Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Tolmin / Slovenia
Concert date: 07/23/2017
We’re lucky to have it. Metaldays! One of Europe’s biggest metal festivals, which just went down for the thirteenth time (admittedly under a well-known different name before, but that doesn’t even matter), has become »a must« event for the local and international metal crowd with its one-of-a-kind location and diverse lineup. People wait for Metaldays as anxiously as for the birth of a firstborn, moving into a new house, or a wedding. I’m exaggerating, of course, but I’m not exactly far from the truth either. This year Metaldays brought plenty of novelties again, which we’ll write about more, but the biggest (and most welcome) one was definitely a third stage called New Forces. Since Saturday it had been hosting up-and-coming bands, who were also »fighting« for a slot on one of the two bigger stages at the next edition of the festival. Unfortunately, the weather brutally messed with the stage as early as Monday, when a storm flattened it like a house of cards, but the hard work, organization, and diligence of everyone involved made it possible for every single announced band to play on it. Sadly, over the following days we didn’t visit the third stage all that often because of a few awkward overlaps, but we only welcome and support the organizers’ move. The New Forces stage really shone in its role as host of the two »warm-up« nights.
Sunday’s crowd was warmed up on the New Forces stage by four new forces, and after acclimating to the Tolmin and festival atmosphere, we caught half of them. The first on a stage of respectable size and equipment were young French progressive/technical death metallers Fractal Universe, who used half an hour to present their full-length debut Engram of Decline, released this year. On it, the Nancy quartet combines obvious influences from bands like Obscura, Gojira, The Faceless and Alkaloid, so they’re not saying anything earth-shatteringly new, but what they do say, they say loud, confidently and with swagger. The French thus served up a proper ratatouille of broken guitar riffs and melodic passages, the rhythm section beat the crowd mercilessly with baguettes, and Fractal Universe won people over with their exceptional tightness, ripping solos and complex approaches. With surprisingly good sound, looked after on the third stage all festival long by the master Zega (Mothermound), Fractal Universe convinced a really thinly scattered crowd and no doubt won a fan or two on Slovenian soil.
The local Sober Assault, on the other hand, certainly have far more fans on our turf, and it showed. And it wasn’t only the band’s friends and the home crowd filling the space in front of the stage, because the place was packed to the brim, with almost a thousand people reportedly gathered there! Sober Assault weren’t scared off by their biggest gig challenge so far and did their job with distinction. Once again, the guitar duo of David »Ginger« Vodopivec and Enej Lamovšek shone under the baton of an excellent sound, and the roaring rhythm section was no slouch either, drumming like cannons across the Posočje mountains a hundred years ago. Thanks to the band’s gigging diligence, Enej has also turned into a real vocal beast, who does go quiet between songs, when bassist Rok Novak takes over the crowd banter, but never mind. Sober Assault beat the big crowd down with concrete riffage that came close to the guitar crunch of Exodus, with a dash of the melodic death metal that’s no stranger to Hypocrisy. The guys justified their spot as Sunday’s »headliner« and fully deserved their reward: a slot on the main stage at Metaldays 2018! After the gigs wrapped up on Sunday, most of the campsite probably saw one last assault on whatever sobriety was left.
photos: Klemen Udovč
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