Authors: Rok Klemše, Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Nina Grad, Jerneja Jerak
Location: Tolmin / Slovenia
Concert date: July 24, 2013
Attendance: 15,000
It’s hell when a cloud bursts and just won’t stop pouring. That’s pretty much how the third day of MetalDays went down, sentencing us to a long, soggy slog. In fact, all the prayers for it to stop »pissing« by two o’clock were totally in vain. If anything, it only rained harder. The cooldown was welcome in every way, but anyone who knows festival grounds will tell you there’s no worse experience than watching bands in the middle of a downpour. Anyone remember May 16, 2010? Zagreb, Metallica’s show? The sky was mourning Ronnie James Dio back then… and we were wading through living mud almost up to our knees. Well, Tolmin was nowhere near that bad, though still extremely unfriendly.
Wednesday morning the scorching (and deceptive) sun chased us out of our tents early again, promising another hot day, and the Soča was practically calling us into its cold embrace. Musically, Wednesday was the least exciting day of the festival, since nothing truly earth-shattering was on offer, but that meant an even more relaxed day spent on other activities. Even those didn’t really pan out, though, because a nasty storm broke out early in the morning, and it seemed the sky was crying because it knew what awaited us on the main stage at the end of the day.
So we spent the morning hours sheltered in our tents, under canopies or in Tolmin’s bars, using the raging of nature (strong wind, rain and even some hail) for some pleasant hanging out and boozing. Local death/grind veterans Dickless Tracy were the only band that, as the first act on the main stage, wasn’t fried by the sun, and they turned the fact that they didn’t melt to their advantage. Cepo cleverly made »Slayer!« the first word out of his mouth on stage and so managed to draw a nice crowd in front of the stage that early. Dickless Tracy then walked us like seasoned pros through the corridors of sickness, sank their sharp teeth into our necks and showed us the worst nightmares with the punchy, brutal sounds of death/grind. Cepo naturally couldn’t help being himself, as the best and most unhinged banter of the festival came out of his mouth (a little guide to how a frontman should behave on such a big stage, »Get drunk, get laid and get some sexual diseases before you go home!« and so on), but between the jokes Dickless Tracy cut deadly serious into the flesh with apocalyptic riffs and a thundering rhythm section. The cherry on top of an excellent opening of the main stage was the closing classic Nuklearna država.
Germany’s Rest in Fear are a sort of »struggling Slovenian Inmate«, meaning modern melodic death metal that leans on new-era In Flames, only with clean vocals worked into the tunes alongside the growling. Modern. They discharged the atmosphere weighed down by grind, which was first created on the main stage by Slovenia’s Dickless Tracy and then kept going by Croatia’s Inverted Pussyfix. Death metallers Dark Salvation from Liechtenstein later offered a considerably bolder version of melodic death metal. Still seriously weighed down with melody, but with some more sinister vocal lathe-work on the growls. Graveworm with a rosary? Quite possibly.
France’s Nightmare, whose vocalist is a »eyes-closed«, »by-ear« carved-out knockoff of Ronnie James Dio, introduced themselves in March 2010 at Ljubljana’s Cvetličarna. They played before Sabaton back then. »The Burden of God« is their current studio album, and the festival set was devoted to presenting the new material too (the opening The Preacher, then the title track, Sunrise in Hell and Crimson Empire). The music of Black Sabbath’s »Dio era« left a strong musical mark on this band. In fact, you feel that mark at every step. Gradually building tension with a crescendo into bombastic chorus melodies. Just like Ronnie did in his golden Sabbath days. As a tribute to him they played an excellent cover of Dio’s Rainbow in the Dark, closing a confident and compact set. In the middle of the rain, of course, so they didn’t get the response from the crowd they deserved.
Sadly the rain then picked up again, and since we’re wimps, we spent most of the afternoon waiting it out in dry shelter with a cold one in hand and, despite good intentions, missed the sets by local heavyweights Space Unicorn On Fire, Within Destruction and Gonoba (I’m sure they played the way they should and showed the foreigners what Slovenian metal is!). The main stage only beckoned us late in the afternoon with London stoners Orange Goblin, who buried us in a thick sound, greasy as french fries. Massive riffs and a roaring rhythm section backed by a beaten-up vocal flew off the stage in generous doses, and it was great to see stoner/doom working so convincingly and positively on the crowd even in the afternoon hours. It’s really commendable that the organizer brought a good number of bands from these genres this year, since in previous years they were almost completely overlooked. The dirty sound of distorted, fuzzy guitars grooving like crazy and Ben Ward’s rough vocals lived up to expectations, and Orange Goblin are proof that stoner can still sound fresh and convincing.
Sadly, American death/grind outfit Brutal Truth didn’t live up to their name and the heavy expectations. Something just didn’t click during their set, and instead of reducing MetalDays to dust, they came across rather pale and unconvincing. The poor sound, which totally smeared the guitar lines, certainly contributed to the weaker picture, and Kevin Sharp’s screaming quickly became boring and monotonous. Brutal Truth still sound angry and punchy on record, but live they obviously can’t find what would bring them closer to their studio selves.
So what was going on over on the second stage all this time? Coma stepped up to the front of the second stage, which was covered with tarps to keep rain from seeping into the monitors. With the opening Last Aim the guys got some of the most curious friends from Italy on their feet. The thrash metallers had some early technical trouble (swapping a guitar cable right at the start), but brought it home happily. Space Unicorn On Fire draped the stage in a much more melodic manner. The Slovenians build on pomp and catchy chorus melodies. Classic metal, frilly and instantly invasive to the ear. Let’s Go To Space closed the show. Even though it kept pouring mercilessly, that didn’t stop the festival’s most music-savvy visitors from supporting the bands on the second stage. They enjoyed themselves in the shelter of the little forest, warmed by the red-hot metalizing spreading from the stage. A bigger fistful of rage and nihilism came after Space Unicorn On Fire from fellow Slovenians. Within Destruction. The bold death metallers from Jesenice, with a contract in their pocket with an Austrian label to record their debut, got nice support, but you can still tell that despite the abundance of gigs the band is relatively young and still has to mature as songwriters before it can fully impress with its creativity. For now they’re still smoldering in gray mediocrity, but let’s give them time. Special guests were Stormcast, who with their gig in Slovenia at MetalDays played outside their native Cyprus for the very first time. An interesting mix of atmospherically rolling doomy riffing that in the next moment morphs into a real necrophilia of the black metal paradigm, backed by blast beats. It certainly wouldn’t hurt if the vocalist worked a bit more on his stage presence and delivery, and the band paid more attention to arrangements, because at moments the guys were seriously boring musically. So there’s still room to grow! Until the set by Slovenian tech death metallers Gonoba, the well-known »camel faces« of »camel metal«, as they like to call it themselves, things kept spinning on stage forever, but without any highlights. And it poured harder and harder. Gonoba can really be proud of their latest studio album »Endless Cycle«. Such a shame the weather played them a dirty trick! This is a band that, with the kind of character strength embodied by the excellent new studio album, could break through abroad. It has huge potential. Hopsi hopped himself out with his buddies. An extraordinary mix of great technical tightness and compositional intellect. And in contrast to all that, the MetalDays show was supposedly even the band’s last. Let’s hope not.
Germany’s death/thrashers Cripper got a pretty high slot on the second stage. We saw them in Ljubljana not so long ago in the company of British thrash veterans Onslaught (who demolished that same stage just a day later). The band’s rapid rise (in popularity too) and wider recognition aren’t far-fetched, and that’s thanks mainly to the crazy vocalist Britta, whose stage presence and aggressive vocals out-sing many a male frontman (I’m thinking especially of the pampered Kakko, who played a big diva on the main stage two or three hours later). Like Wednesday’s storm, Cripper charged into a three-quarter-hour set of raw, energetic thrash, the band was on fire onstage and the crowd gratefully gave it back. Again mostly thanks to the commands Britta barked out, since she seemed especially pissed off, fired up and keen this time. What Cripper still need to stand out from the average is a bit more excitement and unpredictability in their own material (the drawing from the holy trinity of German thrash is painfully obvious). At times it runs out of steam, the songs sound a little too alike, and the guitar sawing is too generic, but the current record Antagonist is a step in the right direction. Shame they played only two songs off it and, to finish, got countless middle fingers raised high in the air with the standard but punchy FAQU.
Turisas? Ah, you rain-soaked lovers of Pleistocene hides! No two ways about it. The rain started easing off right as we waited for Turisas to go on. The crowd packed in heavily in front of the stage. What Alestorm gave the crowd the day before, Turisas came to make up for today. An alibi for dancing, drinking, in other words general tomfoolery! They just had to move from pirate ships to Viking war Drakkars! Mathias D.G. ‘Warlord’ Nygårdod, the incorrigible first leader and frontman of the band, kept egging on the boozing of bodies throughout the show. That’s the Viking style! The Turisas style! The show was the expected orgy between band and crowd. Still, it was interesting to watch how the atmosphere grew minute by minute during the set. The rain was forgotten, and around the halfway mark three quarters of those present were already going unstoppably nuts with the band. Front-of-stage packed to bursting! Though the band devoted the set to promoting the album »Stand Up And Fight« (2011), they also presented a brand-new song in the repertoire, Into the Fire from the album »Turisas«, out at the end of this August! Great energy during the show! The crowd, once again, made sure of that. The band closed the set with the crowd-favorite Battle Metal at the real final peak of their performance. With faces smeared in red paint, the folk metallers in their barefoot, fur-clad »outfit« look »childish« at first glance, but the chemistry of the sextet, in which the interplay of harmonies between guitar, violin and accordion plays a special role, works professionally and delivers an excellent rendition of their material. Always, whenever it comes to a stage performance. The only thing missing was their smashing Boney M cover Rasputin!
Right after a juicy sunset, an honest dose of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest classics fit perfectly, all the more so because, after Vicious Rumors and Tilen Hudrap, Slovenian metal power once again took the stage alongside a world-renowned musician. Sabbath Judas Sabbath is a »tribute« project of the small man with the big voice James Rivera (Helstar, ex-Seven Witches, ex-Vicious Rumors, Destiny’s End), with which he mostly plays classics of the above-mentioned forefathers of metal, and the instrumental lineup of its European branch performing with him is our own Metalsteel. With them, Rivera played a fiery set of unforgettable, iron-clad heavy metal classics, played and sung so passionately and faithfully that the hairs on our necks stood up all by themselves. The Slovenianized Rivera at first showed the audience his astonishment that a tribute band had been invited to the festival (and thanked half of Dirty Skunks – Šrt – hehe), but immediately added that it’s always a pleasure to hear Sabbath and Priest. The man knows what he’s talking about! And he knows how to sing too, since he nailed Dio phenomenally, tore eardrums apart with Halford-high screams and did surprisingly well with Ozzy’s nasal whine too. Sabbath Judas Sabbath also brought the Metalsteel classic Heavy Metal Is Our Religion back into the set, and to finish they drew a line between hell and heaven with the eternal Sabbath classic of the Dio era, the epic Heaven And Hell, on which they were joined by Brian Allen (Vicious Rumors) and Thomas Winkler (Gloryhammer).
Sweden’s Meshuggah – sowers of the apocalypse – are highly respected today and their shows are very well attended. They finally broke through with their current studio album »Koloss«. At last. But that took years of grinding. Even gradual stylistic departures from the elementary starting points of their creativity. The new Meshuggah adapted their sound and style to modern djent trends and today cultivate a unique, original blend that stands on its own in the metal universe. Technique is in their little finger, these men are an oiled machine that knows no flubs, while offering an exceptional rhythmic groove suspension that’s especially appealing. Worked out down to the smallest detail. Filigree. Like the gears of a perfectly calibrated Swiss watch. The band’s show was a kind of recap of what we experienced in Zagreb at the end of April this year, with an actually identical set list adapted to promoting the new album »Koloss«. The quintet of Jens Kidman (vocals), Fredrik Thordendal (guitar), Mårten Hagström (guitar), Dick Lövgren (bass) and Tomas Haake (drums) drove the masses into the mud with the opening Swarm and conjured up a hypnotically compact hour of total apocalyptic devastation. The crew is brilliantly in sync, the bestial Jens built an exceptional bond with the audience and the response was downright fanatical. It’s a pleasure to watch a band at the peak of its powers. Creative ones, and also in the sense that you can feel all its building blocks tuned to the same wavelength. When such harmony reigns in a band, nothing can derail it, and then it can move mountains. Meshuggah conjured up one of the best performances of the festival and confirmed that we can expect many more fascinating musical creations and delirious stage appearances from this band in the future!
The headliner of the third day’s small stage was the legendary American death metal band from Maryland, Dying Fetus, who delivered probably the best show of the day and took home the medal. The band is nearing its 20th anniversary, and that’s only thanks to the tireless will of the sole remaining original member, John Gallagher. So many members have come and gone over the years that you’d run out of fingers counting them, and today Dying Fetus perform as a trio. Which doesn’t show one bit on Gallagher, Sean Beasley (bass) and Trey Williams (drums). The band released one of the best records of its career last year, Reign Supreme, and the small stage exploded under the weight of violent riffs after the very first notes, proving that just three individuals can produce the noise of the Big Bang. The band’s tightness is phenomenal, there’s simply no room for mistakes with Dying Fetus, even though the guys can get seriously complex. The band’s sound was perfect! Williams’ inhuman drumming was pushed to the front, with the whole range of meticulously crafted transitions and devilishly fast kicking on the bass drums. Meanwhile Gallagher took care of the chopping and slicing with fantastic riffs and hellishly good solos, which Beasley followed with ease and incredible skill with “blunt force” bass playing, and the duo also delivered a demonic vocal duet. By filling in for Frank Mullen in Suffocation this year, Gallagher has obviously also improved his frontman game, since he no longer just stands there like a stuffed dummy, moves around a little more, and is better at communicating with the crowd. Still, Dying Fetus didn’t waste time on excessive chatter, they came, played, and left. In the style of the greats!
Why on earth did I have to hang around the main stage area between eleven and one at night!? Wednesday’s time slot there was reserved for the day’s main headliner, Finnish power »metal« band Sonata Arctica. Why metal in quotation marks? Because the Finns sound no different than pop frilled up with slightly distorted guitars and a power metal look all decked out and lifted from compatriots Stratovarius. The band is certainly devilishly tight, the keyboard and guitar duels are played with surgical precision, but it all sounds plastic, inorganic and fake-artsy to the core. Vocalist Kakko also showed excellent vocal form, but as a frontman, true to his surname, he’s nothing but one big stinking turd. It’s a disgrace for a band that practically all the banter between songs has to be done by the keyboardist and guitarists, who fire up the crowd even during the songs, while Kakko is busier with affected falling to his knees, diva behavior and posing for the devil horns. Where is the band that still had some potential with its debut Ecliptica? It was more than obviously killed off by the drive for the widest possible success and a crowd-friendly sound, which Kakko’s idiotic speeches confirm too, to the effect that as a pop band they’d already be world-class superstars. It rarely happens that I don’t give a band a chance and don’t watch a show to the end, but this time I took off at a brisk pace as far away as possible, so my ears wouldn’t be sodomized anymore by awful Finnish power metal, which leaves you tasting syrupy sweetness after just the first few notes. I’d take blast beats in my ears over Kakko on stage any day.
Setlist
ORANGE GOBLIN:
1. Scorpionica
2. The Filthy & the Few
3. Made of Rats
4. Some You Win, Some You Lose
5. The Fog
6. Your World Will Hate This
7. Cities of Frost
8. Quincy the Pigboy
9. Red Tide Rising
CRIPPER:
1. New Shadow
2. Life Is Deadly
3. Junkie Shuffle
4. Fire Walk With Me
5. Dogbite
6. Animal of Prey
7. Totmann
8. Damocles
9. Hyteria
10. FAQU
TURISAS:
1. The March of the Varangian Guard
2. Take the Day!
3. To Holmgard and Beyond
4. The Great Escape
5. One More
6. Into the Free
7. The Messenger
8. Stand Up and Fight
9. Battle Metal
SABBATH JUDAS SABBATH:
1. Nightcrawler
2. N.I.B.
3. After All
4. Judas Is Rising
5. Neon Nights
6. Metal Gods
7. Heavy Metal Is Our Religion
8. Heaven and Hell
MESHUGGAH:
1. Swarm
2. Combustion
3. obZen
4. Do Not Look Down
5. Demiurge
6. Bleed
7. I Am Colossus
8. Rational Gaze
9. New Millenium Cyanide Christ
10. The Hurt That Finds You First
11. Mind’s Mirrors/In Death – Is Life
12. In Death – Is Death/The Last Vigil
SONATA ARCTICA:
1. Only the Broken Hearts (Make You Beautiful)
2. Black Sheep
3. Alone In Heaven
4. Shitload of Money
5. The Gun
6. The Day
7. I Have a Right
8. The Last Amazing Grays
9. Tallulah
10. Paid In Full
11. Losing My Insanity
12. Broken
13. Full Moon
14. Replica
15. Cinderblox
16. Don’t Say a Word
Photo Gallery
