Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Kamnik / Mali Grad / Slovenia
Concert date: 10.08.2015
Attendance: 250
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry)
Noctiferia is the Slovenian metal band that has gone far, far further than anyone else on the international scene. You could call them veterans, a kind of metal gurus. The guys, led by their unshakable and hugely charismatic frontman and guitarist Igor Nardin, have toiled and sweated blood over the years, fearlessly sticking to their musical vision, and their albums are, one and all, an expression of a unique authorial stance and evolution that stands behind real authenticity. Loyal to the grave. To yourself and to your heart. That’s the magic of artistic freedom, which nobody can take away from you and which is really the only thing that counts.
»Pax« (2014) is the band’s new and fifth studio album overall, on which Noctiferia keeps shamelessly and very effectively dealing in sonic experimentation. After »Slovenska Morbida« and »Death Culture« we got yet another album that’s stylistically different and fresh-sounding, and with it the band keeps opening up new and newer developmental horizons! A bold, richly structured album that deserves all the attention.
The band is incredibly active, driven and punchy on the live front this year! They’ve even done a tour of China, and Noctiferia crowned this newfound momentum with appearances at this year’s Metaldays festival and the prestigious German Wacken Open Air festival. The summer leg of the »Pax« tour also brought the band to the idyllic setting of Mali grad as part of this year’s Kamfest, where a colorful crowd of metalheads gathered, so a proper black mass was on the cards! The great turnout only proved how Noctiferia have become respected and appreciated matadors of Slovenian metal.
The band put on a massive showcase of their new studio album, and also worked older tracks Demoncracy, Holymen and Deluders And Followers into the set, closing the show, as expected, with the »folk-classic« and universally demanded, famous Fond Of Lies! Noctiferia delivered an excellent show, just as expected. The sextet is superbly tight. The riff duo Nardin/Fileš use their eight-string oars to create an outstanding groove out of a massive wall of sound, which, set against the contrasting effect of the richly structured drumwork and tied together with percussion and industrial effects, creates an exceptionally sinister atmosphere, where the only road leads into the abyss of evil damnation, with no return – all the way to final purification. The band approaches it all completely professionally and, let’s hope, sets a shining example in this for the other acts on the Slovenian metal scene. From the polished »outfit« to the internal »politics« of claiming positions on stage and the carefully thought-out movements of the front line (vocals, both guitars, bass) between individual points in the show. As expected, the most acrobatics came from the wound-up, spiky shaman and singer Gianni, who, on top of all that stage gymnastics, produced an outstanding vocal performance full of varied »screams« and »growls«, while the backdrop of the instrumental accompaniment, besides all the ferocity and playing at full throttle, delivered remarkable tuning and calibration, reminiscent of the work of the most precise Swiss watch.
On the »hilly« grounds, the crowd (out of responsibility for their health and lives) preferred to stand carefully or sit on the jutting rocks that stick out here and there of the slope beneath the castle walls, yet they made no secret of their hugely positive vibes in return and of how much they were enjoying the blasphemization of Kamnik by Noctiferia! By the stage on the right, in front of Roman and Uroš, where the terrain levels out a bit, Gianni managed to get the most fired-up fans on their feet, and they threw themselves into a wild dance of purification with the band. As expected, the band brought the show to its peak with the closing crusher and famous tornado called Fond Of Lies, without which there would be no proper Noctiferia concert anyway. A high-energy execution, another brilliant performance that radiates tremendous confidence and maturity and the impregnability of the fortress called Noctiferia!
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