Author: Aleš Podbrežnik, Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Komen in the Karst / Slovenia
Date of the show: 20.07.2012
Attendance: 600
Ticket price: 30,00€ / 55,00€
Metal Mania is back, the most homegrown metal festival in the world, and with its venue, the little Karst village of Komen, it has long been something like a metal Mecca for the local scene. The yearly pilgrimage to the land of prosciutto, teran and Metal Mania has become a tradition, one we missed badly during the years when Mania took a break. But those years without Metal Mania are forgotten the moment the tent is up and you’ve had your first look around the grounds, legendary grandstand included. Thanks to work obligations, we sadly only rolled into Komen late Friday afternoon, when Metal Mania was already in full swing. Beer later…
Just as the sun slowly started sinking toward the horizon, Italian black metallers Necromass took the stage, a band with cult status in the underground (especially the Italian one). Necromass started their black mass in Italy in the early nineties and carved out a path all their own, one that found its inspiration not in Venom and Bathory but in Death SS and Mortuary Drape. Decked out in clichéd corpse paint, the band thankfully served up unclichéd black metal, which didn’t quite come into its own at first. The main culprits were the sun, which is just not the right backdrop for black metal, and an even worse sound, which only got fixed toward the end of the set. In a three-quarter-hour hypnotic ritual, Necromass led us down the thorny path of the albums Mysteria Mystica Zofiriana (1994) and Abyss Calls Life (1996) and laid out their vision of black metal, built mostly from slower, almost doomy parts, with the vocals of Ain Soph Aour standing out as distinctly different, not a shriek but something close to a death metal growl. Necromass wrapped the handful of people gathered in front of the stage, of whom the trio of Italians showed the most enthusiasm, in a dark veil of long, epic tracks full of ambient sections, and surprised with instrumental passages that are totally unusual for black metal, technical and almost progressive (even the bass was properly lively, dynamic and audible!), which here and there even recalled the epic instrumental »bridges« of Death. Too bad the Necromass set went unnoticed.
White Skull, rock-solid Italian power metallers with two decades of rich musical career behind them, came to Komen in a lineup led by the band’s boss and rhythm guitarist Tony “Mad” Fontò, with Danllo Bar (lead and rhythm guitar), Jo Raddi on bass, Alex Montiero on drums, and, big comeback to the band, original singer Federica “Sister” De Boni. White Skull released a new studio album, »Under This Flagg«, in mid-May this year, so the stage for their set was dressed up with barbed wire and barricades, evoking the fury of some military battle. Stuck on a giant shield next to the mic stand was a skull with long white hair, a witchy occult touch – White Skull, naturally. The band lit the fire fast and especially blew the minds of the older fans of their music when, after the new War Afrer War, they carried on with the classics Tales From The North and Cleopatra. The band was in great spirits on stage, and that unbridled mood was confirmed by singer Federica cracking open a can of Laško beer fairly early, during Cleopatra, and toasting the audience with gusto.
The band blew us away with seriously lively stage movement and excellent tightness, but above all it was the charismatic stage figure of Federica, rock-solid in her stance, with her dual-toned voice that ranged from a furious guttural delivery, as if Grave Digger singer Chris Boltendahl had been trapped in a woman’s body, to precisely calibrated shifts matching the message of the songs and the need to flip the atmosphere, where pure, melodic female singing took the lead. Singing at full power. As it should be. The band has no shortage of an innate feeling for pomp and bombast. Italian power metal! And without a pinch of sweetener! Fierce and clipped! At full force! From start to finish. No wavering. An hour of authentic power metal orgy! And with this appearance White Skull weren’t merely a pleasant addition to Metal Mania Open Air, they convincingly delivered one of the best concerts of the festival’s first day. Not a hint of saving the batteries!
Wedged between the two wet dreams of power metallers (read: Izzy) were Brazilian thrashers Violator, who brought a fair-sized crowd breakneck thrash straight from Brazil, full of aggressive riffs, unbridled speed and shooosh from start to finish. And I mean that literally, because I haven’t heard anything more monotonous, the if-you’ve-heard-one-song-you’ve-heard-them-all kind, in a long time. Not that the Brazilians didn’t play their hour the way it should be played. Far from it, this year’s Metal Mania didn’t see better energy on stage after Violator – the trio up front kept switching positions, ran around the stage the whole time and headbanged like maniacs without stopping. If the Brazilians bombed Metal Mania with the right thrash »attitude«, their material tripped them up a bit. For the undemanding, Violator were probably orgasmic, but those of us who are slightly more demanding lost interest in the Brazilians with every song played. Every single track was as alike as two eggs, the riffs mostly monotonous, the songs set to just one thing – fifth gear speed. The impression was salvaged by a good frontman, who addressed the crowd with slightly clichéd »we are all united as one« and similar speeches, but came across as downright likeable and therefore perfect for the Metal Mania atmosphere. The band was visibly happy and glad to play at Metal Mania, and honest and humble in their banter. Shooosh after shooosh doesn’t build a good thrash band yet, and a lot still separates Violator from the »big« new-wave thrash bands (Warbringer and the like).
Primal Fear, headliners of the first day of Metal Mania Open Air 2012, German power metallers who kicked off full-blooded with their self-titled debut released in 1998, are considered today one of the most reliable and unbreakable metal fortresses Germany has given to the history of metal music. Primal Fear, led by two seasoned old foxes, Mat Sinner on bass and Ralf Scheepers, one of the finest European power metal singers, release studio albums regularly and tour the world regularly. In April this year the band did a European tour and among other places visited Zagreb, close to Ljubljana, where they delivered an excellent live experience. Summer is festival season, and in keeping with their professional approach, Primal Fear consciously decided to extend the promotion of their new album »Unbreakable« (2012) to appearances on summer festivals too. »Metal Mania Open Air« is the third festival in Slovenia to host Primal Fear to date! In 2003 they played Rock Otočec, later Tolmin’s Metal Camp hosted them, and the honor of the third time fell to this year’s Metal Mania. Interestingly, Primal Fear have never played in Slovenia on a headline tour of their own in their entire career.
Primal Fear kicked off their set as expected! With a massive presentation of the new album »Unbreakable«. A crowd gathered in front of the stage, barely 300 people, with the most fired-up of them raging in the front rows. But the band didn’t manage to coax any special response out of the audience during the show. Many metal heads were even seeing Primal Fear live for the very first time, despite the fact that the band isn’t hard to catch on tour, since Primal Fear always wander in at least as far as Vienna or Munich, if not closer. That means the crowd had plenty of random visitors who were just nosing around during the show, because the main reason for their visit to this year’s edition of the festival lay somewhere else entirely. Of all metal genres, power metal is today the least interesting to younger generations of metal fans, since it gives off the least brutality, which young people have been thoroughly spoiled with in recent years. Even the melodic component they usually consume only when it’s clearly paired with the most extreme stuff metal music can conjure up today.
The band played in exactly the same lineup as in Zagreb on 05.04.2012, so the guitars were again helped out by Mr. Constantine, the mysterious Greek guitarist, as a stand-in once more for the forever overbooked official permanent member, Swedish musical »wunderkind« Magnus Karlsson. In renewed interaction with the excellent and experienced grandmaster of guitar craft Alex Beyrodt, Constantine showed further progress in his short time as a Primal Fear legionnaire, as the two guitarists worked together during the set as harmoniously and compactly as few other well-oiled machines. Still, you could feel during the show that the band was holding back a little on energy. A sense of strict professional routine stood out. Scheepers also wasn’t having his day, and his trademark »screams«, which few vocalists in metal reach today (Tim »Ripper« Owens is one of them, for example), didn’t have their full resonance. The man also badly missed the ideal melody in the verses a few times, which honestly stung the ever-vigilant receptor organs of hearing of all the more demanding consumers who found themselves at the Metal Mania Open Air grounds that night. The sound was a bit naughty in the first part, with the guitars sounding slightly muffled and too quiet in the mix; it was fixed during the show, but you had to listen to the gig from somewhere between a few meters from the stage and the mixing desk.
Chainbreraker, played very early in the set list, hinted that the Primeal Fear show would be shorter than announced. After a fast rush through the new songs Strike and Give ’em Hell and then the classic Nuclear Fire, Primal fEar came down a little from the initial fury and took on the excellent power ballad Seven Seals, and then Chainbreaker was already here. Metal Nation followed, then the excellent Fighting The Darkness, and the announcements of Final Embrace and Metal is Forever signaled the end of the set. It felt like the closing »crescendo« was missing. Twenty minutes shorter than announced! The band comes back for a quick encore and a »breather« Bad Guys Wore Black, a brand-new song, which is an extra surprise, since the band showed no inclination whatsoever to bring their show to a real climax.
Despite the remarks, for most of those who were seeing Primal Fear live for the first time that night, it was undoubtedly a nice and positive surprise! Primal Fear are too experienced and seasoned to show flaws of awkwardness and indecision on stage. This time, though, their performance came across as the skillful staging of a purely routine act. After the show the band quickly gathered itself backstage and vanished into the night. A completely different approach to the hot heads in the front rows than after that 2003 show at Rock Otočec, when band members jumped off the stage and shook hands with the fans in the front. Back then the organizer even chased them off the stage by cutting the main PA, since Primal Fear had overrun the time set for their show. A feeling of slight loftiness on the band’s side toward the fans was not missing this time, and the set itself won’t go down in the annals as one that would uncompromisingly sweep the festival competition.
What certainly did go down in the annals of the local live scene, despite the late hour, was the close of Friday night with the old tomcats of Slovenian thrash, Sarcasm, who played one of their better shows in the early morning hours. In high spirits, by the members’ own account still riding the wings of a successful and well-received show at Novi Sad’s Exit, Sarcasm greeted the equally pumped crowd with two songs from the current record, Summer 91 and Something to Believe In, and proved once again that the new album is a top-notch thrash product that can compare without shame to the cult Crematory. The bombastic, catchy choruses quickly spread from Mucy’s mouth to the crowd, who sang along with the band in raptures, and luckily this time we were also spared the often goofy banter. Sarcasm understandably picked energetic thrash anthems, but I would have gladly heard anything from the new album instead of the misfires Litr na mizo and Terrorist. Too bad the band obviously doesn’t realize how superb the new album is and has only touched it with two, three songs since the promo. Still, with an excellent instrumental performance, mainly thanks to Blaznik’s unforgettable riffs and Yolda’s newly rattling bass, along with Mucy’s confident vocals, Sarcasm were one of the highlights of this year’s Mania. With the eternal thrash anthems Road Warriors, Dej Mi/Sarcasm, Thrash Tonight and the closing Crematory, Sarcasm were a fantastic send-off for the rest of Friday night.
text – White Skull, Primal Fear: Aleš Podbrežnik
text – intro, Necromass, Violator, Sarcasm: Rok Klemše
Setlist
WHITE SKULL:
1. Intro
2. War After War
3. Tales From The North
4. Cleopatra
5. High Treason
6. Bottled Mind
7. Under This Flagg
8. The Killing Queen
9. Nightmares
10. Red Devil
11. After the Battle
12. The Rooman Empire
13. Asgard
Photo Gallery
