First heat wave in the venue of Močvara was marked by another of those bands (or better mentioned) music that you did not have in your wildest dreams that you would hear: Sarcofago.
Well, better said a tribute to Sarcofago by the band The Laws featuring Gerald Incubus, one of the longest-standing members of the band, and he was pretty much included in every other tribute to the aforementioned band. You work with what you got and we got plenty to work with: a triple solid dose of blackened thrash metal bands for tonight which means we are gonna see a lot of guys in skintight black jeans down to the chromosome level, which included Croatian bands Buzzsaw and Bezdan. Not bad for a Tuesday.
Since it was Tuesday at exactly 19:00, the first band started. I know this because the damn organizer showed me on his wristwatch and it was 18:59 and 58 seconds moments before that riff came in, fucking psycho.
Before I start about Buzzsaw, I must highlight how the atmosphere was different than few days ago with Possessed. For starters, there were many more people in numbers even before the first band was on the stage and to my surprise, a shitload of young attendees along with older ones. Such generational thing is always awesome to see.
Buzzsaw had their premiere to the audience in Zagreb that night, a quite young band formed in 2022 with one EP Lead to the Head behind them. Right from the get-go, I must mention despite the band being a bunch of 20-something-year-olds, this is a very promising act. Wearing their early Sodom influence like it’s their personal pledge of allegiance. Even their bass player wore the red executioner hood during the whole performance, but to be perfectly honest, that idea maybe seemed cool only on paper, especially if you got reading glasses on them. Despite this fashion hiccup, Buzzsaw took the crown of moshpits for that night as this genre of metal is made for this. They even had a wall of death, which I think is the first time I saw it in this venue. Their vocalist, although a bit green at times, stood his ground and had excellent audience interaction. For the last song, they did Sacrifice by Bathory, which is always a winner in my book. In 45 minutes, Buzzsaw showed that they are a band you should look out for in the coming years.
Next were a bit of the veterans in this genre: Bezdan. I think this is my third time seeing them in this venue, so it’s business as usual. Musically speaking, they are one of the tightest Croatian metal bands I have ever seen. As far as I’m concerned, they are our version of Sarcofago with bits of early Slayer and Venom, despite my minor grievance about their arrogance on stage which happens sometimes.
That being said, this performance was different; gone are the messy eyeliners and antics from the bass player, which are down to a minimum. Although the band was a bit late because the drummer needed to take a piss, I bet the organizer was very thrilled about that. Joke aside, this must be their most mature performance and I might add the best one. A real contrast to the previous band, although beign are on right path they are still finding their footing. Bezdan, in that case, had done a marathon on the path and then some. This is their tightest performance layered with confidence and great sound in the mix. Although the crowd was less animated and did not have the novelty factor, Bezdan did another great live performance and is one of the few local bands I had no issue seeing again. This is old school black/thrash metal on a high level.
Around 21:45, Bezdan finished their round and now it’s time for the main event: The Laws performing Sarcofago. Pretty much the grandfathers of this subgenre, visually and sonically speaking. Personally, I was never a huge fan of the band; I totally did understand their significance and how the ’90s black metal bands from Scandinavia could not shut the fuck up about them. It just never clicked with me that sound from South America. But last night it did.
Despite being a cover band with one original member, to be brutally honest, they did Sarcofago justice. It is a tribute done right in front of a full venue of Močvara. The setlist was spot on, combining the best tracks of their discography but mostly was picks from their first two albums I.N.R.I. and Laws of Scourge.
Midnight Queen live was majestic and was accompanied with keyboards, which 50% of their performance was awkwardl just standing there, but just for this song it was worth it. It’s odd to have such an instrument in this kind of genre; in this case, I cannot imagine the song without it. The audience was fully immersed and joined the band during the choruses; it was a sight to see.
The whole performance was a great presentation of the enduring legacy of Sarcofago. The Laws did them justice last night.
Photo soul capture by Noa Moskaljov.
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