got a fresh-out-of-the-oven release, Citizen Brain, a total homage to the eighties with countless references to legendary eighties zombie B-horror flicks and comics sprinkled with a razor-sharp sense of humor. Sadly, the sound was shaky for Gama Bomb. In fact, they were plagued by sloppy playing, and the drummer was completely off. Luckily they managed to improve toward the end, and despite the mistakes they proved to be one hell of a fun live band. Philly Byrne in particular is an excellent frontman and a true thrash vocalist, with lyrics pouring out of his mouth like they’re greased, about zombies (which remind me most of the cult horror comedy Shaun of the Dead), video games in Final Fight (the legendary spine-ripping from Mortal Kombat practically paints itself before your eyes, hehe), the Oscar-worthy acting of Jean-Claude Van Damme in
Time Crime, and worship of thrash in Thrashaholic and Sentenced to Thrash. Even though the crowd thinned out a bit for Gama Bomb, their set also stayed in damn fond memory, and after their show, instead of burek and yogurt, brains were what hit the spot most. “Must have braaaiiin!”. With Thrashing Like a Maniac, Orto saw one of the best concerts the club has ever lived through, and I hope we can look forward to more mini thrash spectacles like it. If not, the Dirty Skunks still have a whole sack of concert treats ready for us.
Gama Bomb setlist:
1. Zombi Blood Nightmare
2. Evil Voices
3. Final Fight
4. Time Crime
5. Hammer Slammer
6. OCP
7. Global Warming
8. In the Court of General Zod
9. Bullet Belt
10. Hell Trucker
11. Zombie Brew
12. Sentence to Thrash
13. Thrashaholic
14. Zombi Kommand
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Text: Rok Klemše
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