Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Prelude
Label: Self-released
Release: 2015
Rating: 4/5
Prelude are from Žiri, a four-piece that has been making music for four years. »1688« is their studio debut, released in early October 2015. These days bands like to run to Studio Evolucija for help, simply because it pays off. The sound of »1688« is densely avalanche-like, while at the same time »on the peaks« it’s properly bristling (even sharpened up in a metal way) or, more precisely, sounding modern-day grimy. It’s an album that combines trendy rock groove with »live-show« vitality. Given the genre direction, Simon Jovanovič is tailor-made for Prelude.
All in all, on their studio debut the band cooks up songs in a bristling, trendy hard rock vein that more than once shamelessly wrestles with metal’s destructive power. And across the album the band delivers a fresh expressive spark in its original material, with just enough variety, yet every last track fits the group’s musical profile nicely. Prelude’s advantage is that, already on their debut, they aren’t »searching« – they’ve managed to find their own recognizable style and sound. The quartet’s playing is lively and active all the way through, tightly in sync with each other, which means they breathe as one and believe as one in the cause they’re devoted to. You can’t overlook that, and it’s essential.
Emotions and passions are caught both in the vocal delivery (the vocal interpretation), which has a nicely mid-pitched, manly punchiness, and in the heartfelt, fiercely committed playing of all the instrumentalists. The mid-song instrumental sections are deftly seasoned with witty guitar solos, which are occasionally complemented (or replaced) by the refreshing sound of a saxophone (e.g. the outro of Gallery of Confidence, or the arabesque-broken outro of I am). The band serves up a bundle of songs sung in both English and Slovenian lyrics. In both cases they skillfully play a winning poker hand of aces. Of course, with Slovenian vocals a greater measure of that typically Slovenian musical-melancholic pathos creeps out (which is pretty much expected), even though the album is dark and melancholically inward-looking from head to toe, thanks to the songwriting as well as the production. At the same time, you can’t miss the constant doses of rage on it, caught up in a web of madness and pain, which the lead vocalist surrenders to with great feeling and intensity.
The song Obraz spominov marks the album’s first detour, into a blend of ska, pop and funk sounds. In this track the band makes ample use of singer Davor Luštrek’s saxophone skills, and with a touch too many »pa-ra-pa-pa-pa«s it might just open the door to more frequent rotation on Slovenian radio waves. The second such moment on the record is Pade kaplja, with a chorus melody that’s a shade more musically conciliatory and pop-invasive. Given the defined style the album embodies, it would have been handier for the band to release this kind of song separately, as EPs or standalone singles, since they somewhat »tear« the album’s dynamic flow and stylistic structure. Then again, to be fair, as »individuals« in terms of arrangement, both tracks stand credibly and confidently on their own. Even in these subtler moments of the album, the sonic warmth and organic liveliness are held back, which also goes for the excellent, dreamy Timeless, one more detour on the album, sensibly placed at its tail end and offering a very successful experimental glimpse of how Prelude would sound in an »unplugged« variety.
»1688« is an album that puts a new Slovenian band on the music scene, one worth keeping a close eye on in the future. You can tell the album was forged over a long time. It’s detailed with great skill and dedication, both sonically and in the arrangements. It comes across as compact, fresh and alive enough, refined and rational in its strokes and finesses, and what’s essential, musically optimized. That’s why it gets into the ear of any layperson right away. It’s a debut the band can be really proud of, and let’s hope they keep growing with it successfully on their evolutionary path in the future.
Prelude – Pohlep (video):
Lineup
Davor Luštrek – vocals, saxophone
Klemen Mlinar – guitar
Blaž Arnolj – bass guitar
Aljaž Trček – drums
SPECIAL GUEST:
Nejc Vončina
Production
Simon Jovanovič
Track List
1. Povej naglas
2. Pohlep
3. Exhale
4. Sanje
5. Iluzije
6. Obraz spominov
7. Gallery of Confidence
8. I Am
9. Pade kaplja
10. Timeless
