Riot V, Crystal Viper, Metalsteel
Saturday, 3 May 2025
Klub Jedro, Medvode, Slovenia
“Metal unity, metal oneness, metal solidarity”
Dear metalheads, dear rockers, dear readers of this e-zine — and everyone else along for the ride. What follows is not going to be your standard, run-of-the-mill, perfectly ordinary gig report. You can’t exactly write something simple about a concert by legends Riot (V) to begin with, but on Saturday in Medvode a Greek tragedy unfolded — with an unusually happy ending, at least for most people in attendance. Let’s take it nice and slow, one step at a time.
First I have to mention the van that carried our crew of self-respecting Primorska die-hards into the marshes and beyond. The completely un-metal white color was actually the least of our problems. Ventilation? Nope. AC? Not a chance. Metal blasting at full volume? As if! Windows down? What’s that? So your humble correspondent was forced to dismantle a welded-shut window — otherwise we’d have suffocated in the traffic jam on the Primorka like chickens on a methadone farmer’s lot.
We eventually made it in one piece to klub Jedro. Nice little spot — I have to admit, somewhat embarrassingly, that Saturday was my first visit.
The promised metal party was kicked off by the locals and legends of Slovenian heavy, proper, manly (sorry, Daša) Heavy Metal — Metalsteel. They made the most of their half-hour slot, cracking a few jokes between songs, but otherwise it was pure, straight-up metal to the skull. I didn’t count the tracks — somewhere between six and seven I reckon — and the closing trio of Spomenik, Novi svet, and Heavy Metal Is Our Religion got even the last stubborn holdouts moving. Full marks!
Crystal Viper, led by founder and sole permanent member, the formidable Marta Gabriel, were up next. The noticeably beefed-up sound did them a lot of favors as they worked through songs from (I’m guessing) their entire career. Despite recent lineup changes, the band was nicely locked in, and their trademark Power Metal moves had the crowd well and truly animated. Marta has a seriously powerful and commanding voice that dug right into your eardrums. The real show-stealer, though, was the striking guitarist Giuseppe, whose mane swept the front rows off their feet — and his chops on the guitar are nothing to sneeze at either. I’ll admit I was pretty unprepared for what they had in store, but melodic, hard-hitting Power Metal is always a balm for my ears. Job done!
And then the bombshell dropped. Rok announced from the stage that Todd had laryngitis and couldn’t sing a single note. I think in that first moment everyone was checking the date to make sure it wasn’t April Fools’. The band decided to push on anyway with an abridged set, calling on local metal vocalists for backup, and Rok fairly offered everyone a full refund on their ticket if they wanted it. I’m not one hundred percent certain, but I don’t think a single person in the room took him up on it.
From that moment on, it wouldn’t be fair or right to write this up as a concert report for Riot V — this was a report on an epic metal party with some very distinguished guests. Katarina took on the bulk of the vocal duties, with Andrej (all of Bloodstreets) and Urban chipping in. Todd growled through a few of the lower passages and mostly took on the role of MC. The rest of the band were in top form — except Don, who plowed through his bass lines with a very stern face. There’s no room for error in this band, and the set was played flawlessly. I can’t help but mention Mike Flyntz, who gets completely overlooked in every best-guitarist-in-the-genre poll. He learned from a master and became a grandmaster himself — underrated, just as Riot (V) have been underrated their whole career.
Wherever the guest vocalists forgot a melody or a lyric, a crowd in gleeful spirits stepped in and roared the whole concert from A to Z. Personally, I had an absolute blast — the experience in a good hour and a half summed up the entire metal mindset, attitude, and conviction, hence the subtitle of this article. All three vocalists deserve serious credit for pulling off every demanding vocal line at the right level, with Katarina in particular proving herself a true rebel and warrior. A deep bow. I got the feeling that an emotional Todd was on the verge of tears all evening from being so moved, which only added to the magic of the moment. After the show I had a quick chat with Andrej, who was still floating about ten centimeters off the ground. He still couldn’t believe what had just happened — a life-defining experience for him, no question.
After the show, all the band members were available for a chat, autographs, and photos. Mike and I went through the entire history of the band — I learned a lot of things I hadn’t known before, some sad, some fascinating — and the guy was genuinely warm and open to talk to. Jonathan and I got into a debate about technical Death Metal, which is his passion. A very interesting conversation, even though I have absolutely zero knowledge of that genre myself.
The last to let his guard down against the good vibes was Don, who runs and manages the band alongside Mike. He finally relented after knocking back a few sips of organically grown fruit brandy from Jelični Vrh. His face softened and he graciously took note of my wishlist for the next show. I’m convinced, naturally, that they’ll go and learn those songs — because Todd said it goes without saying that they’ll make this concert up to us.
Then came a massive Metal party fueled by rivers of excellent beer and accompanied by the one and only true music. I haven’t met and gotten to know this many interesting people in a long time. After what felt like decades, I also ran into some familiar faces from my own murky concert history — the stories and tales were a lot more colorful than I remember them.
Bottom line — I’m counting on Todd being a man of his word, and that we’ll see each other again at Jedro in the not-too-distant future. Shine On!
Congrats to Rok and the crew for pulling this event off — hats off, as the former head coach of the Slovenian national football team used to say.
Text: Igorac
Photos: Silvija and (maybe a few) Igorac
