Dickless Tracy, originally a slang expression for female police officers but here a death metal/grindcore outfit from Slovenia, opened the main stage on the Wednesday of Metaldays this year. Due to them beginning a bit early and us showing up a bit late, the show was already well under way when we got there.
Apparently, they are not newcomers at this place, having played at Metalcamp both in 2004 and 2005, but it was the first time we saw the band, and the main reason for us being there was that we often end up running into Tomi Cepanec and his younger brother Ivan ‘Tegla’ Cepanec (who is the drummer of the band) at the festival, as they also run a merchandise shop there.
Well, we are almost always open to try something new, so we figured why the hell not?

”Since we’re playing the big stage, I guess I must act like a big stage guy.”
- Tomi ‘Tzeppo’ Cepanec (vocals/guitar)

Tomi Cepanec may have said that he was going to act as ‘a big stage guy’, but honestly, this remark came packed in a sly smile and was followed by some terribly exaggerated facial expressions and arms made to symbolize an inverted cross. Or put in other words, despite the hard and violent music Dickless Tracy was playing, he displayed a great sense of humour and lack of solemnity that many bands otherwise adopt when doing a gig like this one. It was quite refreshing and entertaining.
Even so, I did miss some action befitting the music in the show. Tomi Cepanec was a bit too up tied to his microphone, although as he used it a lot it would probably be hard for him to leave, but his band mates Andrej ‘L´ Püss’ Šepec (guitar) and Domen ‘Juve’ Majcen (bass) also looked like they were half asleep for most of the time. They trudged around a bit, but nothing with any real conviction and aim; it would have been cool to have them on the edge of the stage from time to time to engage the crowd, or at the very least get a foot up on a monitor and headbang. That’s how the ‘big guys’ does it, and they do it because it works.
Ivan Cepanec on the other hand wore an uncharacteristically broad smile for most of the time as he was punishing the skins; somehow he reminded me of Fredrik Andersson from Amon Amarth, and he also got to show off some real skill in addition to the speed he clearly had down at the end of, Realm Of Fools I think it was, but it’s hard to say as I don’t really know their songs.

To my surprise, they had actually managed to gather a nice little following, despite being the first band of the day, and clearly other people understood better what they were in for.
They were at least clearly enjoying themselves even though it was raining a bit, something that we otherwise weren’t too bothered by at this year’s festival.
In appreciation of the fans who had met up, the band asked for the time when they were through the set, and they were allowed one more song – one turned into two but then Dickless Tracy had to say farewell. Before they left, they did find the time to part ways with some water bottles they threw out into the crowd as mementos of the show; that’s a good place to start before getting personalized pick’s and that sort of thing.

“Enjoy the festival and get all the sexual diseases you can before going home!”
- Tomi Cepanec (vocals/guitar)

Despite the criticism above, I was surprisingly well entertained by this Slovenian quartet. As you might have figured out by now from earlier reviews, death/grind and I aren’t always the best of friends, but when delivered with a good dose of humour, as was the case here, it can be quite enjoyable.
Let’s see if they don’t make it back for a fourth year soon, I have a feeling they will...

Setlist:

Everhaunting Presence
The New Domination
Revenants
Halls Of Sickness
Tomb Of Doom
Nuklearna Država
Boneyard (Impetigo cover)