NEW MODEL ARMY, Bastardolomey

24.04.2009В Party CenetrВ '4 РєРј', Sofia - BulgariaВ 

words by Stefan Topuzov, photo: Tihomir Rachev

‘That’s how it is with cult bands’, me and a couple a friends make a sad statement about the show’s attendance while insubordinately drinking beers on the outside, despite the Sofia city authorities’ latest moronic decision to ban this, while also chatting about the beautiful spring day and the lack of serious traffic that was expected due to President Gotze’s retarded energy forum and the media panic that surrounded it…

Meanwhile the show’s start time on the poster turns out to be more than just a good wish… Bastardolomey take the stage at 9:30, like 2 hours after the announced hour.

Who cares? It’s not like it’s a huge festival with 34873 where something like that would screw up all that follows. Just two bands, like in the case here, can fit their sets pretty much anytime between 19:30 an 12…

So! BASTARDOLOMEY come out, they play, they crush – they do what we all expected them to. Frontman Nufri looks happier than ever. ‘Damn! I’m finally playing metal!’, his happy grin gives away his thoughts. The tracks they play are pretty much unknown to us but are in the well known vein of Prong/White Zombie, so that doesn’t prevent anyone from having a good time.

‘We’re a little different, but I think we like each other’, says Nufri somewhere midway through the set in order to counter all misunderstandings with the presumably way different crowd a metal band and … New Model Army would attract. Calm down, dude. As far as I know you’ve attracted a sizable crowd of your own here.

After the end of their set (which is a cover of above mentioned White Zombie) Nufri reminds us why we are here by shouting HERE COMES THE WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yeah it came! This is exactly the song NEW MODEL ARMY open their set with moments later. Under the sound of the song’s dominant rhythm section a quite enthusiastic moshpit forms in front of the stage. Yet another classic follows – ‘Stupid Questions’. Justin Sullivan & CO perform with a kind of energy that you just can’t help infecting you as well. 

The sound also helps as it is crystal clear. Some people later complained about the loud bass, but that’s part of the band’s concept after all.

We also hear a brand new song – ‘Today is a Good Day’ – one of the talked about Wallstreet themed songs from the band’s upcoming album. For our surprise and joy it turns out to be all out metal!

Well… I think that now might be the time to mentioned that the show wasn’t that poorly attended. My eye-meter might have seen 300 to 400 people, while potentially seeing double is my own business.

What strikes me, though, is the considerably big group of people who have come from abroad just to see the concert. All other bands and their ‘loyal fans’ might have to take a time out and keep quiet in shame. What was funny, though, was how the foreigners had learned the principles of Bulgaria’s (post-)socialist bureaucracy quite quickly and responded to pretty much anything said in Bulgarian with ‘Where do I get one?’…

Back to the show – Fire! New Model Army are like on fire on stage! Justin especially looks like he’s totally possessed by the music and seems to get extra crazy, which impresses us even more, considering his age (no offense meant, but the dude admits he was 14 when he was in Bulgaria as a kid in 1970!). ‘I feel it even stronger than you guys’, he shares after the show.

We also hear 'The Hunt', 'High', "Vagabonds', 'Wired'... until it’s time for the last song from the regular setlist - 'Wonderful Way To Go'. There are encores after all, though. ‘51st State’ is sung together with Nufri, next is ‘Green and Grey’ and then the final punch of ‘I Love the World’.

There’s no other show like this! You sit at home and you think to yourself ‘so much energy, imagine this live’ and then you see them live and you understand you weren’t able to even imagine it. We absolutely understand all the people who traveled here just to see them play!