Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Venue: Cvetličarna, Ljubljana
Date: November 21, 2012
Attendance: 800
It was high time the renovated Cvetličarna survived a metal show too, and there’s no better test than a death/thrash gig, this time with the majestic Nile, death metal pioneers Morbid Angel and German thrash standard-bearers Kreator. Cvetličarna has gotten a completely new look. The first thing your eye lands on when you walk into the new hall is the big stage, which is no longer awkwardly shoved into a corner (even if that shrank the floor quite a bit). Then there’s the even bigger balcony that runs almost all the way around the hall, and the renovated side rooms and smoking area are welcome too, with some food for the hungry now sold out there as well. They did smack us hard with the prices and the selection, though: 300 ml of flat, watered-down Heineken for three euros and a fancy Evian bottle of water for two euros. Ouch. Apparently Cvetličarna also follows the principle of fleecing the working folk at every turn, which works so well for everyone across the board – politics, business, the unions. World of Shit, as Morbid Angel would say. Thank God we still get gigs like Wednesday’s, the kind that let you forget for a few hours about the world of shit where slime lives and civilization is collapsing.
First on stage this time were California’s Fueled By Fire, and as they strolled around the hall you could tell from a mile away where they come from and what they play. Denim jackets with patches, high-top sneakers and »suicidal« caps. Could they be any more cliché and stereotypical? Actually, yes, because their thrash is perfectly gray mediocrity that brings absolutely nothing new to the genre. Worse, the band picked up everything it could from its idols and added only a slightly more modern sound. In a good half hour FBF did warm up a few workout-hungry early arrivals, but they run out of uncopied ideas, and they’d need more varied songs and better communication with the crowd to go any further. Judging by what they showed, Fueled By Fire are one of the dullest new-school thrash bands around, nowhere near close enough to the likes of Warbringer, Havok and Vektor to be their roadies. Predictable, boring and monotonous. »Next, please!«
Luckily the American pharaohs Nile got their whips ready quickly. They’re one of the most respected and revered extreme death metal acts right now, and they chained us to Cvetličarna like slaves (Lashed to the Slave Stick, hehe) and opened the gates of hell when Sanders’ whip/guitar drew the first drop of blood. The monumental Nile played Cvetličarna (the renovated one, of course) for the first time since 2006, when they were presenting the album Annihilation of the Wicked, and this time the fresh At the Gates of Sethu. That’s already the band’s seventh studio album, and they still mostly have to play as a support act. Never mind, Nile scorched the crowd like a fiery hailstorm – the Lovecraftian chaos was summoned by the diabolical guitar lines of the Karl Sanders/Dallas Toler-Wade duo, a triple monstrous vocal attack and the crushing drumming of the stoic George Kollias, who behind the kit showed about as much life as the slaves hauling ten-ton stones through the Valley of the Kings. The rhythm section was rounded out this time by fresh-blood bassist Todd Ellis, who replaced the apparently dismissed Chris Lollis. Since Lollis handled most of the vocal duties on the previous tour, his absence this time meant Sanders and Toler-Wade once again showed who’s boss. Dallas, with a growl worthy of the name Ramses, made for an excellent counterattack to Karl’s deep gurgling, which sounds like something out of H.P. Lovecraft’s worst nightmares. Nile presented the new record best with Enduring the Eternal Molestation of Flame, for which they just shot a video, and as expected they closed the set with the punchy classic Black Seeds of Vengeance. The hour-long rampage of the Egyptian pharaohs across Ljubljana was spoiled only by bad sound, which wasn’t distinct enough, at times too loud and at others too muddy. Still, after the feeble Fueled By Fire, Nile made an excellent opener for the evening. Anoint my phallus with the blood of the fallen!
The most anticipated band of the night, though, was probably the American godfathers of death metal Morbid Angel, who led us through all nine circles of hell over the next hour and a quarter. The fear that the death metal elders would disappoint with too many new songs was real, since last year’s Illud Divinum Insanus is more blasphemous than Morbid Angel themselves are blasphemous (or rather, the long-awaited continuation of the alphabet is one big, hopeless disappointment). It was also worrying that, because of a spinal injury (or maybe because of the techno rhythms on the new record), the great drummer Pete “Commando” Sandoval was absent, currently replaced by the otherwise technically incredibly well-versed Tim Yeung. But whatever doubts you can have about Morbid Angel in 2012 were blown away in the first moments of the classic Immortal Rites, with which the Morbids peeled the skin off us while we were still alive! The initially somewhat weak sound improved quickly under the command of the band’s charismatic figure, vocalist and bassist David Vincent, and the pioneers made it clear from the first moments that Kreator had a seriously tough job ahead of them to justify their headliner billing. Classic after classic (they played half of the cult Altars of Madness!), Morbid Angel sent us deeper and deeper underground and ever closer to the devil’s embrace. Vincent still sounds demonic, aggressive and raw vocally. Luckily he’s also ditched the famous PVC shirt (swapping it for some kind of leather rockabilly look), and either way Disco Dave is a frontman who commands every corner of the stage and holds the crowd in his fist until the bitter end. This time Morbid Angel spared us and played only the two best tracks from the new album, Nevermore and Existo Vulgore (too bad they didn’t serve up Blades For Baal as well, but thank God they didn’t rape us with the idiotic Too Extreme or I Am Morbid), and they delivered top-tier technical execution. Yeung lived up to his reputation as one of the best drummers of the younger generation (though he could tone down the overly showy drumming), and the deadly static, always mane-of-hair-over-his-face, excellent Trey Azagtoth proved with his unique demonic solos why he’s one of the more unique death metal guitarists. If Morbid Angel disappointed with the new studio album, live they still live up to their name. The name of one of the biggest death metal bands of all time.
After three bands and almost four hours the crowd was already showing signs of fatigue, but Mille and his company managed to squeeze the last atoms of strength out of it. The German thrash machine Kreator returned to Ljubljana after just under two years with the new album Phantom Antichrist. In an hour and a half of Teutonic thrashing, Johnny Cash with Personal Jesus took us in, and then photos and images from Kreator’s 30-year history ran across the curtain. The intro Mars Mantra signaled it was getting serious, the curtain dropped and Kreator hit uncompromisingly with the title single of the new album. This time the Germans hauled along a hefty stage set, so the stage shone in all its might, which came across even more later on. The limbs of the spider horses from the Phantom Antichrist cover jutted out in all directions, and the glowing eyes fit nicely with the pyrotechnic exchange of aggressive riffs from the Petrozza/Sami duo and Ventor’s brutal drumming. Kreator can come across a bit static live, except for Petrozza, who impresses with constant hair-whipping, super aggressive vocals, deft soloing and still-broken English. But when the great leader howls “eins, zwei, drei, vier” and Kreator sink you deeper and deeper, a world of mighty songs, strong messages and brilliant energy opens up in front of you through epic tracks like Betrayer, the fantastic Voices of the Dead, People of the Lie and Pleasure to Kill. Mille had no trouble driving the crowd below the stage into aggressive dancing and even a huge wall of death, but what can you do, Petrozza repeats himself like a broken record. For at least the last six years Mille has had identical stage banter, led by »The Kreator has returned« and “time to raise zi flag of hate”, and apart from a few new songs Kreator don’t offer anything fresher with the song selection either. If I’m not mistaken, this setlist was completely identical to the one from two years ago, apart from five new songs. Kreator did successfully hit the boiling point with the classic closing, the twin punch of Flag of Hate and Tormentor, but still I hope Kreator stay away for a while this time.
Setlist
MORBID ANGEL:
1. Immortal Rites
2. Fall From Grace
3. Rapture
4. Pain Divine
5. Maze of Torment
6. Existo Vulgore
7. Nevermore
8. Lord of All Fevers and Plague
9. Chapel of Ghouls
10. Dawn of the Angry
11. Where the Slime Live
12. Bil Ur-Sag
13. God of Emptiness
14. World of Shit (The Promised Land)
KREATOR:
1. Personal Jesus/Mars Mantra (Intro)
2. Phantom Antichrist
3. From Flood Into Fire
4. Enemy of God
5. Phobia
6. Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue For the Elite)
7. Civilization Collapse
8. Voices of the Dead
9. Extreme Aggression
10. People of the Lie
11. Death to the World
12. Coma of Souls/Enless Pain
13. Pleasure to Kill
14. Violent Revolution
15. United in Hate
16. Betrayer
17. Flag of Hate
18. Tormentor
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