Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Kompleks / Ravne na Koroškem / Slovenia
Concert date: 27.01.2011
Attendance: 130
Ticket price: €7 (with reservation) / €10 (without reservation)
The year flew by and the first month of the new one is here again. As usual, the yearly January concert drought finally came alive in the second half of the month, when the Carinthian WinterStrike festival traditionally hits the calendar – this time for the fourth year running. Memories of last year’s winter adventure on the Ljubljana – Ravne na Koroškem route are still fresh: an enormous amount of snow fell that afternoon before the show, and attendance ended up below expectations. This time, when Aleš and I hit the familiar road again along the never-ending twisty Carinthian roads, we were lucky to get moderate weather.
Every year WinterStrike serves up a lineup of current names from the Slovenian scene, with an emphasis on the more aggressive strains of metal. This time the headliners were Negligence, who hit it big in 2010 with their second album on the renowned label Metal Blade. The original lineup also included The Scourge, Dalkhu, Keller and Vigilance, but The Scourge had to pull out two weeks before the show after splitting with their drummer. To top it off, Keller dropped out just one day before Friday due to illness. The seriously shrunken bill forced the organizers to hunt for a replacement in record time – they found one, but didn’t reveal the name until the day itself. Well, let’s be honest, let’s just say the replacement’s name was a public secret, hehe.
First onto the stage were Vigilance, a new heavy metal incarnation from Postojna led by Giga, a former Rager guitarist. Decked out in full retro style – spandex pants pulled over the crotch and high-tops underneath – they made it clear that Vigilance sail the waters of old-school heavy/speed metal. Lively stage antics, riff-jerking, shoulder-to-shoulder riffing and melodically built song structures drew fans of classic metal to the front of the stage. Since the Carinthian gig was only Vigilance’s second show ever, you can’t blame them too much for being a bit unpolished – the rhythm section and guitar each played in their own world, but no worries, with some dedicated rehearsing they’ll shake off this beginner’s mismatch. The band knows how important the overall look of a performance is, so they pour a lot of energy into stage presence, choreographed bits from the guitar duo and an energetic stance. In the style of the golden years of British heavy metal, the Postojna quartet raced at lightspeed through their first original songs and classics from the British holy trinity of Maiden / Saxon / Priest, all the way to the end of the evening’s opening act, which pumped in fresh energy for the colorful rest of the night. Long live heavy metal!
The replacement for the two cancellations goes by the name Scepsis. It’s a side project of members of Thraw & Wartune that pops up here and there, once or twice a year, purely for the carefree leisure-time fun of its members, since they don’t write original music. The locals gathered the biggest crowd of the whole evening in front of the stage in Kompleks’ little hall and entertained it with the greatest metal triumphs of the more extreme kind. Their note-perfect renditions of the studio versions of Sepultura, Death, Slayer and other thrash/death metal giants confirmed once again that the quartet of Tilen (bass), Ozzy, Doman (both guitar) and Bubba (drums) are technically superb musicians.
Third up were black metallers Dalkhu, also based in the Carinthian backwoods, so the front lines filled with the band’s most loyal followers soon after the start, even though – owing to the band’s extreme sound – the little concert hall wasn’t bursting at the seams the way it had for Scepsis before them. Dalkhu are currently one of the hottest names on our metal scene, having recently released their debut “Imperator” (review here), which understandably made up the bulk of the set. Dalkhu’s raw, uncompromising black metal with a distinctly atmospheric vibe picked up an extra dark edge between four walls and put the fear of God into everyone present! The hefty sound of Sorg’s guitar and Berstuk’s brutal vocals built the framework of primal black metal, which the Jurij / Kalki rhythm section kept dynamic, while Berstuk carried the sound with a true frontman approach in the style of the greats, proving Dalkhu a band that, with some hard work, can openly flirt with the Slovenian black metal throne in the future.
And finally it was time for the coordinates of confusion! Slovenian thrash champions Negligence took the stage and Kompleks took a one-way turn onto the road of no return with the song Addicted to Agression! If their October show on the huge stage of Kino Šiška (report here) served as the premiere of the new material, by now the new album “Coordinates of Confusion” had settled well into the ears of the band’s supporters, so (as expected) a proper little war broke out in front of the stage. Negligence’s strongest weapon is their infectious riffs, and in laying them down the Jey/Aljo duo came across far more convincing this time than in Šiška; the reason lies mainly in Aljo’s more confident approach, since he’s gotten used to life in the band by now. Through songs from the current record and older numbers Threshold Of Society, Options Of A Trapped Mind and No Brain No Pain, the Jesenice crew sailed through the gig on Alex’s wings. Alex is slowly but stubbornly and persistently working his way up to becoming a better and better vocalist, which at least partly camouflages the lack of the charisma a frontman more than needs. The closer The Q Box, besides the standard Negligence trademarks, served up a longer instrumental section that, with alternating volleys of solos, once again brought all the skills of the guitar duo to the surface. Negligence delivered a tight, professional show and are a shining example for Slovenian metal bands and clear proof that something edible can grow in the metal cabbage patch on the sunny side of the Alps too.
The folks behind the mixing desk deserve a big share of the credit for the success of the whole evening, as the sound was spotless from start to finish, like it came straight out of the box. The event was a complete success; attendance even doubled compared to last year’s edition (!!), thanks in part to a full bus that made the pilgrimage from Upper Carniola into the heart of the Carinthian forests.
photos: Aleš Pobrežnik
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