Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Komen na Krasu / Slovenia
Concert date: 17.08.2007
Attendance: 1108
Ticket price: 700
On Saturday morning we woke up to a clearer day, with only a dull meowing somewhere in the back of my head to spoil it a bit. Hm… Weird, there were no cats anywhere around… The best cure was, of course, coffee in one of the bars in Komen, all of them completely taken over by metalheads. There wasn’t much time for lounging around, though, because the shows were calling as early as the afternoon, and in the summer swelter a beer in the shade of the tents hit the spot. And the whole of Saturday was still ahead of us…
12.00 – 12.40 VULVATHRONE
At noon the porn bliss of the porn/gore grind death metal champions from Prekmurje was already echoing almost all the way to Komen, and on stage they were already staging a bukkake. Their self-titled debut came out this year and brought a previously unexplored obsession with everything pornographic to the Slovenian metal scene. In a half-hour orgy Vulvathrone ran through hits like Bitch Suck My Tich, Allure of Domination and the little ballad Toilet Slut, Herman and Seba took turns gargling bodily fluids, and the rhythm section showed off an encyclopedia of S&M positions. Brutal porn grind, the kind you don’t find on every corner. Porn porn porn!
13.00 – 13.34 CYCLÖNE
After Vulvathrone came something completely different: makeup and teased hair climbed onto the stage. It was time for an 80’s glam revival with Ljubljana’s Cyclöne. The guys have only been together for a year or so, and the reason they formed was the all-Slovenia glam tour Lipstikk N’ Leathür Conspiracy Tour, initiated by the band’s bassist Grega Šujica. On that very successful tour they played alongside fellow glamsters Toxic Heart and Broken Arrow, racking up quite a bit of live mileage in just a few weeks. Unfortunately, already with the opening number, the Black Sabbath classic Paranoid, it became clear that the guys are still missing some experience. Instrumentally there were no major slip-ups, but it got stuck with the vocalist “Michael Roxxy”, whose awful botching I just can’t get past. Too bad their set left a bitter aftertaste, because the guys do put in the effort with their own material and give it everything on stage. I hope they get past the birth pangs soon, and until then – when Cyclöne are in town, “lock up your daughters and watch your girls.”
13.55 – 14.35 GONOBA
Luckily, the guys from Gonoba improved the taste. I’d been waiting for them myself ever since I heard their first demo. The Kamnik-Domžale-Rogaška Slatina alliance is insanely hardworking: their first demo came out last year, and now there’s already the brand-new second one, Human: Error, which means even bigger progress and huge potential for the band. Their death-metal-tinged thrash is a real shot of adrenaline and a serious workout for the neck muscles. The guys play as many gigs as they can, and it really shows in their performance. Hopsi, probably the tallest metal vocalist in the country, is turning into a real frontman, though he could still use a bit more interaction with the crowd, and his animalistic growl has improved incredibly, with the switching between higher screams and deeper growls getting incredibly dynamic. Worth noting: Hopsi had never sung before Gonoba! All respect, Hopsi! Devin would be proud! And that’s not all, because the band is becoming an ever better-oiled metal machine too! Koki pounds the drums without mercy, the guitar duo of Mitja and Matjaž pull out excellent riffs, power bursts and incredible passages, and Brane’s bass is becoming proverbially fantastic! No wonder a good-sized crowd gathered in front of the stage and headbanged non-stop. In a good half hour the Gonoba guys tore through a set that presented almost the whole new demo (sadly with the exception of the epic Chuck Borris), which sounds killer live – the breakneck opener Human: Error, the eight-minute masterpiece The Black Side of Life, the erotic Lust, Victim of Myself… My heart skipped a beat at their great rendition of the Death classic Symbolic, Misanthrope, the headbanging didn’t stop even during the songs from the first demo, In Vain and Last Judgement, and the neck only got a rest after the hymn Gonoba ended. Guys, I want a record! “Worship the camel!”
GONOBA setlist:
1. Human Error
2. Black Side Of Life
3. Lust
4. Victim Of Myself
5. Misanthrope
6. In Vain
7. Last Judgement
8. Gonoba
14.55 – 15.35 PENITENZIAGITE
“No rest for the wicked”, and up on stage climbed the Kranj crew with the “tongue-breaking” name Penitenziagite. They don’t just break tongues, though: with excellent black-metal-tinged death metal they break plenty of necks too. What really sets Penitenziagite apart (besides the name) is the excellent double vocals, one a raging, screaming black metal voice and the other a brutal death metal growl, which add an incredible amount of color and dynamics to the music. The vocal duet of Suši and Demši comes across really great live! The guys are diligently racking up live mileage, and it shows. They already killed it at this year’s Metalcamp and only solidified their good form at Metal Mania. The guitar duo of Demši and Bojč sawed away without mercy and threw in a few great riffs too, which Gašper’s animalistic drumming built on top of. The guys aren’t neglecting writing new songs either, and they presented fresh material that sounds excellent. The only thing I missed was maybe a track or two from the first demo, like the great Leachcountess. Penitenziagite are still hiding enormous potential, so see you at the next gigs!
PENITENZIAGITE setlist:
1. Burning
2. Faith
3. The Guilty
4. Origin
5. The Edge Of Twilight
6. Necrofilian Bloodlust
After Penitenziagite came two Italian bands, BS’ Titty and Fuel From Hell, who didn’t quite sit right with my gourmet musical taste, so Aleš will write more about them. I wandered off for a beer/bamboo and a portion of ćevapčići. A snack that hit the spot after a beer would have given some health inspector a heart attack or two, but a metal festival is not a French restaurant with a Michelin star, after all… uhm… or something like that.
17.35 – 18.20 WARTUNE
Full and with my thirst quenched, I painted myself in front of the stage at half past five, since the Carinthian warriors Wartune were already standing on it. The war machine, in bursts, slowly sent the crowd to the other side for almost an hour with excellent progressive-technical thrash/death metal. Hosta’s furious vocal performance was backed up by the instrumental section: a tight, precise guitar duo of Piko/Oswald that killed with superb melodic passages, and a bomb-ready rhythm section with tank brigadier Lenč and Tilen on war artillery. Wartune take no prisoners, and the casualties just keep piling up in front of their excellently plowed original metal in songs like Return of the Wolves with its interesting, almost folk chorus, Endless Cruelty, the punchy Voice of Victory and a flawlessly played atomic explosion in I Am Become War (The Destroyer of Worlds). The superbly played set was topped off by the timeless metal classic The Philosopher from the legendary Death record Individual Thought Patterns. Kneel before Wartune!
18.35 – 19.25 VOICE OF THE SOUL
The next three quarters of an hour can be described in a single sentence: goosebumps and raised hairs from start to finish! Voice of the Soul is a Death and Pantera tribute band, and this year’s Metal Mania was where they played their last show. The guys marched onto the stage quiet and calm and played something I’d only dared hope in my deepest dreams I’d one day hear live, even if (sadly) never from Death themselves. Voice of the Soul, named after the indescribable instrumental from The Sound of Perserverance by the metal giants Death, one of the most influential metal acts ever, opened with exactly that song. Three guitars with lines that only the one and only Chuck Schuldiner knew how to write… Incredible, and once again incredible! Although there were quite a few slip-ups, with such legendary songs you quickly overlook them and just enjoy the timeless metal classics the guys served up one after another. The brutal Pantera shooting spree Domination, and a pile of people had already gathered in front of the stage and didn’t stop headbanging for a second. Not even when the sky opened up and sent the worst downpour of the two days down on us. The sky knew who Voice of the Soul were playing for! Without Judgement from my favorite Death record, Symbolic, got my heart racing, but Cemetary Gates quickly stopped it, as it always conjures up the tragically deceased Dimebag Darrell. We’ll meet when the cemetery gates open! Sadly there was no time for Evil Dead and Denial of Life from Death’s debut Scream Bloody Gore, nor for Pantera’s Fucking Hostile from Vulgar Display of Power, but Pantera’s anthem Walk was the closing high point and got a fitting response. Guys, all I can say is thank you for opening the door, even for a moment, to the music of two geniuses who will live forever in the hearts and memories of metalheads. Screw it, I can’t resist emotional outpourings when these two legends get mentioned. Chuck Schuldiner and Dimebag Darrell R.I.P.!
VOICE OF THE SOUL setlist:
1. Voice of the Soul
2. Domination
3. Without Judgement
4. Cemetary Gates
5. Bite the Pain
6. Cowboys From Hell
7. Walk
19.40 – 20.30 DAWN PATROL
The Kranj-Ljubljana heavy/thrash metal alliance Dawn Patrol played one of the best shows at Metal Mania! Ever since vocalist Aleš joined, the band has been like reborn. Dawn Patrol wowed right from the start with the great Rockstar Ate My Hamster, which gets a brand-new look with Aleš’s vocals (the first version had Dejzi from Negligence lending his voice). Dawn Patrol got really lucky with their vocalist, because they found him – at karaoke. Not only is Aleš probably one of the best heavy metal vocalists in the country right now, the guy is a frontman in the truest sense of the word. Completely relaxed on stage, smiling, charismatic and above all communicative. Thanks to him too, the space in front of the stage almost completely filled up. Instrumentally Dawn Patrol were at their peak as well. The guitar duo of Jan/Černe was excellent, and so were bassist Anna and drummer Wuko. The original material from the girl and the guys sounds extremely encouraging; I can say that any more concrete release from them is the Slovenian metal release I’m looking forward to most right now. Until then – when Dawn Patrol are in town, watch your hamsters.
21.00 – 22.05 1349
At nine we got grim and necro again, because the plague came to Metal Mania. Well, it came to Norway… in 1349 and decimated the population… and at Metal Mania 2007 it was the Norwegian black metallers 1349, who named themselves after that unfortunate event, that showed up. The black metal band, which probably gets the most attention because of its drummer Frost, who also plays in bigger-name bands like Keep of Kalessin, Gorgoroth and Satyricon, performed without him this time. In his place sat Tony Laureano, drummer of Nile, God Dethroned, Malevolent Creation and a bunch of others. Like The Stone the day before, 1349 marched onto the stage decked out in corpse paint, and frontman Ravn also took care of some fire-breathing at the start. To be honest, I don’t know the plague-bearers all that well. The start was interesting, in a proper “black metal ist krieg” mood, but then the repetition of guitar patterns and the abuse of double bass bored me to the point that I went off to get, what else, a beer.
1349 setlist:
1. Legion
2. I Am Abomination
3. Pitch Black
4. Beyond The Apocalypse
5. To Rottendom
6- Riders Of The Apocalypse
7. Nathicana
8. Chasing Dragons
9. Sculptor Of Flesh
10. Manifest
22.35 – 23.40 VENDETTA
At half past ten, all the true-believer thrashers finally got their money’s worth: after an absence of almost 20 (!) years, the cult German thrashers Vendetta returned to the stage. In the late eighties the legendary avengers released two excellent records – Go And Live… Stay And Die (1987) and Brain Damage (1987) – and with them wrote themselves into the hearts of thrashers who know how to look beyond the holy German trinity of Kreator, Sodom and Destruction or the “big” four – Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax. Vendetta then quietly fell apart, but reunited in 2002, and this year their long-awaited third record, Hate, finally came out. The moment the German five-piece stepped on stage, it was clear that their long absence hadn’t hurt them one bit. What’s more, it doesn’t even show! Led by the crazed vocalist Mario, Vendetta burned through first-class thrash metal and played the whole new record Hate, which sounds damn good! Of course it does, since the original vocalist and guitarist Daxx helped write it, before deciding not to take part in the tour. But it’s truly incredible to see a band with only one founding member left (bassist Klaus Ullrich) still come across so convincingly on stage. Mario destroyed with a proper thrash voice, both on the new songs and especially on the old classics – War, Brain Damage, Go And Live… Stay And Die, Drugs And Corruption, On the Road. Fuckin’ Thrash ‘Till Death!!! There was headbanging and moshing until exhaustion, and Vendetta pulled a real surprise with a cover of the Motörhead classic Overkill! Vendetta’s phenomenal premiere on our soil will stay in very fond memory, and after what I saw, I’m convinced Vendetta could be counted among the big names of thrash if they hadn’t vanished for so long. Now hurry up and get the new record, and “spread some fucking haaaaaate!!!”
VENDETTA setlist:
1. Intro
2. Hannibal
3. War
4. Dead People Are Cool
5. Mother
6. Guerilla
7. Brain Damage
8. Hate
9. Lying Society
10. Prepare Yourself For Hostility
11. Rise For Revolution
12. Go And Live, Stay And Die
13. Freddy
14. Overkill
15. On The Road
16. Drugs & Corruption
00.00 – 01.00 LADY’S FIRST
The first time I saw Lady’s First, in Postojna before Paul Di’Anno, they left me completely cold. After the end of Metal Mania, I can say with a clear conscience that I did them an injustice. The guys not only slaved away as sound engineers and delivered, most of the time, excellent sound (props to Yoldi and Buco!), they topped it off with an excellent show too! Live, even the material from their debut 911 sounds great, and the guys’ performance was incredibly energetic and totally committed, and you could see they were having a blast on stage too. Unfortunately their record is still pretty unknown, so the covers landed best. First up was the Iron Maiden classic The Trooper, which, unlike at the Postojna show, completely blew me away. Played and sung excellently (it might be about time for Guzy to learn the lyrics by heart, the effect would be even better), and the response of the crowd of several hundred, who stuck around despite the late hour, was much better too. They torched a song by the band LF live, followed by another metal classic, also played very solidly and confidently, Metallica’s Creeping Death. Then another Maiden classic that made the crowd go even wilder, Fear of the Dark, sung with the crowd’s help of course, their own song 911 and a trio of covers to finish. Motori Divljih Jagod, well known to the Heavy Metal Night crowd, the eternal “goosebumps-down-my-neck” Hallowed Be Thy Name, and a surprise at the end, a fantastically played Rage Against the Machine hit, Killing in the Name Of. Metal Mania 2007 couldn’t have ended any more beautifully!
LADY’S FIRST setlist:
1. Intro
2. High Machine
3. Criminal
4. The Trooper
5. The Game
6. LF
7. Creeping Death
8. One Way
9. Lady
10. Fear Of The Dark
11. 911
12. Motori
13. Hallowed Be Thy Name
14. Killing in the Name Of
There isn’t much left to say in closing. Metal Mania’s organization gets better every year, hats off to the organizers! The Slovenian bands were downright excellent and had no trouble overshadowing all the foreign guests, even though those were great too. Metal Mania is a festival with a special atmosphere: the booze flowed in rivers, you run into old friends, make new acquaintances and enjoy excellent metal! Metal Mania was rainy again this year, but that’s just how it is, like they’d say, Metal Mania without Metal. Gardko slurped it up again, one more big thank you to the organizers, and all that’s left is to say see you in the same place, at the same time, at Metal Mania 2008!
Setlist
12.00 – 12.40 VULVATHRONE 13.00 – 13.34 CYCLONE 13.55 – 14.35 GONOBA 14.55 – 15.35 PENITENZIAGITE 15.45 – 16.25 BS’TITTY 16.40 – 17.20 FUEL FROM HELL 17.35 – 18.20 WARTUNE 18.35 – 19.25 VOICE OF THE SOUL 19.40 – 20.30 DAWN PATROL 21.00 – 22.05 1349 22.35 – 23.40 VENDETTA 00.00 – 01.00 LADY’S FIRST
Photo gallery
