Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Metalsteel
Label: Self-released
Release: year_month
Rating: 5/5
It seems the Slovenian metal scene has come alive lately and is blooming more than ever before. A good number of concerts by foreign (legendary) bands have gone down on Slovenian soil, a few excellent homegrown metal albums have come out, and there’s practically no week left without at least two metal gigs. Even more reason to be proud: Slovenian metal is slowly but steadily breaking through abroad too, and things are happening on the Slovenian metal scene that were unthinkable not long ago. Last year, the champions of Slovenian thrash released their second album Coordinates of Confusion on Metal Blade Records, one of the biggest independent metal labels in the world, local scene veterans Noctiferia hit the road on a much-talked-about European tour with In Flames, and Metalsteel took over Europe alongside the legendary James Rivera. But maybe even more important is that Metalsteel have set a milestone for the Slovenian metal scene (and, I hope, for its further development) by releasing the first Slovenian live metal album. Ladies and gentlemen – Steel Alive!
You don’t take on a project like this every day, and when the time finally comes to pull it off, it has to be done at 100 percent at the very least. The girl and guys of Metalsteel, one of the longest continuously active metal bands in the country, knew that and approached the live album with deadly seriousness. They were well aware that this couldn’t just be another gig in a long line of gigs, so they put together a setlist that, besides the obligatory hits, also features plenty of older, more rarely heard classics. A good chunk of the sizzling show, which went down last June at MC Jedro in Medvode, is made up of classics from the albums Usoda and Taste the Sin, and the performance of a trio of anthems from the debut Usoda gets a special stamp from original vocalist Alex Škofljanec (today of Negligence). His lower-pitched vocals fit the band’s anthem Novi svet perfectly, and the near-thrash-aggressive Conquerors even better. Alex has seriously matured since leaving Metalsteel, and the squeaky “Alvin and the Chipmunks” vocals from Usoda are gone, but the deeper, rawer Alex shines all the better alongside Beny’s higher-pitched voice in the fantastically two-voiced ballad Usoda sveta. You can tell the girl and guys have crisscrossed Slovenian stages for ten years, because on stage they’re totally tight, confident and uncompromising. Beny is a great frontman who, besides great Kai Hansen-style vocals, also nails the in-between banter and flirting with the crowd (and so do Rok and Matej!), and his fingers fly effortlessly over the strings. He and Rok make a fantastic guitar duo, trading effective riffs and supersonic solos – and quite often the fired-up crowd joins in as a third “guitarist” and “sings” the guitar lines. In fact, the crowd on Steel Alive is a fifth band member worthy of respect, following every line, every verse and every chorus from below the stage, while the energy erupts from this five-piece heavy metal powerhouse like a volcano. A lively, rowdy, energetic and grateful audience drowns out Metalsteel from the first track to the last, giving it a real sense of being right there at the gig. Finally a band that understands a well-audible crowd is essential to a live recording! Matej Sušnik’s wild bass playing is front and center again, his fingers casually strolling over the strings and laying down dynamic, lively and “groovy” bass lines, and the “Ace of Bass” once again justifies his status as one of Slovenia’s best bassists with a cranked-up solo in Noč strasti. Thanks in part to those low-end lines, the sound is incredibly full yet crystal clear and sharp, and above all alive and dynamic, so it easily drops you straight into the hot hall of MC Jedro. Across nineteen tracks (including the nine-minute “medley” Darkrca/Svoboda/Črni raj), Metalsteel once again prove they can easily be counted among the pillars of the Slovenian metal scene. Everyone will pick their own favorite, but it surely includes the gorgeous rendition of the beautiful, bittersweet, shattering ballad Topla je smrt, which Matej and Daša deliver brilliantly in a sensual duet, while its complete opposite is a devastating, full-throttle Motörhead classic, delivered by Beny with surprising aggression and totally in Lemmy’s spirit. With its excellent sound, the fantastic response of a loyal crowd and a technically polished, top-tier performance by the band, Steel Alive can easily stand toe to toe with foreign live recordings – except that Metalsteel managed to create, in a small hall, an atmosphere that usually demands colossal arenas.
Steel Alive is proof of exactly what its title says. Metalsteel are very much alive and apparently indestructible as steel! The first Slovenian live record is a respectable achievement in itself, and pulled off this well, it’s something both the band and its fans can look at with pride. Is there a nicer way to mark your 10th anniversary than by releasing the first Slovenian metal live album?
Lineup
Benjamin “Beny” Kic – vocals, guitar
Rok “Rock” Tomšič – guitar, backing vocals
Matej Sušnik – bass, backing vocals
Daša Trampuš – drums, backing vocals
Production
Benjamin Kic
Track list
CD1:
1. Intro/Curse of Love
2. Eye of the Pyramid
3. Entertainment
4. Candy Eyes
5. Trapped In a Nightmare
6. I Like
7. Life Story
8. White Circle
9. Heavy Metal Is Our Religion (video)
10. Novi svet (feat. Alex Škofljanec) (video)
11. Rock Out (video)
12. The Trip (video)
CD2:
1. Novi svet (feat. Alex Škofljanec)
2. Conquerors (feat. Alex Škofljanec)
3. Usoda sveta (feat. Alex Škofljanec)
4. No Time To Cry
5. Heavy Metal Girls
6. Darkrca/Svoboda/Črni raj
7. Topla je smrt
8. Noč strasti
9. The Trip
10. Heavy Metal Is Our Religion
11. Rock Out
