The day kicked off in lively and interesting fashion. Who would have thought the first ones on stage would be Frenchmen with an identity crisis — Frenchmen who swap champagne, baguettes, and stinky cheese for tequila, tortillas, and burritos. Yep, French act Locomuerte describes their thrash crossover as Chicano Mosh Power, they sing in Spanish, and generally carry themselves and look like some stereotypical Mexican gang in an American prison. Despite the mild confusion, Locomuerte threw a proper party — by noon there was already plenty of action in the mosh pits and circle pits, and a genuinely infectious energy radiated from the stage. The band also gave absolutely everything, which is almost unbelievable considering that just a few minutes before their set, backstage after a week-long bender, they looked pretty, well, ahem, exhausted. A great start to the final day of the festival.
On the second stage, I only managed to catch the local thrash and death metal firepower. First up, Eruption, who managed to crank the already warmed-up crowd even higher. Nika and the guys drew not just a hometown audience but quite a few international fans too, and together they quickly ignited exactly what a thrash show demands. Good friendly violent fun, naturally. Buco poured extra fuel on the fire when he jumped off the stage mid-song and joined the circle pit himself. Otherwise, as always, Eruption were commanding, tight, and devastating — with their latest album Tellurian Rupture showcased in brilliant light, joined by some older cuts.
Then came the second band I personally have a soft spot for — Upper Carniola’s own Penitenziagite, who returned to the stage after a few years away to mark the On Parole Productions anniversary. To great joy, and they had been sorely missed. They tore through tracks from their debut Humanity Galore once more, and Penitenziagite also threw in some new material that sounds seriously promising. With a solid sound, the guys were nothing short of thunderous on stage, the growl from Demš’s throat sounded genuinely demonic again, Mičo (Gonoba) has slotted fully into the band, and I really hope a new album is quietly taking shape behind the scenes.
The main stage was torn apart by London’s Damim and their monolithic progressive black/death metal. The band is fronted by vocalist and guitarist Nathanael Underwood, who collaborated with cult act Akercocke between 2016 and 2018 and recorded the album Renaissance in Extremis with them — and Akercocke’s influence is strongly felt in Damim. The band’s music is defined by a truly massive sound of low-tuned guitars and Nathanael’s deep growl, with Damim pushing beyond the boundaries of classic death metal through unexpected twists and other flourishes. Damim represented their current EP World Turned Hell at Tolminator, and the guys even manage to encapsulate their social critique and nihilistic worldview in their merchandise, which uniquely includes a full comic strip.
All roads lead to Rome, as the saying goes, and from there came goregrind veterans Guineapig. In under an hour they delivered classic goregrind that doesn’t deviate from the genre’s blueprint in any way — meaning plenty of polka rhythms, deep grunts seasoned with pig squeals, short songs, and disgusting lyrics. The Italian trio pulled quite a crowd up front, which for grind bands of Guineapig’s type (and even more so for the toilet-brigade likes of Gutalax, etc.) is becoming pretty standard and would honestly be worth a sociological study at this point.
More serious — and considerably higher-calibre — was the performance by the Dutch “Cannibal Corpse,” Severe Torture. This one was for the old-school death metal faithful, and the Dutch delivered a hellishly good, loud, and brutal show. Without mercy, Severe Torture spent the better part of an hour rolling heads across a well-filled venue — having first separated them from bodies with razor-sharp riffs and vocalist Dennis’s deep yet intelligible grunt. The cherry on top was Feces for Jesus from their debut Feasting On Blood. Lovely.
All good things must come to an end, and this year that includes the career of long-running German thrashers Holy Moses, who have been commanded by the indestructible Sabina Classen since 1981. A whopping 37 years — minus the band’s hiatus between 1994 and 2000! An achievement that deserves nothing but a deep bow, and congratulations to Sabina Classen for a nearly forty-year career in which she has rightfully earned the title of Queen of Thrash. Hand on heart, Holy Moses — with the exception of Finished With the Dogs and The New Machine of Liechenstein — have mostly hovered in the grey average of thrash, far behind the holy quartet of German thrash (Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Tankard). But as said, all praise to Sabina, and I can say it was a privilege to have Tolminator host one of Holy Moses’s final shows. Either way, hats off to Sabina for the energy she brings on stage in her sixties (!) — even if the vocals were questionable at moments. But years and years, and simply the passage of time, take their toll — and that doesn’t change the fact that Sabina and her guys showed more energy and heart than many a younger band. Farewell and thank you for everything, Sabina and Holy Moses!
A completely different picture came from Swiss duo Bolzer, who took their vision of black/death metal into entirely different spheres of meditative and ritualistic music. Bolzer weren’t for everyone, but it was again simply astonishing to hear what two instruments alone can produce — covering the sonic landscape so fully that you don’t miss a single thing. Outstanding.
Kindred in genre but more primitive and primal, cult Norwegian act Aura Noir hadn’t been seen or heard in a good while — they even ceased activity just under three years ago — so it was all the more wonderful to see them at Tolminator. The trio of Aggressor, Apollyon, and Blasphemer brought a raw black thrash injection to Tolmin that burned most hellishly with tracks from the cult debut (Destructor, Conqueror). Aggressor also handled vocal duties effectively on a few songs. Fast, evil, short, and sweet!
Legendary veterans of German thrash closed out Tolminator 2023, deploying their chemical warfare on Tolmin and delivering a top-tier show worthy of their status. Like Aura Noir, Sodom are a rare sight on stages these days, playing only select festival appearances, so it was a true privilege and pleasure to see them at Tolminator. I never would have thought Sodom could headline, but this time they proved exactly that — the atmosphere on and off the stage built from track to track, and the German old-timers, led by Uncle Tom, proved that even after four decades they still operate with serious youthful energy. The same went for the thrash injection blasting from the stage, especially when Sodom unleashed cult killers like Sodomy and Lust, Agent Orange, M-16, Bombenhagel. A brilliant end to a brilliant festival.
The first edition of Tolminator showed — despite some early weather hiccups — that metal is at home in Tolmin and that the town deserves its own, fittingly self-titled festival. It’s a shame the first edition drew relatively few people, but every (new) beginning is tough. Despite that, the festival’s intimate feel proved excellent, with two well-placed stages. The only thing perhaps missing is a larger and more diverse non-festival merchandise offering (this old fart would have liked to buy a CD too, if you still remember what those are, hehe), but that will come with greater recognition. After the festival, Tolminator isn’t resting — they’re already dealing with the bureaucracy and band selection for next year; that attendance at Tolminator 2024 will be practically mandatory is already suggested by the first confirmations — Primordial, Suffocation, Tankard, Destroyer 666, Gutalax, Harakiri fort he Sky, Gaerea, Sinister, Milking the Goatmachine, Necrot, Dark Insanity.
Written by: Rok Klemše
Photos: Sebastijan Videc
