Location: Tolmin / Sotočje / Slovenia
Date: 24.07.2017
We welcomed the first official day of Metaldays 2017 with local heroes Hellcrawler, who on the newly renamed Boško Bursać stage (in honor of the legendary sound engineer who passed away last year) roared out their Swedish-sounding HM-2 guitars cranked up to 11. The lads from Gorica showed both of their studio releases in a great light and shoved the crowd into a post-apocalyptic world ruled by flesh-hungry undead and jukeboxes blasting out excellent black/crust/death’n’roll.
Soon after, Tolmin got hit by the second nasty storm of the day, which washed Irish folk metallers Na Cruithne right off the Lemmy stage. The British The Crawling on the other stage suited the weather much better anyway, successfully making the already gloomy mood even gloomier with a hefty dose of death/doom metal. Especially in the slower parts, and thanks to a vocal that recalled Aaron Stainthorpe, The Crawling came pretty close to their countrymen My Dying Bride. Which of course can’t be a bad thing. The Crawling put their debut Anatomy of Loss, released this year, in a good light and made themselves noticed just enough to be worth keeping an eye on.
As mentioned, things on the main stage should have been just getting going when Irish folk metallers Na Cruithne from Galway climbed up. The mixed, i.e. male-female, sextet, armed with a bouzouki and a whistle, had just started unfolding the essence of their musical vision and creativity, a blend of extreme genres (black metal) into which they weave elements of traditional Scottish, Irish and even Breton music, when a cloud burst and rain pounded the festival grounds mercilessly. People scattered en masse, and the band, no less cheerfully and quickly, bolted off the stage. The stage only came back to life at nine in the evening, when Iced Earth took it. Anyone who took the fur-clad fans from Ireland seriously and wanted to see a full-blooded set, only to have their plans wrecked by the weather, will have to find another chance. And those of you who caught the band at Orto bar in the middle of this June, in the company of the intriguing Mongolians Nine Treasures and Slovenian hopefuls Halcyon Era, may have found at least a bit of consolation.
Sadly, the nasty storm spared no one else on the main stage either. After the earlier cancellation of Xandrii, the big hard-luck case was Finnish thrashers Lost Society, whose set was canceled, while Japanese heavy metal veterans Loudness got moved from the main stage to the other one.
Luckily, the weather calmed down, more or less, before the set by Dutch hot new sensation Dool, whose lineup includes the former The Devil’s Blood rhythm section of Micha Haring (drums) and Job van de Zande (bass), plus Gold guitarist Nick Polak, and which is led by charismatic vocalist and guitarist Ryanne von Dorst. Dool logically carry on the story of The Devil’s Blood, who fell apart after the suicide of mastermind Selim Lemouchi, but in their music they mix influences of hard rock, heavy metal, pop and psychedelia even more deftly, all of it neatly wrapped in the nihilistic atmosphere of black metal. I hadn’t seen devilishly good energy like what Dool put out on that stage in ages, and with her »au naturelle« androgynous look (the girl just doesn’t like hair removal, screw it) Ryanne is a truly excellent leader and vocalist. Dool played most of their debut Here Now, There Then, but unfortunately, right in the middle of their set, during the cathartic Oweynagat, the sky opened up apocalyptically again and thoroughly soaked the crowd in front of the stage. Then again, the cleansing nature of water gave the whole thing even more weight.
The second stage was next conquered by Greek thrash metal revivalists Suicidal Angels from, no less Greek, Athens. The band put out their current studio album »Division of Blood« last year and built their repertoire accordingly, with the emphasis on playing the new songs. There’s no beating around the bush with Suicidal Angels. You get exactly what you see. And over the years they haven’t strayed much from their charted musical course. The influence of thrash titans Slayer is strongly felt in their compositions. The band came out swinging with no fewer than three tracks from »Divison Of Blood«, played back to back. Starting off in their own style. Devastating and uncompromising. »Suicidal«. Capitals Of War, Divison of Blood and Image of the Serpent rolled out one after another, and the crowd quickly found plenty of sympathy with the aggression and fire-spitting coming from the stage, creating an extremely chemical interaction with the otherwise utterly feral band. The only things that bug me about Suicidal Angels are the clumsy use of English and, at moments, a chronic dose of generic-ness that occasionally wafts out of their guitar phrases. The band also introduced new guitarist Gus Draxx, who replaced Chris Tsitsis last year. Suicidal Angels are an extremely tight outfit. It’s more than obvious they regularly play stages across Europe and the world. If they aren’t part of a multi-band touring package, they show up regularly at summer festivals around Europe. A packed schedule for the hard workers of Greek thrash revivalism, then. In forty minutes of »comedy« the band also tossed out Beggar of Scorn, Bleeding Holocaust, Reborn in Violence, Bloodbath, Mooshing Crew and Apokathilosis.
Cult American black metallers, or »mythological occult« metallers as they call themselves, Absu owed the Slovenian crowd a big one. About half a year ago, through no fault of their own, they played just half an hour in Šiška at the very end of an already long evening. Probably that’s also why they gave it absolutely everything this time. The legendary Proscriptor McGovern pounded the drums like Animal from the Muppets while also growling and screaming like a rabid fox. It gets even better when a roadie takes over the drums from Proscriptor and the drummer morphs into a frontman in a red cloak with a fur trim and, between the aforementioned growling of course, pulls off the coolest dance moves, gestures and grimaces in black metal, rivaled maybe only by Abbath. The Texan trio looks like a well-oiled machine on stage, and I hope their renewed live activity means that the album Abzu, already six years old, will soon get a successor.
Because of the reshuffled schedule, Loudness got squeezed in after Absu, and I decided to watch all of Iced Earth instead, true veterans of the Tolmin festival by now. The legendary Americans took the stage with an academic delay and greeted the crowd with a novelty from their just-released studio record Incorruptible, Great Heathen Army, an ode to Viking hordes, which worked better live than on the album. Unfortunately, the sound was awful from the first song to the last, which is probably down to technical problems with the gear caused by all that rain. The sound did get better from song to song, but it was definitely too quiet, and individual instruments were poorly mixed at moments too. Iced Earth didn’t let it bother them much, though, and with an outstanding setlist they actually pulled off one of the nicest surprises of the festival. They dished out a pile of unexpected classics, starting with Burning Times, then nearly half of the cult record The Dark Saga (Dark Saga, I Died For You, Vengeance Is Mine and the closing epic The Hunter), and with a superb Pure Evil they even went all the way back to Night of the Stormrider. Throughout, despite the bad sound, the out-of-this-world Stu Block wowed with an excellent vocal performance, Schaffer’s right hand was reliable as ever, Jake Dreyer nailed the solos (check out his main band Witherfall!), and it was wonderful to see Brent Smedley behind the kit again after so long. Knees buckled once more at the ever-beautiful Watching Over Me, and the band said goodbye with the unforgettable The Hunter. The only downside of the Iced Earth gig, besides the bad sound? Sadly, a set cut short by about fifteen minutes.
Japanese hard rock legends Loudness were supposed to play the main stage a little after five in the afternoon. But because of the heavy storm they were moved to the other stage, and the time that freed up was used to get everything on the main stage fully ready for Iced Earth. Loudness’s set thus slid to half past nine in the evening and consequently overlapped with Iced Earth. Damn. This time two thirds of the excellent American heavy metallers’ show had to be sacrificed, since it’s an open question whether we’ll ever get to see Loudness again anywhere in Europe, let alone on Slovenian stages. So the Loudness show counted as one of the top attractions of this year’s Metaldays in Tolmin, something you absolutely could not miss. Especially not if you’re crazy about the old school. After some early trouble, when guitarist Akira Takasaki’s guitar jack died on him, the band pulled itself together and started the show five minutes later. Loudness today have three original members who’ve been together since 1981, when the band was formed. Besides the extraordinary guitar virtuoso Akira Takasaki, there are vocalist Minoru Niihara and bassist Masayoshi Yamashita, while the drums are played by Masayuki Suzuki, who in 2009 replaced the late (and original) drummer Munetaka Higuchi. Apart from a guitar that was too loud at moments, we can sum up the band’s performance in one word: excellent. True, Minoru doesn’t have the explosiveness in his vocals that he once did, but still. With his particular vocal approach, where you just accept that it’s often unclear what Minoru is actually singing in English (but that’s a problem for all Japanese bands tackling English lyrics), the guy held up more than confidently for the whole set. As expected, the band struck first with the classic Crazy Nights from the cult »Thunder in the East« album and stuck with that album for the next two songs, lining up Like Hell and Heavy Chains to open. Loudness released their last studio album three years ago. Titled »The Sun Will Rise Again«, it’s already the 26th studio album of their long-lived career. In the second half of the show the band played the title track from it, with an extremely catchy, ignition-switch of a chorus. Loudness radiated cheerful vibes throughout the show and got solid support from the crowd, while in all their (practically proverbial Japanese) modesty and politeness they thanked the crowd cheering them on almost too much. Takasaki remains a master without equal. An exceptional virtuoso. Incredible technique, ultrasonic speed, a real little Japanese Malmsteen, full of guitar neoclassicism. Guitar playing that takes your breath away. And the music of course owes its inspiration to Rainbow. As expected, the band closed the show with the »Hurricane« classic S.D.I., and also lined up In the Mirror, Rock Shock and Crazy Doctor. The set was intense, full of emotion. You don’t see Japanese hard rock legends every day! Bomb, storm, lightning and then some! From the East, no less. Let’s hope that by some miracle we meet them again.
The role of the festival’s headliner on the main stage on day one fell to an icon of musical eccentricity and shock provocation. Marilyn Manson is a man who has developed an exceptional blend of recognizable and unique art culture over the years. A one-of-a-kind mix of alternative rock and alternative metal, in which influences of industrial inevitably have their place, along with showy theatrics and gloominess, and all of it hooked up with elements of »black«, if not »gothic«, glam. Superbly »twisted« rock’n’roll full of depraved artistic deviations, with low, greasy-tuned guitar phrases, backed by extra sub-rhythmic sampling that creates a hypnotic stupor in which the crowd, as a rule, practically eats out of the hand of the charismatic figure of the monstrous Manson. Well, none of what’s described above, which Brian Hugh Warner and his crew were supposed to bring to Metaldays in Tolmin, was delivered this time the way you’d expect (and demand) from such a musical institution. The band, which had just released its new and already fifteenth studio album, »Heaven Upside Down«, appeared on the stage in Tolmin as a sextet. Keeping Manson company in the live lineup are the »eternal« Twiggy Ramirez, who for the band’s new era switched from guitar to bass, newcomers on guitars Paul Wiley and Tyler Bates, keyboardist Daniel Fox and drummer Gil Sharone.
Sure, Marilyn Manson were billed as the absolute artistic oddball on this year’s Metaldays lineup, and in terms of expression they’re a mile away from what the vast majority of festival-goers come here for, but regardless of the lukewarm response from the sizable crowd watching the show, the band had no need to act so starry, arrogant and high-and-mighty. The show ended after a good hour. Manson made a mild effort for a while to jolt and wake up the crowd with his stock tricks, but in vain. The response was truly lukewarm, even though the crowd was visibly enjoying itself throughout the show. Marilyn Manson sensed this flatness quickly and started acting extremely formal. Just enough to »pocket« another gig and a few rustling greenbacks. Driven by pure professional routine. The set design brought a giant throne onto the stage, which Manson climbed and strolled around imperiously, and of course there was another »reckoning« with the mic stand. The show as a whole wasn’t what we expected from Manson. The »star« cut it short, then. After finishing the regular set with the obligatory cover of Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams, he came back for the obligatory encore in a red suit, and for just one song. Beautiful People. When it was over he quickly left the stage without a word. He did it so unexpectedly that he even confused his own stage crew, who stood frozen on stage for a few moments before actually grasping that their boss had permanently headed backstage. We won’t go on about the decency and composure of such a pose toward the audience here, but the man evidently can afford this kind of thing. A gig that will quickly sink into oblivion and a performance that delivered one of the bigger disappointments of the entire festival. It’s clear Marilyn Manson can deliver more and better. But we’ll have to wait for the autumn leg of the tour, which also stops in Vienna, Austria. More fun and happiness next time, then. For all that, Marilyn Manson, who after rehab and cleaning up put on a hefty bundle of extra pounds, remains an exceptionally special, striking and charismatic artist who, with his genius and vision, keeps on delivering superb musical provocation.
The undisputed highlight of day one was provided by mysterious Polish black metallers Batushka, as confirmed by the fact that they played in front of a packed crowd at the second stage. Apparently as many as six thousand people watched the Polish liturgy. Despite the mysterious garb, the anonymity of the members (rumor has it that members of Polish bands like Hate, Mgla and Behemoth play in the group) and the apparent incompatibility of Orthodox iconography with black metal, Batushka already wowed everyone back in January at Cvetličarna, where they proved they’re more than just a »gimmick« band. This time they only confirmed it, as the power of their black metal woven with Orthodox chants came through even stronger under the open sky. The superb sound also worked in Batushka’s favor, especially the guitar sound, which was finger-lickin’ perfect. If I’m not mistaken, the band also played some new material that will find its place on the upcoming studio record, and otherwise they again served up the bulk of their debut Litourgiya, and the Orthodox black metal chants echoed in the ears of the sizable crowd long into the night.
Anyone who enjoyed the energetic stinginess of Manson’s show this time, and whose appetite wasn’t fully satisfied by Batoushka’s set either, absolutely had to catch the old-school NWOBHM sonic terrorists Venom Inc. Yes. That’s Venom »with a flaw« in the name, and yet Venom. There are currently two Venom bands, and both include founding and original members who co-wrote the cult classics. While Venom is led by Conrad Lant, known as Kronos, the other Venom are called Venom Inc, and their lineup includes original Venom members guitarist Jeff Dunn a.k.a. Mantas and drummer Anthony Bray a.k.a. Abaddon. The third »sinner« of this crew is the very guy who replaced Kronos as bassist and singer for three Venom albums in 1989. That’s Tony Dolan a.k.a. The Demolition Man. And this trio really delivered a bravura, top-notch closing concert treat for the first day of the festival. From the first second to the last they lined up one Venom classic after another. Dolan remains an excellent Kronos stand-in. Judging by his stage movement, gesturing and facial grimaces (pulling faces) that he pops off during the show, including the constant sticking-out of the tongue, plus of course the incredible vocal approximation of Kronos, full of guttural growl, and last but not least superbly girded with genuine black humor of the kind you only find on the British Isles. The trio was also decked out in old-school stage outfits, and the performance blasted the venue straight back to the early eighties, when metal was a young child of the musical universe. It couldn’t get more authentic than this.
Of course the guys cut through the classics of the first two albums Black Metal (Leave Me in Hell, Black Metal, Don’t Burn The Witch, Buried Alive, Countless Bathory) and Welcome To Hell (Sons Of Satan, Live Like an Angel (Die Like a Devil), In League With Satan, Witching Hour), and added quite a few other delights, like the opening Rip Ride from the third album »At War With Satan« and lost classics from the time of that album, Warhead and Seven Gates Of Hell, as well as both sides of the »Bloodlust« single released in 1982 (Bloodlust, In Nomine Satanas). The band, which will release its studio album titled »Ave« on 11.08.2017, also presented a brand-new song, Ave Satanas. The pact with the devil holds, then, and not a speck of age rust or mold clings to this blood-brotherly bond. The trio radiates deadly stage venom. Excellent old-school sound. Brilliant communication. Tight interplay between the crowd and the trio. Right to the very last second. The crowd called the band back to the stage three times, and the night felt like it would never end. We could hardly have wished for a nicer close to the first day of Metaldays 2017. Especially for the defenders of the traditional achievements of the old school and, in the case of Venom’s opus, of a downright cult metal craft. Long live hell and Satan!
Nina Grad (photos): The Crawling, Dool, Suicidal Angels, Absu, Iced Earth, Marilyn Manson Batushka
Rok Klemše: Hellcrawler, The Crawling, Dool, Absu, Batushka, Iced Earth
Aleš Podbrežnik: Na Cruithne, Suicidal Angels, Loudness, Marilyn Manson, Venom Inc.
Klemen Udovč (photos): Avven, Vasectomy
