Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Venue: Kino Šiška
Concert date: October 14, 2012
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: 18€/22€
Those of us who are a few years younger never got the chance to witness the now-legendary shows that went down here fifteen, twenty years ago. In places you wouldn’t bet a cent on ever hosting legendary bands, plenty of gigs went down that the older crowd still talks about, while the rest of us drool over their memories and goggle in disbelief and respect. The nineties brought us Judas Priest/Pantera/Annihilator (Ljubljana, 1991), Faith No More/Cathedral (Ljubljana, 1993), Slayer/Machine Head (Ljubljana, 1994), Saxon (Kobjeglava, 1995), Black Sabbath (Sežana, 1995), Napalm Death/At the Gates (Kobjeglava, 1996) and plenty of others. Among them were the pioneers of doom and gothic metal, the British fathers Paradise Lost, who played Hum in 1992 with Tiamat, Ljubljana in 1994 with Crowbar, and then last played Ljubljana in 1997 at Festivalna dvorana. That is, until last Sunday, when Paradise Lost finally came back to Ljubljana after fifteen years. In ’97 it was with One Second, this year with their thirteenth studio album Tragic Idol.
Unannounced and to everyone’s surprise, the first on stage a bit after eight were the Zagreb darkers Phantasmagoria, who appeared on the official posters only as the opener for the following night at Pogon Jedinstvo in Zagreb. The Croatian gloom merchants are considered goth veterans back home, having been around since 1988 and ranking as one of the biggest underground acts in the genre. Phantasmagoria draw heavily on post-punk à la Joy Division and New Order, add a dark, powerful gothic note influenced by bands like The Sisters of Mercy and The 69 Eyes, and then toss in a pinch of ex-Yugoslav new wave. Led by the deep, brooding vocals of frontman Tomi, Phantasmagoria serve up mostly rhythmically rich music, constantly accompanied by a melancholic curtain of keyboards and darker-than-dark iconography. The Croatians are a long way from what my ears would listen to in my free time, but credit where it’s due: they did their job properly and with confidence.
Much, much more eagerly awaited, though, were the brand-new progressive heavyweights Soen, who bring together bassist Martin Lopez (ex-Opeth, ex-Amon Amarth), the legendary bass master Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus, Death, Control Denied, Testament, Iced Earth and a million others), vocalist Joel Ekelöf (Willowtree) and guitarist Kim Platbarzdis. The band put out their debut Cognitive this February, which was received brilliantly by critics and fans alike, and Soen played their very first shows on this very tour with Paradise Lost. A lot was expected from the supergroup, and they more than delivered from the first note on. The crystal-clear sound let the band shine at full brightness, from the spectacular rhythm section, which dictated the tempo like a top-drilled soldier, to the hypnotic moments courtesy of atmospheric keyboards and vocal ecstasy. Sadly, DiGiorgio stayed home, so we missed out on his unerring slides on his fretless Mjolnir bass, but his »stand-in« did a more than excellent job. As expected, Lopez reigned behind a massive drum kit, effortlessly conjuring up complex rhythmic patterns, intriguing, dynamic transitions and at times even tribal patterns, where the keyboardist occasionally joined him on the drums. Despite a resemblance to Tool and Opeth that is at moments (too) strong, Soen hit like a tidal wave, now slowly rolling in, now crashing down brutally. Fantastic bass lines, Lopez’s phenomenal drumming and Joel’s melancholic vocals, with vocal harmonies in the choruses that make your hair stand on end live, pull you into a hypnotic trance again and again. Only Kim’s guitar lines are more monotonous; next to that top-notch rhythm section they come across as dull and tame, surfacing most strongly in the djenty, Meshuggah-esque intro of Oscillation. But judging by what they showed, I have no doubt that Soen have nothing ahead of them but a steep climb!
A few minutes after ten, after a long fifteen years, the British doom and even more gothic metal elders Paradise Lost stepped onto a Ljubljana stage once again. Sunday night was just right for a dose of melancholy-tinged metal (Monday is a work day again, hehe), and the Brits even summoned rain over Ljubljana, which suited the evening perfectly. Paradise Lost kicked things off with the iconic Widow and at first struggled with the sound, which was too loud and badly muddied, but it thankfully got fixed fast. Paradise Lost are still riding high on the wings of their recently released album Tragic Idol, which they introduced right at the start with Honesty in Death, followed later by In This We Dwell, Tragic Idol and Fear of Impending Hell. Instrumentally the guys sounded excellent! The ever-smiling good-natured Aaron Aedy once again reliably laid down the rhythmic foundation for the outstanding Mackintosh, whose eerily melancholic guitar lines and fantastic solos came surging to the front once more and ruled the night. Mackintosh, probably also under the influence of his new band Vallenfyre, is the main driving force behind the much more guitar-driven and aggressive new material, which, after the danceable »Depeche Mode wannabe« records of the nineties, sounds like Icon or Draconian Times again. The rhythm section did a top-notch job too – old hand Adrian Erlandsson looks like he’s been with the band since the very beginning, while Edmondson, despite his dead-static stare as ever (and the look of someone out of Dawn of the Dead), delivers reliable, deep bass rumbling. But the big question mark is always Nick Holmes, since his vocal performance is dicey – it can be solid, or it can be a complete disaster. This time Holmes took the middle road and somehow paddled his way to the end of the set, even though he was visibly struggling at times and often left the vocal lines to the crowd or simply skipped them and mumbled a few sentences into the mic that were totally off. Milan Vidoviti would probably recommend him »nek pušta kosu!« The setlist didn’t deliver any big surprises either; there were almost too many new songs from the last three albums, a disco number too many in the middle of the set for my taste, and the most pleasant surprise was without a doubt the Shades of God classic Pity the Sadness. Instrumentally top-notch of course, vocally not so much. Paradise Lost wrapped up the set after a mere hour and a quarter, which is decidedly too short for a solo headliner show, with the hit Say Just Words, and the concert will stay in memory as solid, but far from outstanding.
Setlist
PARADISE LOST:
1. Widow
2. Honesty in Death
3. Erased
4. Enchantment
5. Soul Courageous
6. In This We Dwell
7. Praise Lamented Shade
8. Pity the Sadness
9. As I Die
10. One Second
11. Tragic Idol
12. The Enemy
– – encore – –
13. Embers Fire
14. Fear of Impending Hell
15. Faith Divides Us – Death Unites Us
16. Say Just Words
Photo gallery
