Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / club Cirkus / Slovenia
Concert date: September 24, 2015
Attendance: 500
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry!)
The seventh MetalWitch festival has arrived! This time at the club Cirkus. In the old Vič cinema. In Ljubljana’s Vič district, of course. Five bands, five separate entities, five different musical stories. Given the club’s reputation, with a program that’s mostly »electronically tinged«, I can’t remember it ever really »metal-rocking« before this day, so picking this venue for the festival was pretty unusual, if not downright shocking. But it was a well-judged move "on dry land". That day the rain was relentless and soaked Ljubljana through, including while the festival was going on.
Free entry and beer at more than reasonable prices – though the draft stuff ran out pretty fast – drew a nice bunch of fans of heavier sounds to the venue, from many different generations, which came down to the festival’s lineup itself. Already between six and seven in the evening, Ljubljana heavy rockers Tomcat. opened the program. The band was hit by a wave of big changes at New Year, and now only one original member is left, the indestructible bassist and bandleader Grega Šujica »Šujo«, who has put together new material in no time and is now playing it live. Sadly, Tomcat get the short end of the stick in this report too, since pressing obligations in the middle of the work week meant we missed their set. What matters most for the guys right now is to play as much as possible and to get a new studio album out soon. The energy is there! The camaraderie holds! May it (re)main a constant!
Sear Bliss are actually Hungarian black metal legends. They’ve been active since 1993 and have seven studio albums under their belt, among other things. Over the years the band has earned a respectable and well-regarded artistic reputation on the international scene, adding symphonic elements to their otherwise sinister black metal, and, thanks to trombone, trumpet and flute, even touches that verge on jazz. The quintet brought a great change of pace to the festival, not just musically but also as a kind of attraction. Well, it looked like most of those present didn’t see it that way, because the venue emptied out quite a bit during their set, and the wait didn’t help either, a result of trouble with the initial instrument check and finding the right sound setup. In an atmosphere without lights, where the pitch black was only slashed by the occasional thin beams of white light, the band staged its own singular black mass. For those who know their music it was surely a sinfully good encounter, even though Sear Bliss had quite a few sound problems throughout the set. The wind instruments, for instance, were barely audible at all.
Metalsteel are old acquaintances of our metal logs. They always deliver a great live experience and a heaping dose of fun. A solid number of fired-up fans of the band gathered at the venue, especially from the younger metal guard, and they kept the mood excellent throughout the show. Packed with crackling electric sparks. As usual, the band is exceptionally cheerful on stage, radiating positive vibes, tangible confidence and experience. You can clearly feel every member, and there’s no hiding on stage. This time was no different. The band delivered a sturdy bag of guitar phrases from their discography, with the focus on the still-current album »Time for Revelation« (2013). Beni, Rok and Matej know how to make the most of the stage. Once again they ran left and right, struck different stage poses, stood shoulder to shoulder, in short, a show full of dynamics and lively metal excitement.
A special kind of experience followed with the arrival of the Novi Sad agro-Balkan-metal stronghold Pero Defformero, let’s call them straight-up Serbian turbo-metallers. Interestingly, before the show the crowd shuffled around a lot on the floor, which stayed packed to the brim. The band only got an hour on stage and, in it, whipped the crowd into a frenzy yet again with a ferocious performance. When the band closed its set with the song Došli smo do kraja puta and started theatrically saying goodbye, you could feel plenty of salvos of disapproval from the crowd. The quartet of Goran "Biške" Biševac (vocals), Saša Firš (guitar), András "Bandi" Ispán (bass guitar) and Srđan Golubica (drums) once again served up a top-notch »barbecue« of jokes, drenched in typical Serbian sarcasm that creates the image of a unique black humor from the Balkans. When everything goes wrong for you, you start making maximum fun of yourself. Crazy therapy. Starting with Ferrari, then through the songs Metal sviraću, then Silvana, which Biške suspiciously »stretches« into Sil-O-vana in the chorus, then Gotičarka, Gasterbajter, Ostavljen sam ja, Sedmica na lotu, Ćerka đavola and, right before the end, Kauboj, Pero Defformero demonstrated a show of exceptional tightness. Complex passages are woven into the compact riffs, bordering on the progressive, and it’s an especially great pleasure to watch guitarist Saša Firš at work. He’s an exceptional guitar virtuoso who never runs out of dynamite for his witty solo shenanigans. Pero Defformero is a band you can only take in one of two ways. Either you switch off completely »to the balls« while they play and bang your head along with them, or you find a quiet corner of the venue, take a »safe position« and simply marvel from a distance at the mix of exceptional tightness and excellent, I’d even say highly virtuosic playing from all three instrumental building blocks of the sound, never ceasing to be amazed at the incredible complementarity of turbo folk and the rawness of the metal school. Things that don’t seem to go together at first glance fit perfectly in this band. It’s a unique, we could even say worldwide, phenomenon that brings an enormous amount of fun, fun and nothing but fun to its shows. Pero Defformero made us laugh until we cried, even in this relatively short set! The Serbian quintet certainly doesn’t lack heart!
For the grand finale, Slovenian metal champions Noctiferia took the stage. They had their new album »Pax« in their pocket and a great run of shows this year, in which they’ve been promoting their latest studio release en masse. Among other places in China, and at Wacken Open Air, while Metaldays festival long ago became their second home. Noctiferia came out as expected. Spot-on. Yet another demonstration of exceptional tightness and stage polish. It didn’t take long before the venue was swallowed by the ominous, massively »teased« guitar sound of the eight-string guitar paddles of the Nardin/Fileš duo. The band instantly established its recognizable sonic backdrop, supported by extraordinary rhythmic kinetics, with palpable industrial elements woven in, of course. The »sub-rhythms« add a tribal aftertaste to the basic rhythm of individual songs. Gianni is once again in consistently good form on vocals. This time too, Noctiferia allowed themselves not a single weak moment or slip-up. Just like a month ago at Kamfest (RockLine report HERE) and two months ago at Metaldays festival (RockLine report HERE). Simply put, they’ve got incredible mileage, know-how and experience behind them. May the album and the »Pax« tour take them higher and further still. More than an excellent choice to close the MetalWitch festival.
And the festival delivered, thanks to the variety in the musical character of its acts, a ton of movement and a constantly dynamic flow of events. A festival with no admission fee, with decent beer prices and a quick way out where you can calmly light up a smoke while the rain cools your overheated head. Sweet. And what matters most: a heaping dose of excellent metal. See you again next year.
photos:
Jože Hvala – Tomcat
Aleš Podbrežnik – Sear Bliss, Metalsteel, Pero Defformero, Noctiferia
Setlist
PERO DEFFORMERO:
1. Ferrari
2. Metal sviraću
3. Silvana
4. Gotičarka
5. Ostavljen sam ja
6. Sedmica na lotu
7. Ćerka đavola
8. Gasterbajter
9. Kauboj
10. Došli smo do kraja puta
Photo Gallery
