Author: Rok Klemše
Concert date: 30.08.2008
Attendance: 1608
Ticket price: 2000
After a rainy Friday night that soaked us to the bone, the obligatory rest (and drink or two) naturally followed until Saturday morning. Early in the morning it still looked like Saturday’s weather would be pretty sour too, but luckily the clouds blew away, the low-pressure front moved on past Komen, and a completely clear blue sky opened up above us. A sunny Saturday was made to order for some more rest (and drink)… “Trontelj over and out!”
And what could be better than kicking things off with a morning beer for 1€ while Velenje’s melodic thrash/death crew Inmate tear it up on stage? Sadly, they still have no luck with auditions and the search for a singer, male or female, so it’s high time for someone to find the guts.
After a beer, two, three, …. and a shot, two, three of the hard stuff, 3 p.m. rolled around and Styrian outfit LastDayHere stepped onto the Metal Mania stage. It’s honestly unbelievable how fast these guys have climbed the Slovenian metal ladder, and how fast their debut From Pieces Created won over the hearts and ears of the fans. Even though they play “pussy pop metal,” as vocalist Marko labeled it, LastDayHere can easily outshine plenty of more brutal bands. The five-piece keep stacking up gig miles, and you can really tell on stage! The instrumental side is flawless, and when you add Marko’s excellent vocals, catchy, singalong choruses and a seriously energetic performance, it’s easy to say that, despite the radio-friendly tunes and a slightly more commercial approach, with LastDayHere the music comes first, no doubt about it. And you can see that these guys live and breathe it!
Next up were more representatives from the eastern corners of Slovenia, Ljutomer’s melodic black/death crew Obnounce. The band already has two albums behind them, Remnants of Humanity (2005) and Supreme Domination (2007), and they’re busy preparing a third studio record. Obnunce’s ten-year career really shows. The fingers fly over the strings like they’re greased, the drums are dynamic and well structured, the mix of melodic death and black metal, which they effectively blend with thrash and gothic influences, is interesting, and Robert Grnjak’s growl is raw and aggressive. Obnounce dominatiooooon!!!
The set by the giants of Slovenian thrash metal, Negligence, was surely one of the most eagerly awaited at Metal Mania 2008, and also the band’s last show for a while, since they’re already hard at work on the follow-up to their phenomenal debut Options of a Trapped Mind. Judging by the songs we’ve already heard that will make it onto the second album, it will pull off the impossible and probably even top that excellent debut. Negligence marched onto the stage with the war-torn War Machine, for which they’ve just shot a great video under the direction of the Felicijan/Sedmak team. You can never get enough of the incredible tightness of the exceptional Dyz/Jey guitar duo, Alex kills it on vocals, while the Lipnik/Ruzz rhythm section is bombastic. The dorsal fin menacingly rose out of the water with the killer hunger of Shark Attack, followed by the classic Places od Dawn, the new wrecker Mental Central, the too-rarely-played No Brain, No Pain, which is without a doubt the peak of Slovenian thrash writing, and finally another crushing wave with Insane Asylum. Sadly, technical problems ate up the time for two more songs, but even those two would have been too little anyway, because when Negligence are up on stage, you simply can’t get enough. Playing before Forbidden, Exodus and Heathen is something Negligence have bloody well earned! Neligence: from Jesenice to the Bay!
Negligence setlist:
1.War Machine
2.Shark Attack
3.Places of Dawn
4.Mental Central
5.No Brain, No Pain
6.Insane Asylum
At eleven, the Bay Area giants and thrash metal veterans Exodus finally strutted onto the stage. A band with almost thirty years of history is considered one of the founders and pioneers of the thrash metal movement, and since the very beginning they’ve churned out countless twisted thrash anthems. The debut Bonded By Blood is still regarded as one of thrash’s greatest masterpieces, and Exodus is where two of the genre’s most distinctive and recognizable voices were forged, Paul Baloff (R.I.P.!) and Steve “Zetro” Souza. That era is behind Exodus now, and today the band is fronted by probably the “worst” vocalist the lineup has had, Rob Dukes. Still, the guys have put out two solid records with him, Shovel Headed Kill Machine (2005) and last year’s The Atrocity Exhibiton: Exhibit A, and Exodus were greeted by a nicely packed space in front of the stage and plenty of enthusiasm. A surprise, and the classic Bonded By Blood played right at the start, which nobody can sing as beautifully sick as Baloff, but Dukes held his own pretty well. A jump to last year with Funeral March, then two more gems from the debut, And Then There Were None and Another Lesson in Violence. The crowd went wild, the moshing was off the charts! Holt and Altus passed the solos back and forth with surgical precision, Hunting practically murdered the drum skins, and Gibson is a real presence on stage. Dukes could easily have skipped the “white trash” redneck banter, but oh well. Probably because of this year’s release of the album Let There Be Blood, the re-recorded classic Bonded By Blood, there was a big emphasis on that one, so we had the honor of hearing the killer fish Piranha and, right at the very end, the superb Strike of the Beast. With Deathaphetamine they went back to the 2005 record, with the excellent twin of Blacklist and the murderous War is My Shepard they remembered the last record with Souza on vocals, Tempo of the Damned (although I wouldn’t have minded an Impaler or two, hehe). We could easily have lived without the fun, but unnecessary, Iron Maiden/Metallica/The Scorpions medley, and Exodus could have brought back a song or two from the overlooked albums Pleasures of the Flesh, Impact is Imminent or Force of Habit, but that’s just how the festival setlist went. And we got one of the festival’s best moments with the ultimate mosh pit anthem, Toxic Waltz! Thank you, Exodus! Exodus attack!
Exodus setlist:
1. Bonded By Blood
2. Funeral March
3. And Then There Were None
4. Another Lesson in Violence
5. Children of a Worthless God
6. Piranha
7. Deathamphetamine
8. Blacklist
9. War is My Shepard
10. Iron Maiden/Metallica/The Scorpions Medley
11. Toxic Waltz
12. Strike of the Beast
With the set by the Prekmurje black metal band, Metal Mania Open Air 2008 came to a close. Sadly, the festival’s future is a big question mark because of the primitive behavior of a few individuals who apparently were never taught as kids to crap in the toilet and behave like civilized people. If there’s no Metal Mania next year, it will be a huge loss for the Slovenian metal scene and for metal in general, because we’ll lose one of the best festivals for miles around. Everyone involved in the organization deserves nothing but praise, and I believe we’ll meet again at Metal Mania!
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Words: Rok Klemše
Setlist
10:30 – Inmate
11:20 – D.N.R.
12:10 – Infidia
13:00 – Miss Night
13:50 – So I Sin
14:45 – LastDayHere
15:40 – Obnounce
16:35 – Negligence
17:30 – Infernal Tenebra
18:30 – ROTTEN SOUND
19:50 – 3 INCHES OF BLOOD
21:20 – PRO-PAIN
23:00 – EXODUS
00:50 – Mora
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