Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Kino Šiška, Ljubljana
Concert date: 06.12.2010
Attendance: 500
Ticket price: 22€/27€
It’s interesting to wade into the debate over whether metal gigs belong in the new Kino Šiška hall. One side says the venue is too sterile, too modern and simply too pretty for the heaviness, gloom and aggression of metal; the other says there’s still not nearly enough metal at Kino Šiška. I’m in that second camp, and if you ask me, Kino Šiška proved once again that it’s a great (metal) concert venue with an “indoor” festival-style show featuring five bands – Nothnegal, Metsatöll, Rotting Christ, Samael and Finntroll. I’d say the solid turnout backed up that second argument once more. But let’s take it house by house… er… band by band.
Nothnegal tried to bring a bit of sunshine to Ljubljana’s gloomy, cold and foggy December… metal sunshine. Judging by where they come from, Nothnegal are a totally exotic act on the metal scene – the sextet sailed into Kino Šiška from the Indian Ocean, specifically from the island nation of the Maldives. The young band, which will soon celebrate its fifth anniversary, made a name for itself with its first and so far only studio release, the EP Antidote of Realism, and recently signed with the increasingly active French label Season of Mist (whose roster includes giants like Cynic, Atheist and Morbid Angel, among others!). Given the country Nothnegal come from, it was pretty clear fast that the guys are still searching for their true identity. What they served up in half an hour was a at times clumsy mix of power, thrash and black metal, and the islanders’ music reminded me most of Finnish bands like Kalmah and Eternal Tears of Sorrow – mainly because of the frequent atmospheric keyboard bits and melodic soloing. The Maldivians definitely have potential, but they still lack a good deal of freshness and originality. They have an excellent vocalist with just the right amount of raw, aggressive delivery, the two guitarists are hardly slackers when it comes to running up and down the fretboard, and it was a surprise to spot Finnish multi-instrumentalist Tuomas Saukkonen behind the drums, whom we got to hear a while back with his main band Before the Dawn at Orto bar. Nothnegal whetted appetites fairly successfully, and they definitely deserved a lot more people in front of the stage than the next band got.
But since these days, sadly, it’s folk metal that sells best and goes down best with the young metal crowd, the second act, Estonian folk metal oddballs Metsatöll, managed to draw a nice flock of sheep… er… people to the front of the stage despite the relatively early hour. People who are happy as long as there are weirdos on stage dressed in fur and as many obscure folk/ethnic instruments as possible, and then it’s party time. Folk metal sells like crazy these days, the kids are “tripping” on this already totally worn-out genre, and plenty of promoters are rubbing their hands over it – just look at Metalcamp’s lineup every year; flutes, hey-nonny-nonny and accordion. Hooray! Ok, ok, let me end my “rant” about the musical taste of most younger metal listeners. I have to admit Metsatöll sound better live than on their studio recordings, and the biggest props go to them for not using backing tracks for the folk parts – a wide range of different instruments is played by a single guy. In between, he also does some weird dancing around the stage and plays “air guitar” on his flute. The Estonians were relaxed and energetic on stage, but even the best stage show can’t make up for monotonous riffing, an average rhythm section and, to put it mildly, strange vocals that are supposedly meant to evoke the ancestors and the past history of the Estonian nation. Empty, boring and uninspired.
If Metsatöll left a big bone stuck in our throats, then after (sadly only) 40 minutes of Greek black metal sensation Rotting Christ we were happily smacking our lips and licking our fingers. The Greeks have had to fend off accusations over the band’s name many times (from purist fanatics, naturally), and the tabloids wrote about them thanks to born-again Christian Dave Mustaine. It’s well known that he turned down a show where Rotting Christ were supposed to be the support act. But the Greek band did nothing with that name except describe the natural state of humanity – we’ll all rot sooner or later and return to dust. Misanthropy aside, Rotting Christ marched onto the Kino Šiška stage to the sounds of an epic, pompous intro, grabbed their instruments, and with the title track of the new album Aealo we became part of a mass ritual born of the atmosphere of Rotting Christ’s unique black metal. The probably most eagerly awaited band of the festival package, which drew the biggest crowd in front of the stage, delivered an unforgettable assault on all the senses, especially the ears, which spent 40 minutes revelling in a unique black metal full of crushing yet skilled and cliché-free blast beats, spectacularly epic guitar melodies that made the heart tremble with joy, Balkan melos and occasional symphonic pomp that easily leaves you speechless. Not to mention charismatic frontman Sakis and the rest of the band supplying epic chants in the choruses that practically beg you to sing along, while the vocal lines on their own summon supernatural forces that come alive in an unforgettable rite with Rotting Christ. The Greeks also treated us to a spectacular lightshow that blended perfectly with the music, a real “eye-candy”. Finally, one band that squeezed every last drop of the potential hiding inside Kino Šiška! Sadly, what’s best and sweetest usually ends the fastest, and Rotting Christ left us after just 40 minutes. Even though they played only nine songs and gave by far the most attention to the new record, skipping older material due to time constraints, after the last note of the closing Noctis Era faded, all that was left was a feeling of fullness, satisfaction and, thanks to the sheer elan, epicness and uncompromising force, near exhaustion. But that satisfied kind of exhaustion. We’re waiting with open arms for another Rotting Christ headline show here! Non serviam!
Next, the Kino Šiška stage hosted another big band, Swiss innovators of industrial metal Samael. We know Switzerland mainly for holey cheese, watches, knives and Ricoliiiiiiiiiiiiii, but this Central European country is also home to at least three cult metal acts that left a strong mark on the history of metal – Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Coroner and yes, Samael too. The Swiss band made its name with its first two albums, Worship Him and Blood Ritual, which are still among the better representatives of the second wave of black metal, and with its later work laid the foundations of post black metal and industrial. That night Samael delivered a powerful evening of excellent industrial, backed by a strong visual element, especially mystical projections that effectively built up the aura of enigma and mystery surrounding Samael. All eyes were on charismatic frontman Vorph, dressed head to toe in red, throughout the show as he sang the carefully chosen songs, covering every era of the band, in a raw and aggressive voice. Well, except for the first three albums, which sadly haven’t been what Samael are about for quite some time. On the wings of Vorph’s superb performance and industrial’s hard-hitting sounds, we sailed through the rain, into black holes and all the way to Jupiter, but sadly the intensity of the Samael show is dampened somewhat by the programmed drums. The agile and extremely lively keyboardist Xy does throw in a few hits on the snare and a few cymbals, but that’s not what I’d want, since I’m firmly convinced Samael would have sounded far better with crushing live drumming throughout the whole show. The unique Vorph, full of rehearsed yet highly effective moves and gestures, pointed us to the just-released EP, from which we heard the title track Antigod, and they even played a song from the upcoming album, which sounds promising and again a bit more old-school oriented. But the best part was hearing the cult Into the Pentagram, even in a newer, slightly reworked version. If only Samael could have seated us on Baphomet’s throne too!
The evening ended with a troll bacchanal from Finland, Finntroll. We’ve already had this band here before, and if you’ve seen them already, this time you didn’t get to experience anything shockingly new. Finntroll walked us through a “best of” set of songs from all their albums in a good hour. If Rotting Christ and Samael hadn’t done such a good job before the Finns, I could have written that the Finnish trolls were excellent, but as it is, I can only write that Finntroll were a few levels lower in energy than the previous two acts. Vocalist Vreth tried his best to look as wicked and troll-like as possible and the young crowd was eating out of his hand, but Finntroll fell well short of being truly worthy, justified headliners. The bouncy humppa metal, which is admittedly Finntroll’s own invention, fell flat this time, despite the band’s confident and well-rehearsed stage act. Decent, but not shaking anything up.
Tuesday’s show offered a sort of sine curve, a curve that reached its highest peaks with the acts called Rotting Christ and Samael. Even though all five bands did their job confidently and quite satisfactorily, I can’t help wishing the last three had played in reverse order – that is, Finntroll, Samael and Rotting Christ – but sadly the reality today is that the headliner slots go to the most commercially successful and recognizable bands. Luckily, real music lovers who know what musical quality is still exist. And that showed nicely at this festival package too. More shows like this!
Photos: Nina Grad
Setlist
ROTTING CHRIST:
1. Aealo
2. Eon Aenaos
3. Athanati Este
4. Fire, Death And Fear
5. King of A Stellar War
6. The Sign of Prime Creation
7. Phobos’ Synagogue
8. Dub-sag-ta-ke
9. Noctis Era
SAMAEL:
1. Intro / Under One Flag
2. Rebellion
3. Rain
4. Reign of Light
5. Black Hole
6. Antigod
7. Into the Pentagram
8. Jupiterian Vibe
9. Year Zero
10. Slavocracy
11. Soul Invictus
12. My Saviour
Photo Gallery
