Blog Post
Hellcats /Attractive Chaos - Bannerman’s Edinburgh 22nd May 2024
Reviewed by Iain McArthur • May 23, 2024
It was dark, wet and misty in Scotland’s capital city, creating a gothic atmosphere for those out enjoying a tour of the graveyards and haunted vaults of Edinburgh’s Old Town of an evening. The live music room in Bannerman’s, Edinburgh’s historic Rock & whisky venue, lurks under North Bridge in one such vault and you can almost feel the Bubonic Plague seeping in through the bricks on a night like this. Fortunately, International Women of Rock have brought a splash of glamour, femininity and continental sophistication to town with a double-header featuring Slovenian metallers Hellcats and Franco-Italian band Attractive Chaos. IWoR have done a splendid job of promoting the tour on social media and that seems to be what has drawn in a decent crowd on a Wednesday night, with quite a few gentlemen coming in out of the rain and huddling in the dark corners with their hands in their pockets to stay warm.
Hellcats have been active for some time in their home country and have performed songs both in English and their native language. Tonight, it is English all the way and they stick to familiar metal themes with songs like ‘Demon Dreams’, ‘Heavy Metal’ and ‘Warrior Princess’. They maintain a fine tradition of all-female metal bands in the style of Girlschool, Rock Goddess and others, which goes down well with the audience who seem happy to get involved in the chanting and clapping.
Sisters, Sasha and Sonja Zagorc first founded the band in Ljubljana in 2003 and they both add backing vocals, while playing bass and drums respectively. Their new single ‘Black Thunder’ is a highlight as is their eponymous song ‘Hellcats’ which is a statement of intent and well delivered by singer Sara Simeunovic, aided by Mia-ow on lead guitar. The ladies break out a stirring version of ‘Breaking the Law’ which might get these top Cats in trouble with Officer Dibble and they also feature AC/DC’s ‘TNT’.
Overall, this was a fine delayed debut after a previous tour plan had to be shelved and they should pick up a few more friends and followers by the end of this UK tour.
Attractive Chaos were not actually chaotic at all, but otherwise they certainly lived up to their name. The focal point of the band is clearly the beguiling chanteuse Emma Elvaston, who bewitched the audience with her vocal ability, slinky moves and an enchanting stage presence, while bass player Pietro Paolo Lunesu added some sultry Italian smouldering for the ladies.
The band opened with ‘As You Are’ which is one of the best songs on their 2023 ‘The Fire Between Us’ EP. Attractive Chaos describe themselves as ‘melodic metal’ and they certainly have some beautifully crafted tunes. There are elements of symphonic metal in their sound, with background orchestration, some operatic warblings and growls, but overall, the feel is melodic and more theatrical, with some expressive story-telling and plenty of light and shade. Clement Botz supplies the growls and some tasteful guitar work and actually resembles a mini-me version of Italian bass legend Luca Negro at times.
‘Before You Hit the Ground’ and ‘Come to Me’ were early favourites in the set list and the band sprinkle in most of the songs from their forthcoming ‘Tame & Conquer’ EP which was on sale at the merch table in CD format. By the time they got to their 6th song, ‘Finally’, the band had really clicked into top gear and built a very strong connection with the crowd, who probably were not at all familiar with them in advance.
The absolute piece de resistance of the set was a sublime rendition of ‘Won & Lost’. If there was a Eurovision Rock Contest, this song would win it for France and come second for Italy with its soaring melodies, metal interludes, theatrical flourishes and thrilling riff. The phrase “pure theatrical Viagra’ was first coined for Nicole Kidman’s performance in the play ‘The Blue Room’ but could certainly be applied to Emma’s outstanding delivery of this song both on-stage tonight and in the accompanying video (link below).
There was still time for the euphoric riff of ‘To the Moon’ which featured some highland fling-style gyrations from Emma and some on-the-spot jigging from Clement to round off a very entertaining 45-minute set. There was quite a queue for selfies and CDs at the merch table at the end so we can be sure that Attractive Chaos have made a lot of new friends who will look forward to seeing more of them in the future.