This is already the sixth edition of this fine festival which keeps the diy spirit alive in this regions, delivers tour de force of extreme underground music and it is fantastic because it homogenizes the scene and makes it alive with pumping fists in the air.
This year´s edition was organized in our hometown, namely Prostor and the line-up for two days was just superb.
When we arrived at the venue it was filled with metalheads, punks, just people seeking for good music and friends to enjoy the Friday night. Like almost everytime the schedule was late because the soundchecks were still going on, but no matter, we had fun talking to the friends we haven´t seen for a while, from different towns here in Croatia, also from Slovenia.
Finally, it was time for the first band of the evening to start, they were Bögetz, new band from Varaždin, I found out this was their second gig. In fact, this band consists of three Senf members on guitars, bass and vocals, plus different drummer. The music totally surprised me and blew me away, we got half an hour of sludge metal/punk, like a crossbreed of Crowbar, EyeHateGod and hardcore punk. The guys also played fantastic doom sludge cover of a famous song from legendary cartoon Čarobnjakov Šešir(Sorcerer´s Hat). Nice band and gig indeed.
Zvgator were next. I saw this guys play live only once like a year or two ago, when they played as trio-vocals, guitar and drums without bass player, now they have one. Zvgator delivered half an hour of chaotic and drunk black/thrash/speed metal and the crowd in decent full club really enjoyed their set.
Guests from Slovenia, Reach are different from the rest of the bands there, playing brutal and modern version of hardcore kinda like Madball, Risk It and similar bands and they were for me the best band of the evening sounding really superb and energetic. Their original vocalist left for New Zealand, so the singer from Laid To Rest, another Slovenian hardcore band took over the vocal duties and he did a killer job. They played circa 40 minutes of the songs from both of their e.p-s.
Senf from Varaždin are one of the bands that played all of the editions of this festival with guys from the band being involved in promoting this gig, so I knew what to expect with their crossover they play, but I can safely say this set was for me the best I have seen and heard live yet from Senf. They worked a lot, played a lot of gigs and you can feel how they enjoy playing on stage with dual vocals, courtesy of Ivda and Blaž, fast drums and melodic but hard riffs. Their set will be definitely one of the festival highlights. The set was made from all Senf hits hehe, plus Rectal Destroyer and Mikrofonija covers.
Bezdan are four guys from four different cities. They play their vision of old school black death/thrash metal and they always deliver the goods. This time was no exception, the unholy four played a mighty setlist with all their hits like Palermo, Dark Messiah and all the rest. It is fascinating watching the drummer sing and at the same time drumming to fast and technical songs. I always am awed with how much darkness these guys can deliver with their set.
Unfortunately we missed Naekoj this time, but no matter, the festival´s first night was fantastic and extreme music scene is alive and well.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 