Sabaium (Ljubljana - Orto bar - 28.03.02)
Written by: Klemen Polimac

Great concert. With this I would cover everything, but here are few more words anyway. First of all, I must say that all the bands that played that night were Slovenian, so you probably haven't heard of them before. Three of them play Death Metal and one is more into Heavy/Gothic with some atmospheric touches., but more about this later in the report.

This place (Orto Bar) looks really cool, so if you ever come to Ljubljana be sure to check it out. It has a red velvet interior, but it's more of a rock club (above the front doors is even a sign that says Ministry of Rock'N'Roll).

First band were locals Abattoir (not to be mixed with Abbatoir). They are our most brutal Death Metal band, beside Necrosed who are not active at the moment (looking for a new growler). Unfortunately at the time when Abattoir opened, there were only 20-30 people inside. They play more of an "American brutal Death" with many sudden stops and tempo changes and they go into those "brutally slow" and painful riffs, with a fucking guttural vocals on top (of course, what else). I think that Dave Rotten from Repulse Records (now also at Xtreem Productions) would like them. Their songs are quite long but they lack in intensity if you ask me. They could be more straight into your face and catchy. But they are getting better and better and I just wish we would have more bands like Abattoir. Last year they've recorded a promo song The Scream Of The Forgotten God which was later featured on Stormbreed compilation Vol.1.
They finished their set with a Deicide cover When Satan Rules His World - a song they usually finish with. I remember that two years ago they played also Hammer Smashed Face and man, it was just like hearing Cannibals. Later I found out that that was the only time they played it. Too bad, they could revive it from time to time, since everyone would go nuts about it.

After a short break it was time for No Fear. No Fear is a project of Scaffold and Olom members that gathered with a sole purpose of playing Death covers with which they tributed Chuck Schuldiner. They and Scaffold were on a Slovenian tour and that night they stopped in Orto Bar also. After the tour the "band" will disband 'cause as they said, they don't wanna make money out of Chuck's tragedy.
With No Fear's performance the number of people in the crowd arose. They began with Zombie Ritual from Death's legendary debut "Scream Bloody Gore" and the crowd went nuts, headbanging as crazy. Then they cut their way through classics such as Pull The Plug, Philosopher, Spirit Crusher, Living Monstrosity, Symbolic, Lack Of Comprehension (or the "Hawaiian" as I call it 'cause of its intro which they also hit as if it was original - yep, they had fretless bass) and they finished with Evil Dead (alright!). Or better, Robert (Scaffold's drummer and one of our best metal drummers) finished it with a crazy drum outro, that even the "big names" would be proud of. Their set was perfect and crowd enjoyed it enormously. Chuck would be proud of them. Even the vocalist had that "hysterical Chuck" kind of vocals and it would be really great to see them again. But then again Death will live in our hearts forever (kinda sleazy thing for me to say).

Anyway, it was already time for Scaffold. They are one of our best Death Metal acts with many miles behind them. Two years ago they recorded a demo "Evil Empire- Morbid World" and it should be out this year (yeah, I know, pretty late). They began with an intro from "Lord Of The Rings" soundtrack (pretty cool by the way) and then they hit into Evil Empire - Morbid World, a song they usually begin with. Scaffold is a well-known band here in Slovenia (they are on the scene for years), so the crowd went nuts again. I would say that their set was the highlight of that night. It seemed that everybody in the hall was fucking alive and full of energy... headbanging and stuff. It would be hard to describe what kind of Death Metal they play. Many people think of them as our Morbid Angel but I would disagree. Yes, they play Rapture and Day Of Suffering from time to time, but they are somehow different. You can hear some traces of Morbid Angel in their music, but also Cannibal Corpse and some other US bands. In general one could say that they play "US style of Death Metal" in their own style. And they have one helluva drummer as I already mentioned.

Unfortunately after Scaffold's set was over many people went home and the crowd became scattered (the concert was on a week-day). So not everyone got to see Sabaium, headliners that night.
Sabaium is also a well-known band over here. Starting as Catacomb (in those times melodic Doom/Death), through Decayed Catacomb into Sabaium. And today they play melodic and atmospheric Gothic with some Heavy influences. In 1999 they released their debut "Embraced With Silence" at Seven Art Music, but since Seven Art doesn't exist anymore they are looking for a new label. They have already recorded their second album titled "Beyond" and now they are looking for a new label. On "Beyond" there will be 10 new songs and probably also their first video for a song called Silent Hymn (shooting a video was also a reason for the delay, as well as looking for a new label which they still do). They played us a set of their old songs as well as few new ones which are more Heavy oriented, but majority is still Gothic. This time they performed without their second guitarist and they are also not looking for a replacement. If you ask me, their shows are always perfect so this time was no exception. Oh yeah, interesting part is that they have 2 vocalists - a drummer and the guitarist. One for clean vocals (drummer) and one for deeper, more death like vocals. Usually they finish with Black Heart from their debut but not this time. They played us a Nightwish cover She Is My Sin. I really hope that they will find a new label soon.

The whole night was great. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Many people showed up (though it was just our bands) and both bands and public were filled with energy. Great concert.