Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Avtopoligon Ljubečna, Celje
Concert date: 14.08.2009
Attendance: 0
On a sunny morning, the last day of the festival, we were woken up at ten by Sagaris from Brežice, who, despite the really, really early hour, pulled quite a crowd to the front of the stage with their dynamic, lively melodic death metal in the vein of Wintersun and Children of Bodom. Next up, Žrec delivered one of the worst sets of the festival, with hopeless sloppiness and being out of tune (the guitarist obviously hasn’t heard yet what those little metal things on the headstock of the guitar are for, you won’t believe it, tuning the strings), and chased us into the tent for a beer, which at least helped a bit with plugging our ears. Before Chaosstar’s set we got one of the nicest moments of the festival – a few attendees put together a lovely surprise for the POA and Paranoid crew and gave them a birthday cake for the 10th anniversary!
Chaosstar gave the ears’ anvils, hammers and other bits a lot more kindness. The guys proved once again that right now they’re one of the tightest crews around, since it would be pretty hard to find a band that plays such complex music and is also unbelievably well-rehearsed, precise and completely confident on stage! The songs from the debut Lifetime were tearing it up again, led by the 14-minute epic progressive masterpiece Lifetime, the guitar duo of Jure and Vasja mowed us down again and again with sharp, complex riffs and breathtaking solos, and the killer rhythm section of Dare and Primož made sure the seismologists on Golovec had plenty to do. And on top of all that, there was Jure’s excellent vocal, which more than held its own in the pumpkin-head classic about eagles.
Next up on stage was Obidil, who warmed up the gathered crowd even more with an excellent mix of progressive metal/rock and elements of heavy/power and symphonic metal. Despite complex structures, arrangements and plenty of rhythm changes, the band manages to hold the crowd’s attention brilliantly with an energetic, confident performance and fantastic tightness. The dynamics and variety come from a fantastic rhythm section, with Klemen Markelj on drums and Matej Sušnik (Metalsteel), who makes sure the phenomenal bass lines never run dry. Just as effective is the well-oiled guitar duo of Tomaž Jelenc and Rok Tomšič (Metalsteel), and the guys are confidently led by Katarina with her mighty vocal, which takes the already catchy choruses and verses and just lifts them even higher.
Late in the afternoon it was time for the first bigger foreign band. Sweden’s RAM wrapped the Paranoid Open Air stage in a merciless storm of traditional old-school heavy metal. Yeah, true metal! In just under an hour they strung together proper heavy metal anthems with balls, full of catchy riffs, traditional heavy metal supersonic solos, the crushing torture of the double bass pedal and, of course, the obligatory high, screaming vocal of excellent frontman Oscar Carlquist, who in the high registers sounds almost like a young Rob Halford. RAM went full throttle without stopping, no wimpy pussy ballads, and ripped through their hour without compromise, delivering probably the biggest (positive!) surprise of the festival. And hats off to them for holding out in full leather, studded gear through the brutal heat of mid-August.
Germany’s Necronomicon carried on in a similar old-school style, except that the old school of heavy metal was swapped for authentic German old-school thrash metal. Even though the guys have been around since way back in 1983, their music quickly makes it clear why they stayed in the shadow of the holy trinity of German thrash, Sodom, Kreator and Destruction. Although they come across totally confident live on stage, their version of thrash metal is thoroughly average, full of generic riffs, washed-out solos, boring ideas and clearly clichéd lyrics about all things evil, death, Satan and the occult.
From European soil, though, we were whisked away for at least an hour to the dive bars and concert holes of New York in the mid-eighties and early nineties by the giants of the New York hardcore movement, Agnostic Front. The band, formed way back in 1980, is without a doubt one of the most influential acts of the genre, and accordingly a somewhat bigger crowd gathered in front of the stage, with a few real punk mohawks spotted among them. Agnostic Front fired up the engine without compromise and without stopping, spewing out two-to-three-minute hardcore wreckers. The crowd was happy, and it was during Agnostic Front that we got the biggest mosh pit of the festival. Funny that at a metal festival it’s the punks, or hardcore kids, who cause the biggest carnage in front of the stage, hehe. The guys from Agnostic Front were thrilled too, only vocalist Roger Miret was visibly disappointed by the, sadly, really small turnout. Still, classics like the unmissable Gotta Go came to life in the best possible light, and Agnostic Front undoubtedly delivered one of the more energetic sets of the festival.
From New York back to European soil, more precisely to Bristol in Britain, home of thrash metal outfit Onslaught. And they combed our hair right off our heads with thrash metal the way it’s meant to be! From the first second to the last, Onslaught were a real pleasure to watch on stage, and you could see on the band’s faces that they were more than happy. The show matched: diabolical riffs flew in from all sides, excellent solos too, and the aggressive, screeching vocal of fantastic frontman Sy Keeler spat out one classic after another – Metal Forces, Destroyer of Worlds, Killing Peace and Power From Hell. Thrash metal blast after blast! Onslaught are exactly what they say they are – 666% Pure Thrash!
Since the hour was right for downing a cup of blood, flipping a cross or two and spinning around in satanic rhythms, it was time for the biggest black metal treat of the festival, Norway’s Taake. The fog from the seven hills surrounding Bergen, Norway’s smelting pot of black metal bands (Burzum, Immortal, etc.), thus descended on the POA stage, and Taake climbed up onto it, led by vocalist Hoest. The controversial Hoest didn’t allow himself a repeat of the provocation from the Essen show in March 2007, which landed Taake in the tabloids and got them banned from playing in Germany, and only drew an upside-down cross on his belly. Even though Taake were eagerly awaited, their set was, to put it mildly, weird. The band did create an unforgettable atmosphere, but at the same time they were probably under the influence of alcohol and consequently out of tune and sloppy. I still can’t tell whether Taake were good or just awful… But Hoest would probably be happy.
We couldn’t have wished for a better finish to the festival than with the local heavy metal champions Requiem, not even in our wildest dreams. It’s a shame to waste words – the band was phenomenal again, the setlist excellent, and the vibe and atmosphere unforgettable. There was no better way to end the festival than with classics like Križarji, Pekel in raj, Amsterdam, Zvezdno nebo, and with this being the last show for the Kavaš brothers’ guitar duo and the debut gig of new guitarist Matjaž Marin, it’s just the cherry on top. And when the festival organizers joined Requiem on stage during the eternal anthem Stare device, everything got even better and even more moving. Too bad that also meant the end of a fantastic festival.
Sadly, the overstuffed concert season took its toll and festival attendance was sadly small. The location, which isn’t exactly known as the most metal, probably contributed too. There are no flaws to find, the organizers did a praiseworthy job, both on the organizational side and in terms of the band lineup. Even though the festival’s future is still unclear, all one can tell the organizers is one big THANK YOU for a fantastic festival. A festival in the true spirit of “by fans, for fans”!
Photos: Miha Mally (Necronomicon, Agnostic Front, Onslaught, Taake, Requiem)
Rok Klemše (Chaosstar, Obidil)
Setlist
10:00-10:40 SAGARIS*
10:55-11:35 ETERNITY
11:50-12:30 MONOX
12:45-13:25 ŽREC
13:40-14:20 CHAOSSTAR
14:35-15:15 OBIDIL
15:30-16:10 DALKHU
16:25-17:05 NEUROTECH
17:25-18:10 RAM
18:25-19:15 NECRONOMICON
19:40-20:40 AGNOSTIC FRONT
21:10-22:20 ONSLAUGHT
22:50-00:00 TAAKE
00:20-01:40 REQUIEM
Photo Gallery
