Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Channel Zero, Ljubljana
Concert date: December 11, 2008
Attendance: 50
Ticket price: €7
Anyone who loves quality rock and metal has probably dreamed of standing on a stage someday. Or, failing that, at least of being behind the scenes, helping put a gig together. The RockLine crew finally got its long-awaited, long-planned baptism by fire on December 11 at Channel Zero, home of the premiere RockLine event. So our team hauled its asses away from the screens and keyboards and showed up at Channel’s stage for the first time not as punters, but as organizers. Whether we pulled it off is for the crowd to judge. But how did the event look through our eyes?
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT:
Murska Sobota’s Children of the Night were the ones to crank up the temperature at Channel, and with the opener Silver from their debut Let’s Run Somewhere… Let’s Run Away, they got it done. Even though the space in front of the stage was still more or less empty, the four-piece burned through some excellent heavy metal without compromise, inspired by the stories of literary giants like Stephen King and J.R.R. Tolkien. Live, the band is confident, tight and precise, and it’s more than obvious that the guys love what they’re doing. Tadej and Sandi made up a crushing rhythm section, with Tadej especially lively on stage, while Alen and Silvo took care of the colorful riffing and some seriously enviable, well-played solos. Silvo might still be lacking a bit of vocal mileage, but I have no doubt Children of the Night will iron out these minor details too. What matters is that the debut album breathes even more naturally and organically live, aggressive and emotional at the same time, and Children of the Night already stand as one of the best heavy metal acts we have. And that’s very much worth praising in a flood of thrash metal and other more modern genres, while traditional heavy metal stays in the background.
ŽELEZOBETON:
After a good half hour of fiery heavy metal, Channel Zero was taken to the boiling point by Children of the Night’s “fellow countrymen,” the elder statesmen of Slovenian thrash metal, Železobeton. Their years of career experience definitely show, even though the mastermind Tadej Ropoša remains the only original member of the lineup. Železobeton served up three quarters of an hour of headbanging thrash and blasted through the entire record I Don’t Know. I don’t need to tell you that Železobeton shine live, do I? The guitar lines are on fire, colorful, dynamic and varied, and the riffs and solos are so unique you can slap the Železobeton label on them in a heartbeat. The rhythm section is just heavy enough, the bass is lively, and behind the kit the new drummer proved fantastic. Tadej is the definition of a proper frontman, his banter is hilarious (although those of us who don’t come from the eastern end of Slovenia occasionally needed subtitles), and his vocals are venomous and Mustaine-style aggressive. Železobeton drew quite a few people to the front, enough even for a small mosh pit, and the guys on stage finished off with a very promising new song, Black Fist. The crowd demanded an encore, which we got in the form of a thrashed-up Maiden classic, The Trooper. Thrashaholic!
Words by: Rok Klemše
STONE ORANGE:
Who’d have thought. This band really piqued my interest. The mountains were shaking, after all. The melodic hard rock quartet from Ljubljana, with the album Nori mlin in their pocket, treated their hometown to an hour-long set. The lineup: Marko Erjavec (vocals, guitar), Tomo Jurca (guitar), Davorin Kovačič (bass, backing vocals), Peter Potočnik (drums, backing vocals). The guys kicked off with their own song Nori mlin! They delivered excellent sound. The balance between the instruments was seriously exemplary, the harmonies nicely audible, the split between riff and solo okay. The sound was sharp and cut nicely. All that in-depth sound-check work definitely paid off big time here.
Between their own material Nori mlin, Ne gledam dol, Suženj občutkov and Mali princ, the guys threw in a nice bunch of covers of classic hits, taking on Cum Feel The Noize (Quiet Riot), then Waysted Years (Iron Maiden), Love Ain’t No Stranger (Whitesnake), Rebell Yell (Billy Idol), Kids Are Back and We, re Not Gonna Take It (both Twisted Sister), and closing with Led Zeppelin’s Rock N’ Roll!
The guys stumbled a few times during the show, like missing the drum transition rolls twice, and Marko improvising verses during Waysted Years (the chorus especially), where a half-tone too many crept in that shouldn’t have. Still, Marko as the central figure of the band won people over with excellent vocals and a neat “two in one” combo of playing guitar and singing. Of course, he can feel totally carefree in the safe embrace of Doctor Tomo Jurca, who confidently dusted off the tougher guitar parts in the songs, though interestingly, Tomo and Marko are equally strong on the solos, which is one more plus for Marko, who should primarily be focusing on vocals.
Performance-wise, not exactly Stone Orange’s most brilliant or happiest show of the night, but with their presence on the scene these guys are a very important pillar in building a hard rock movement in Slovenia. New young bands are popping up here, like Broken Arrow, Hotty McKnotty and Cyclone, there are more experienced ones like Lady’s First, who hover on the border between metal and hard rock (we’ll see what the new album, currently in the works, brings), the Mary Rose reunion is a very big deal, there’s an excellent new album from Šank Rock, and the AOR scene is waking up too (Rock Shock).
In short, Stone Orange need more gigs in the future and more support from listeners at shows, and it would also do the guys a lot of good to put on a little more cheeky “make-up.” In fact, the only member of the band who shows off a strongly welcome and desirable glam vibe, one that fits this kind of music perfectly, is singer Marko. So a bit more effort is needed on the band’s stage look, because the “bad boys look” definitely belongs in melodic hard rock! Get on it, guys!
LADY’S FIRST:
This quintet from Trbovlje has already gotten plenty of resounding words on RockLine in past gig reviews. Nothing changed this time for the “Lady’s-es.” What you see is what you get. No detours. Just by showing up, with their relaxed, fun-loving vibe, the guys brought a positive feel to the Channel Zero club.
Confident and self-assured as always. Since things were moving fast, they only did a quick line check, but there’s no fear when the ever-reliable Youwda is on the case! Before the show the guys promised a setlist made up mostly of original material and even two brand-new songs. A very promising announcement! Unfortunately, the lower turnout that night, despite some seriously fired-up heads in front of the stage cheering the band on during the show, led the band to cut the set by half an hour, so they were only on stage for an hour.
It’ll soon be a year since the band found stability after strengthening the lineup with bassist Aaron, and that solidity was easy to notice this time too. Singer Domen again fired up the crowd with no brakes, with witty flashes between songs, keeping the mood high. After a funny (pre-recorded) intro by Uncle Prokofiev, they burst out, pretty much as expected, with the excellent igniter High Machine. That put things in the right place right away. Great sound, power and energy radiating freely off the stage, vibes unleashed by a tight, experienced quintet! Besides the jolting opener High Machine, the heavier side of their repertoire is gaining more and more weight (even though they only have a debut out), especially the devilish Criminal (with its neat opening combo of Buco’s angrily dictating vocals and Youwda’s lower-pitched growling), where Domen’s biting vocals fit in convincingly, the under-the-skin hard rock rider Lady, and of course the venom of the songs LF, The Game and 911, where all the ingredients of Lady’s First’s music work great on stage again, and Domen’s obscure touch in the color of his singing acclimatizes especially well. In short, the original material works perfectly on stage. The guys unplugged from everything the way only they can. Immersed and completely relaxed, which always earns them winning points when you draw the line under all the pluses and minuses of the performance after the gig! Domen’s voice wasn’t quite precise in the melody a few times.
Of course, covers were part of it. The Trooper (Iron Maiden) and Fear Of The Dark (Iron Maiden), as if they’d shaken them out of a sleeve, which predictably drove the people in the club completely nuts, and Youwda once again devoured everything in a great translation of Blackmore into metal language with the Deep Purple classic Highway Star. On top of that, in the “groove” department, the cranked-up, riff-heavy Killing in the Name of by Rage Against The Machine won out over the other covers!
With remarkable confidence, great knowledge of one another and the routine of established stage chemistry, Lady’s First swept aside any potential hints of a “challenge” from the preceding Stone Orange, as though the latter might have wrestled the scepter of stage rule out of their hands that night! I mention Stone Orange (thankless as that is) as the genre-wise closest band on the bill, though each of them is still a long way off from the other in energy and style. For the finale the guys “decided” on a very inventively metalized, sped-up “Jingle Bells,” opening the pre-Christmas mood in Channel Zero’s club space with it. Lady’s First remain a true live band this time too, one that bites relentlessly and convinces at every moment.
It was late at night, actually early morning, when RockLine lost its innocence as far as organizing gigs goes. We gratefully took on the role of cleaners and swung our brooms like the last ravers in the club. It was an unforgettable night of great music, great bands, and laughs and fun galore. I’d like to thank everyone who came to cheer on these great Slovenian metal and hard rock bands. The combination of the legendary thrash metallers Železobeton, the young heavy metal charge of Children of the Night, the melodic rockers Stone Orange and (currently) the most stable steel outfit among them, Lady’s First, who lived up to their favorite role, was also a small test of the general interest of all those big mouths on Slovenian forums who talk and type a lot, then slink off into their holes with silly excuses. Okay, The Fakers served up some “cosmetics” and “impregnated Lolitas” at Orto bar, but they’re hardly worth missing, because everyone knows whose side “heart and faith” are on. It was also nice to see in the crowd all those who are in a similar “boat” (which makes it logical they understand what it’s like “to be in the same skin”) as the night’s performers, meaning members of other bands like Interceptor, Niet, Mit and Metal Steel. Thanks to the bands for an incredible concert experience.
Words by: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Mojca Perdih
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