Author: Rok Klemše
Venue: Rock Cafe / Postojna
Concert date: 21.04.2010
Attendance: 0
Ticket price: free entry
Last Thursday the RockLine crew squeezed in another “semifinal” night of the Epic RockLine contest in Postojna, the second one in a row. This time the evening sprawled into a whole thicket of sharply contrasting genres, but the real highlight was the spring blossoming of good old heavy metal, courtesy of the warriors of Shutdown.
CHILLOUT
First to sweep us into the evening were ChillOut from Jesenice. At heart, the band breathes fairly predictable hard rock, dotted with a heaping dose of melody, but their identity crisis, plus some admittedly rather clumsy maneuvering, drags them off every now and then toward alternative rock fare. Their Postojna excursion was a proper test for the senses of everyone present, mostly thanks to Urban Kolbl’s one-of-a-kind vocals, which didn’t hold back on a raw display of unharmonized singing. The guitar duo, with Urban weaving away eagerly alongside Jure Jamnik, gave more reason to cheer by fleetingly creating an impression of tightness. Martin Kolbl’s bass also contributed noticeably to the communication within the string-wrangling, his well-tuned lines proving inventive and witty enough despite their proverbial simplicity. So ChillOut are polishing a picture that’s one of a kind, but sadly at times also pretty muddled and ragged. Their musical chops, along with a pile of sensibly assembled ideas whose potential is far from tapped out, are definitely the band’s main trump card. The problem is that ChillOut sound better as a set of instrumentalists. Vocally they flopped across the board. On top of that, the guys played the whole set kind of cramped up, without radiating the energy they badly needed, like a bunch of wallflowers who know how unattractive they are and, in their own way, even fear it.
SHUTDOWN
The most impressive thing about the Shutdown “circus” shows up in its energy and decisive stage presence, which carries that element of conviction young bands all too often can’t quite grasp. In short, these guys jealously cultivate the knack of stealing the lion’s share of the crowd’s sympathies reserved for the night. Most of that allure, which shamelessly gobbles up the attention of critics and casual bystanders alike, comes from the (stylishly polished) stage presence of Egzi, the hot-blooded frontman. Over the past year Shutdown have morphed into the wet dream of every true-believing heavy metal soul. It’s an intoxicating brew of youthful energy, daring, and well-honed, infectious, earworm musicianship, and on its wings the guys stride confidently like heroes of some long-gone era. A culture that’s clearly far from dead, though. Their sound stays dressed in traditional heavy metal colors, stitched all over with the epaulets of steamy, always parallel-pulsing guitar charges, a fairly elementary rhythm section, and presentable vocals. Heard it already, chewed over countless times? You could even say the guys stoically polished the wearing of clichés to perfection, but that would do them a great injustice. Shutdown are more than just a stream of nostalgia-lubricated piss in the face of evolving musical currents. They’re the life experience of full-blooded heavy metal, and with that flow of youthful blood they don’t skimp on pumping vitality and character into the veins of Slovenian heavy metal.
EXSILIUM
Last to play were Exsilium, a pagan/folk black metal band from Ljubljana, who tipped the evening into the waters of more extreme metal. Exsilium are back on stage after a longer absence, presenting a somewhat revamped lineup that confidently and forcefully spins the wheel of history into the darker times of the pagan tribes. In the band’s company we dive into aggressive black metal tones, built up with folk metal elements, mainly atmospheric keyboard passages from the keyboardist, who this time threw herself around her keys with real feeling. Much better than last time, when she stood rather statically behind her keyboards. Vocalist Vargrim successfully handles the merciless black metal screaming, which in the choruses is often swapped for clean, epic vocals, almost in the style of the likes of Primordial. His in-between banter does come off as odd, suggesting the guy lives in a world of his own, but then Exsilium are a world of their own too. Their version of folk metal is at times chaotic and schizophrenic, yet in the punchy, bouncy tracks you find order and a fusion of creative energies inspired by ancient Slavic ancestors.
Text on ChillOut and Shutdown: Daniel Pavlica
Text on Exsilium: Rok Klemše
Photos: Mojca Perdih
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