Author: Urban Bolta
Venue: MC Pekarna / Maribor
Concert date: 15.04.2011
Attendance: 120
Ticket price: 13€ / 15€
Just twenty days before the show, the news hit like a bolt from the blue: in mid-April, three young heavy metal bands, Bullet, Enforcer and Skull Fist, would be playing Maribor’s Pekarna. “Nice,” said all the metal junkies. “More than excellent,” we agreed, those of us who had already caught one of the three live, because we knew these were real live attractions who leave nobody indifferent.
Rockline first ran into Bullet and Enforcer at last year’s Bang Your Head!!! festival (reports here and here). Both played early in the afternoon, yet they shrugged off the early hour and the big stage and, with their performance and attitude alone, blew away plenty of bigger names on last year’s German edition. With my extremely positive impression of both bands still fresh, the announcement of a show in the more intimate surroundings of Pekarna was a real little holiday and a great reason to make the trip to the Styrian capital. Some hundred of us, mostly familiar faces from gigs everywhere, helped revive the sleepy Maribor heavy metal scene for at least one night.
Before the Swedish youngsters took the stage, Skull Fist opened, for me personally the only unknown of the night. The Canadian kids bet on an old-school heavy metal dance, which made them more than a fitting choice for the support slot on this tour. In a set of a good half hour, they played last year’s EP “Heavier Than Metal” in full and completely won over everyone there. An uncompromising assault of express-train heavy metal, an engaging stage show and a view toward the drum stool that the male part of the audience will have enjoyed filled Pekarna nicely, which very few opening acts manage at this kind of gig. Skull Fist cultivate a melodic heavy metal style with the occasional galloping “Maiden” guitar line, while the reins of the onstage madness are held by a slightly comical frontman, with a style that would suit an average glam rock enthusiast as well as, say, John Ricci (Exciter). The fun ended (way too) quickly with a cover of Angel Witch’s self-titled classic, and on their first European tour Skull Fist proved to be a promising young band. And their future? They’ve got two paths: maybe we’ll never hear of them again, but if they know how to make use of their talent and the higher powers (label and so on) are on their side, they could become frequent visitors to our parts.
Next up were the young Swedes Enforcer, whom I last saw in November, when they warmed up Gasometer in Vienna before the Australian youngsters Airbourne. In my report from that show, I wrapped up my verdict on their set far too hastily with the words: “…but I’m waiting for the day when I can see the Swedes at a headline show with a full-length set”. And just a few months later, my words came true!
Compared to their predecessors on stage, Enforcer didn’t let up by a single millimeter. If anything, they pressed even harder on the gas, and thanks to a few sworn fans in the crowd, they built up crazy energy almost right after hitting the stage, which transferred kinetically between band and audience. The Enforcer formula is dead simple: fire off three-minute heavy metal burners one after another without a break and keep the hellish tempo and general madness going so you don’t have a second to wipe the gathering sweat off your forehead. The Swedes deftly navigated through material from both of their albums so far, with the wildest reactions going to the tracks On The Loose, Katana, Into The Night and Running in Menace. In the performance, the most sympathies went to bassist Tobias Lindquist, who in the style of Angus Young (AC/DC) pulled off daredevil spins down in front of the stage and probably gave the beer-soaked floor of Pekarna a decent cleaning. Despite fears about frontman Olof Wikstrand’s vocal form, he got through the set satisfactorily, and as usual he made up for his merely average vocal charisma with an immersive approach and stage presence, with the guitarists spontaneously running around the stage and constantly passing the baton of the “spotlit star” back and forth. Enforcer, too, met the sky-high expectations and hurled the gauntlet with full force at the foreheads of all the fools who claim heavy metal hasn’t been “in” for a long time.
What would happen if Wolf Hoffmann (Accept) took over as lead guitarist in AC/DC? You’d get Bullet, a heavy rock powerhouse that draws its energy from metalized AC/DC-style drive and the categorically raspy vocals of Hell Hofer. Bullet went on tour to support their new album “Highway Pirates”, which understandably took up the bulk of the first half of the set. After the express tempo of the first two bands, Bullet shifted into a lower gear and turned their predecessors’ kinetics into a more sophisticated approach and twin-guitar work, which made it easier for the audience to follow the actual music of Bullet. The reliable guitar duo of the night laid down razor-sharp riffs, and between them, ruling the middle of the stage, was none other than Hell Hofer. With his stocky, short build and biker look, the frontman seems slightly comical, but his raspy shouts, coming straight from the throat, chill you to the bone. No messing around with Hofer! The charismatic little guy went through his frontman duties down to the last detail, and with all the potential of his charisma unleashed, Bullet, riding on killer riffs and anthemic Twisted Sister-style chants, plowed through the show like a tank. The second part of the set was dominated by songs from the first two albums, and the madness was capped off by their hardest-hitting anthem, Bite The Bullet. A raised fist in the air for farewell, and the successful night was over.
What can you say after a concert experience as pleasant as this one? Looking for a winner of the night would be completely pointless, since all three bands nailed their mission and convinced everyone there that the faith in heavy metal is far from dead among the younger bands too. I won’t claim that any of these three is reinventing the wheel or leading a new metal revolution (far from it), but what they do, they do well and with heart, and it’d be a miracle if success didn’t follow.
Photos: Martin Prezelj
Setlist
BULLET: 1. Highway Pirates 2. Back on the Road 3. Turn it up Loud 4. Stay Wild 5. Rambling Man 6. Roadking 7. Heading for the Top 8. One Deal with the Devil Instrumental 9. Dusk til Down 10. Pay the Price 11. Bite the Bullet
Photo gallery
