Performers: I Am / Rivers Of Nihil / Fit For An Autopsy / Carnifex / Thy Art Is Murder
Venue: Ljubljana / CUK Kino Šiška / Slovenia
Date: Monday, 10.02.2020
The deathcore scene clearly hasn’t said its last word. New bands keep emerging, bringing fresh moves to a genre many dismiss as anything but innovative. Some acts have carved out serious name recognition — and among them are Australian Thy Art Is Murder, who’ve spent the last decade grinding out records and logging endless tour miles. The hard work has paid off: Thy Art Is Murder have been stepping up to bigger and bigger rooms and selling them out. Their third Slovenian visit had everyone anticipating big things, and while a sold-out show wasn’t quite on the cards, the hall was visibly packed.
With five bands on the bill, the show kicked off a little earlier than usual. First up were Texan death metallers I AM, who looked like they’d rolled straight in from a Texas county fair. The band leans hard into simplicity — alongside the deathcore elements, slow guitars and straightforward rhythms revealed clear old-school influences. The Texan quintet pushed Pantera-style groove sections and Obituary-paced passages to the front, with the faster bits occasionally nodding toward Cannibal Corpse. Despite all those touchstones, I AM failed to win over most of the crowd. The songs may have been too one-note. The band performed energetically enough, but that clearly wasn’t quite enough.
American technical death metallers Rivers of Nihil were making their third appearance in Slovenia — and for some in the room, they were probably the real draw of the night. Fittingly so, because Rivers of Nihil deal in complexity, atmosphere, progressiveness, and unpredictability. Their short set was focused squarely on Where Owls Know My Name, which landed on countless best-of lists back in 2018. The band is incredibly tight — even through some seriously fast passages, there wasn’t a noticeable slip anywhere. Above all, tracks like Home, Silent Life, and Old Nothing radiated creativity and a genuine gift for songwriting. They hit harder and heavier with the closing Soil&Seed from their debut, which still lacks the layered complexity of the two albums that followed. Rivers of Nihil were without a doubt the highlight of the evening — a band with so much to offer, and long overdue for a return visit as headliners.
Fit For An Autopsy, the deathcore outfit from New Jersey, had already made their mark in Slovenia with both a club show and a festival slot. This time they were back to showcase their latest album Sea of Tragic Beasts, released the previous year. With their set, Fit For An Autopsy proved that deathcore can be a far more varied beast than people give it credit for. They played exclusively newer material from their last two records — the albums that confirmed the band’s real potential. The guitars are extraordinarily dynamic, the breakdowns don’t drag on, and the songs aren’t all cut from the same template of breakdown-first, everything-else-second. Core member Will Putney, who also handles production duties, wasn’t there on the night. Even without him, Fit For An Autopsy put on a convincing show — dynamic songs, a polished performance. This is undoubtedly a band with plenty more to show in the years ahead.
Californians Carnifex have stopped through Slovenia several times now — over the last decade they’ve become regulars. With their more recent albums they’ve pushed past the boundaries of deathcore and started weaving in black metal, which finally set them apart from the deathcore pack and gave them something genuinely new to say. Their latest album World War X doubled down on that blackened deathcore identity. Black metal riffs paired with breakdowns that pack a serious punch on eight-string guitars give Carnifex a distinctive edge. With all those miles under their belt, their performance was convincing enough for the solidly-filled Kino Šiška. The setlist leaned on newer cuts — World War X, Slow Death, Drown Me in Blood, No Light Shall Serve Us — but they saved the best for last, treating longer-standing fans to Lie To My Face and Hell Chose Me. Carnifex are clearly not done yet. The form is still there, the tightness too. By the looks of it, they’ve still got some lively years ahead of them.
Closing out the night were the ever-growing Thy Art Is Murder, who brought a beefed-up stage production with them — lively lighting and various projections made that clear. They’d certainly earned their headliner status. The set leaned heavily on their most recent album Human Target, released the previous year. The tightness is undeniable and at its peak — drummer Jesse Beahler’s speed and precision contribute a lot to that, radiating a real sense of professionalism. Alongside the new material, the band pulled out a handful of fan favourites from earlier releases: The Purest Strain of Hate, Holy War, Puppet Master, and Reign of Darkness. The debut doesn’t really factor in anymore — TAIM built their fanbase with the second album Hate, so there’s little point in dusting off the first record.
Thy Art Is Murder play a relatively sophisticated brand of deathcore. The fast guitar work makes it clear that death metal isn’t foreign territory for them and that it’s not all going to hinge on breakdowns. But even through the fast and varied passages, TAIM seemed happy to fall back on simplicity — the kind where the guitars are reduced to nothing but “chug chug.” Over a longer set, those patterns start repeating a bit too much; the music turns dry and predictable. The clichés are unavoidable, further underscored by provocative lyrics that make them about as original as, say, America’s Five Finger Death Punch. Where the other bands on the bill brought plenty of innovation, that was less apparent with Thy Art Is Murder — despite all the brutality and occasional technical touches. TAIM definitely work as a cohesive unit, the show itself is convincing, and vocalist CJ McMahon does a solid job engaging the crowd. There are positives, but there are negatives too — ones you’d hope the band will iron out going forward.
To wrap it up: this past Monday evening at Kino Šiška was a packed affair full of brutality, hard-hitting riffs, and technical chops — all thanks to Thy Art Is Murder, Carnifex, Fit For An Autopsy, Rivers of Nihil, and I AM.
author: Primož Novak
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
