Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Mostovna / Solkan (Nova Gorica)
Concert date: 05.10.2016
Attendance: 350
Ticket price: €25.00 (on the day) / €22.00 (presale)
And so we’ve stepped deep into a concert season that’s already almost ridiculously packed. October’s gig hell kicked off right at the scene of this doom crime, since just two days earlier the Portuguese masters of darkness Moonspell paid Mostovna a visit. Before the month is out, we’ve got at least John Garcia, Venom Inc./Vital Remains, Enslaved, Inquisition/Rotting Christ and Obscura still ahead of us, not to mention the smaller shows. But before any of them, last Wednesday was time for a doom spectacle with the old guard of the genre, Pentagram, and their mascot Bobby Liebling, who with his not exactly lovely looks is starting to resemble Yogurt from Spaceballs more and more. Anyway, one of the founding fathers of the genre came back to us after three years, following a great show at Metaldays 2013 (you can read what Bobby told us back then HERE), and this time their return was even more eagerly awaited, because after a two-year absence the legendary guitarist Victor Griffin is back in the band. At Mostovna, Pentagram were joined by Tytus and Mother’s Cake, who, to everyone’s delight, proved that you can find good music among our western and northern neighbors too.
At nine o’clock sharp, Tytus took the Mostovna stage, all the way from neighboring Italy. Given where they’re from, I was pretty skeptical about what they’d deliver, since most Italian bands are (justifiably) saddled with a reputation as bad as the one Bobby Liebling has with everything that has two legs and a pulse. But a rule doesn’t mean there can’t be exceptions, and luckily Tytus, who probably took their name from the giant in He-Man’s universe, are one of them. The Trieste four-piece just put out their full-length debut Rises, on which they crank out devilishly good NWOBHM/heavy metal with the obligatory Thin Lizzy/Iron Maiden guitar harmonies, and that’s exactly what they served up live. Even though musically they offer nothing new or original, Tytus do their job brilliantly. A crushing rhythm section with an animal of a drummer, a guitar duo that’s pure “worship” of Maiden’s three-part harmonies, and an excellent, powerful vocal all made Tytus one of the nicest and least expected concert surprises of this year.
The second band of the night was an even bigger unknown, the Austrian trio Mother’s Cake, who, just like Tytus, turned out to be an unexpected surprise. These guys mix influences of funk, stoner and progressive rock, and generously season it all with psychedelic bits here and there. It wasn’t unusual, then, to hear influences ranging from bands like The Mars Volta on one end to bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Jamiroquai on the other, except it all sounded considerably heavier. Still, with the obligatory fat funky bass and instrumental excursions that stretched all the way into improvised jam sessions. Fitting the music, the stage was ruled by a relaxed, positive energy, and the only thing that left a slightly bitter taste in this mama’s cake was Yves Krismer’s rather annoying vocals.
Bobby Liebling probably has his friend Sean “Pellet” Pelletier and Don Argott, the director of the excellent documentary Last Days Here, to thank for the fact that he’s even still among the living. The film showed Liebling living in his parents’ basement, a near-walking-corpse thanks to relentless drug abuse. Even so, though he was always the mastermind of Pentagram, he was also the main culprit behind the band’s complete failure, a band that was practically a contemporary of Black Sabbath. Luckily, the film turned out to be cathartic, and a few years ago Bobby returned to the stage with Pentagram and recorded a second very good “comeback” record, Curious Volume. At Mostovna, Pentagram once again showed what real doom metal should sound like, with a thoroughly burnt-out frontman at the helm. Bobby’s work this time was admittedly a lot more mumbly than at Metaldays, but he’s still an unmistakable icon, and the somewhat weaker vocal performance quickly faded into oblivion next to the band’s top-notch instrumental side, which was crushing thanks to the superb rhythm section, and diabolical and sinister thanks to the exceptional Griffin, the true definition of a doom riff. In an hour and a half, Pentagram reminded us that Curious Volume is one of the better releases of their long career, and once again cast their spell with immortal classics like Sign of the Wolf, Forever My Queen, When the Screams Come, Relentless and the closing 20 Buck Spin. With Bobby, sadly, we can only guess how long he’ll keep stumbling around stages in anything resembling “good health,” so Pentagram is something every fan of the genre has to see live at least once in their life.
Setlist
PENTAGRAM:
1. Too Late
2. All Your Sins
3. Close the Casket
4. Sign of the Wolf
5. Sinister
6. Forever My Queen
7. The Tempter Push
8. When the Screams Come
9. Dead Bury Dead
10. Curious Volume
11. Dying World
12. Devil’s Playground
13. Relentless
14. Broken Vows
—encore—
15. Last Days Here
16. Be Forewarned
17. 20 Buck Spin
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