Železný Mejdan at Rock Café: a Czech-Slovak metal assault

After just finishing their tour with Hejtman, Čad treated themselves to one more Czech stop, namely Železný Mejdan at Rock Café. This time, they invited two genre- and location-distinct bands as guests: Moravia was represented by Melancholy Pessimism, while Bohemia was represented by Anime Torment, with the third guest being the Slovak band Catastrofy. Fans of heavier metal hardly need any introduction to these veterans.

The evening was opened by the "longest-serving" band, Melancholy Pessimism from Uherské Hradiště, a death/grind band whose history dates back to 1992. The floor was still gradually filling up, the audience was mostly still getting settled in and did not react much to calls for the pit, but the band was not discouraged and, without unnecessary talking, fired one song after another. They played, for example, Nails of Time in honour of Benediction Master, and from the album Inconsistent World, Back to the Nature was performed as a tribute to Dying Fetus. The final touch of their set was one of their earliest songs, the self-titled Melancholy Pessimism, with a nostalgic look back at their own beginnings.

Then the death/violence band Anime Torment from Litoměřice took over and continued escalating the established tempo with at times almost deathcore-sounding brutality. It did not take long before the first circle pit started spinning, and the now noticeably fuller floor thoroughly enjoyed the barrage of screams and growls – after their set, the floor was considerably soaked, though it was hard to say whether with sweat… or beer. Unfortunately, I am not very familiar with the band, so I cannot offer a selection of songs.

With Catastrofy came the transition into the Slovak part of the evening, and the genre shifted into thrash metal. This Bratislava group plays what they themselves call "brigand thrash metal", with fast riffs and Slovak lyrics full of satire and humour. It was obvious that a large part of the crowd had primarily been waiting for this part of the evening, as there was no need to encourage moshing and the audience enthusiastically shouted the lyrics together with the frontman, who also recalled that they had last played there almost exactly ten years ago. During one of the final songs, Zbojnický tanec, fans also enjoyed the obligatory wall of death. Other songs included Zbojnicke komando and Prasknuté čelné, nízký plat. During the performance, I found myself wondering if this might be what Trautenberk would sound like if they sped things up a bit (and added more swear words).

The evening closed with the Bratislava trio Čad in the role of headliner. The genre remained the same, but the feeling was somewhat like when a school principal enters an unruly classroom – the atmosphere settled down without losing any of its intensity. Pišta Vandal merely asked the lighting technician to really blast them with spotlights, as they are apparently older gentlemen and do not want darkness on stage. During the set, he also wondered, unlike the previous bands, why people were glued directly to the stage, saying: "You won't hear the vocals anyway" – clearly a true expert. He greeted the audience simply with "Hi, idiots" and, without lengthy speeches, moved straight into the instrumental version of Trashtalk. We also heard Kromaňon from the fresh album Veľký tresk and Ludia smrdia.

Although the concert was slightly slowed down by minor technical difficulties, the sound was excellent, and the lighting technician perfectly complemented the assault pouring from the PA system. As a little detail, I should also note that during the evening there was probably not a single bassist who did not mark the club's low ceiling with the headstock of their instrument. Thanks naturally belong to all the bands and fans, to Meat Feast Agency for the booking, and to Rock Café for the great atmosphere.

More photos can be found on our Zonerama.

Vojta