Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: MC Firestarters / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 17.08.2011
Attendance: 150
Ticket price: €0.00 (no cover charge!)
Riding the sturdy wave of a fresh gallop, the old guard of the Slovenian hard rock scene, Requiem, are cooking up a new record. That’s no longer news. That it’s not just empty words and empty promises, and that the new album is moving into its ripe phase, was confirmed by a gig from the band, totally unannounced, deliberately “hidden” and meant only for the band’s closest friends. In the weeks leading up to the show, a single chain message went around on FaceBook, and that was enough to pull a crew of tireless supporters, a solid 100-plus heads, to the moto club “Firestarters”. Any more than that and the club’s walls would’ve started cracking at the seams. A bigger crowd was by no means advisable, since the second decade of this August came with gorgeous, sunny, scorching weather. The concrete-and-asphalt surroundings keep radiating the heat they soaked up all day long into the night, and down in the club’s basement, where the stage was of course, there was no escaping the almost tropical swelter either. Even your beer had to be downed right away if you wanted to stop the alcohol from evaporating on you, otherwise it just wouldn’t do the job.
Enough of the epic overture. On stage are hard n’ heavy rockers Tomcat. The band was born last fall out of lineups with a similar genre background, once embodied by Cyclone, Glenn More and Strock. On the left monitor, the sturdy and indestructible Gregor Šujica, swinging a rattling bass, flanked by a new crew, new faces, a surge of new drive, a new era. From the very first riff you could feel a tight, compact bond in the band, one that warms the engine up to proper working temperature. And that’s exactly how the set from these promising young rockers came across. A quartet that moves around the stage, gets the point of stage performance, with seriously exemplary communication and eye contact between the members. Original tracks like Purgatory, Goodbye and Metal Mania Hangover (a parody of past experiences waking up at the metal festival in Komno) pack a punchy, potent mix of classic old-school hard and heavy rock, with a tasteful touch of melodic sense and more than likeable guitar soloing. Rok’s vocals are convincing all the way too, full of feeling and at home in all kinds of situations. Of course, it has to be said that Tomcat are a party rock band. In that respect the band would fit a fifth member perfectly: a vocalist with free hands, who would fire up their “party atittude” even more, which they make no secret of, and the shows would gain in explosiveness. Rok could also focus fully on playing guitar, and the lineup would gain on the backing vocal harmonies too. In short, promising in every way. Let’s hope the band manages to get their original material onto an official release as soon as possible.
Requiem have plenty of devoted followers. They win the crowd over with no trouble at all, since Primož Romšak and Sergej Škofljanec are two very charismatic frontmen. But this write-up has to start from a different point. At this “incognito” gig, Requiem showed up in a refreshed form, with one major twist. Primož Romšak has left the band. Sergej Škofljanec stepped into his place as full-time vocalist, moving over from bass. That opened a gap in the band for a new bass player. The lineup didn’t have to look around for long. Joining them was Martin Rozman of Kantor and Billysi, who has gained a seriously lush head of hair since last year’s edition of the Christmas rock festival in Postojna, when he helped out Rock Shock on stage. They simply handed him Škofljanec’s standard Requiem five-string bass, and that way kept the sound of the live shows authentic. There’s no need to waste words on the high stretch coefficient of Martin’s fingers. The man is devilishly well-versed on bass, and you can tell he’s got a lot of miles behind him, so he totally masters the principles of stage performance and can match Requiem’s demands on the spot with no trouble. Just as noticeable was the outstanding progress of Matjaž Marin. The former Cyclone guitarist (hm, small world, huh Šujo?) played all of his key solos and transitions with the most confident performance yet (reference shows for Requiem: Dornberk 31.07.2010 and Postojna 30.12.2010), with a touch of real fire and the sharp focus of total control. The man is an excellent musician, and the key thing is that you can feel how he’s grown with the band since the time he joined for good. No need to waste words on Miha Nedoh. He’s one of the best rock and metal drummers of the young generation in Slovenia, and once again his explosiveness and the occasional use of the double bass drum pedal thoroughly rattled and shook the floor of the club.
And the band’s main characters? The man who personifies Requiem, charismatic leader Marko Slokar, in full control of what his band is doing on stage, backed by a sturdy delivery of heavy-rolling riff figures and armed with that classic Gibson Les Paul sound. Here I’ll also bring in “point 2”, the reason this gig was called in the first place. The band wanted to present two brand new songs. The first is a track called “Slovenska”, and the second, a bit later, around the middle of the set, was “Fallen Angel”! That is, the title track of the new album. During his intro for the song, Sergej hinted that the album title might get a closing “s” tacked on, i.e. “Fallen Angels”. If anyone remembers the 1978 Uriah Heep classic called “Fallen Angel”, the version with the extra “s” is even a recommended solution in that regard. Judging by what we heard, the new album will be a definite bomb. The wound-up Fallen Angel has all the charisma and character of the band’s past work (the hallmarks of rock bombast), upgraded with maturity for a new time, of course. Let’s wait a little longer for the results.
Singing Sergej Škofljanec’s praises is almost a given by now, like breathing air. But facts are facts. “Sergio” once again did his job with the greatest distinction. This time he had his hands free, so his communication with the crowd as a frontman was far more intense and had an even bigger effect. Once again a brilliant execution in every respect, taking the mid range up to the high and highest registers with a polished falsetto that doesn’t lose a speck of power in the process. A singer who belongs in the very top tier of rock vocalists in Slovenia, and I’ll say it straight: far beyond Slovenia’s borders too.
The band ran through their standards with confidence and exceptional self-assurance. The only serious battle the guys fought this time was the lack of available oxygen. A low ceiling, with spotlights aimed from point-blank range at the musicians’ faces and bodies, created the conditions of a proper hellish sauna.
But that couldn’t smother the good vibes. The presence of members of other bands who are connected to Requiem one way or another, and of the band’s truly closest friends, in an intimate circle where the reach of rock n’ roll really gets under your skin and touches you, fanned the flames of the band’s anthems, from the opening Zvezdno nebo through, among others, Amsterdam, Kaja, Mr. Twister, Ogenj, Kraljica noči, Križarji, the absolutely obligatory Stare device, and in the encore Heroji and a repeated Amsterdam. A truly one-of-a-kind experience of hanging out that brings you closer to the band than almost any other concert space. That was also the band’s basic purpose, since they’ve shown an exceptional sense of respect for all the loyalty their fans have shown them in the past. That genuine bond between crowd and band, with the proverb “loyalty to the grave”, thus remains a permanent constant.
The sound in the room was excellent, just loud enough, the drums set at the right level, which is actually the hardest thing to pull off in such small club spaces, when calibrating the right sound characteristics for a show.
Requiem thus presented themselves as a great band, confirming that the lineup keeps riding a wave of freshness, stage hunger and creative drive. With a new album on the way and after this show, a renewed and strengthened Requiem continue to deepen their reach as one of the most convincing rock stage attractions in Slovenia.
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
1. Intro 2. Zvezdno nebo 3. Amsterdam 4. Kaja 5. Slovenska 6. Mr. Twister 7. Pozabi na vse 8. Ogenj 9. Kraljica noči 10. Križarji 11. Čarovnice 12. Fallen Angel 13. Udari nazaj 14. R N R 15. 12. let 16. Pekel in raj 17. TV 18. Gospa 19. Stare device —encore— 20. Heroji 21. Amsterdam
Photo gallery
