Marduk (Ljubljana - Channel Zero - 10.04.01)
Written by: Anja Frkovič

I wasn't surprised when I heard that Marduk are going to play in Channel Zero (that's a total dump here in Ljubljana). To tell you the truth I wouldn't even be surprised to see a bigger band playing there - you have to understand that here, in Slovenia, everything is possible. My only worry was the crowd because this place is very small and I was expecting a lot of people. But there was no need to worry. I could hardly say that the place was crowded. Later on, when I was trying to think of a reason for such poor visit, I came up with quite a few: first, the place where the concert was held is, as I already said, a real dump known for the worst possible sound, second, the ticket was way to expensive and third, the fact that And Oceans and Behemoth had cancelled the tour (that was a fact that really made me think about attending this concert but finally I decided to do it anyway).
Anyway, the concert started much later than it was supposed to (that's a perfectly normal thing in Slovenia also) and while we were waiting for the concert to start I took the opportunity to ask the tourmanager about the reason why And Oceans and Behemoth have cancelled. He explained that the Avantgarde was not willing to pay the expenses for Behemoth and since And Oceans were supposed to share a bus with them, they had to cancel also.
Finally! The first band appeared on stage. It was an Austrian band called Dornenreich. They play a sort of melodic black metal thing which is not cut out for my ears. It's not that I think they sucked, it's just... they sounded weird. I could't get rid of the feeling that all the elements (which sounded fine by themselves) sounded like they are not fit to be together, if you know what I mean.
Up next was a German, hm, black metal band Mystic Circle. I was very surprised to see the reaction of the Slovenian crowd... they seemed real thrilled to see them perform! That really made me think about Slovenian metal scene since Mystic Circle are not highly appreciated in black metal circles. This time they were performing without their special effects which were the only thing interesting to me (read worth laughing at), so I decided to spend the rest of their circus show outside.
The last act that night were Marduk. There's not much I can say about them because I was way to tired to pay any attention by the time they they started playing... and since they are not one of my favourite bands (actually they are far from that) I really didn't bother to focus. But still... I have to say that their show was much better than the one we saw in K4 in 1999. That's all I can say about it.