Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Orto Bar
Concert date: 24.03.2016
Ticket price: 5 €
Last Thursday, Orto Bar rang with folk melodies, both in their traditional form and in metal dress, as local bands Zaria and River Fables took the stage.
River Fables stepped up a little after half past nine and kicked things off with traditional Irish music. The quintet is Dann Aratt on guitar, Matevž Rozman on double bass, Zalan Peter on bodhran and accordion, Rok Mioč on flute and vocals, and the excellent violinist Nežka Starc, who shines brightest in the instrumental numbers. In a set just shy of an hour, they ran through plenty of crowd-pleasers, including the unavoidable »Drunken Sailor«, »The Irish rover« and »The Drunken Scotsman«, which Rok introduced like he’d just knocked back a bottle of whiskey. Sadly, the band didn’t quite get pints flying across Orto or the crowd jumping to the Irish rhythms and melodies, but it was probably still a bit too early for that. The mood was very relaxed all the same, and people were visibly having a good time.
Soon after, Zaria took over the stage, and the six-piece filled practically every centimeter they had available. This was their first show after a longer break, and you could tell they’d really missed the stage. Over a set of more than an hour, they played selected tracks from the EP Sij obzorja (2013), the debut Po poti življenja (2014), a few covers, and a couple of songs they’re preparing for a new album. The new ones are closer to melodic and symphonic metal than to the folk metal that defined the band’s earlier days. They played all the material with great confidence, and Inez keeps getting better from gig to gig, both vocally and instrumentally, as well as in how she connects with the crowd. The guitar duo of Miha and Jakob sounded in sync, and the only “real” mistake was one Jakob turned into a joke, saying “my apologies” into the mic, which got the crowd laughing and loosened the mood even further. The rhythm section was flawless: Rok on bass was tucked away a bit in the background but did his job uncompromisingly, while Nika on drums once again proved she has no trouble keeping up with her male colleagues, and easily outdoes them too. Gašper shone on keys again and played a really great solo on one of the new songs; I hope there’ll be a few of those moments on the new album.
During Divja jaga, Aljaž joined them on stage as a guest again. He’s the vocalist of the coastal (now defunct) Vinotoch, and he managed to dance with Inez somehow in the tiny bit of space the two of them had. The crowd joined in the dancing too, and the night ended, in a pretty full Orto Bar, with mosh pits, a lot of spilled beer and great energy.
text: David Bordon
