Artist: Wrong
Label: god bless this mess records
Released: 2011
Runtime: 38:36
Rating: 4.6/5
Know Wrong? No? Then you’ve got something to be sorry about. Another fantastic band under the God Bless This Mess records umbrella wrapped up recording their second full-length album in December 2010. But more on that a bit later; first, a quick intro for all the future Wrong fans (i.e. everyone who gets their hands on “Mysterious Sleeping Flyer”). Wrong is a band with enviable mileage, formed a year after Slovenia’s independence, and their genre roots lie in the New York hardcore scene. Under the name Revenge they released the tape “When the Mighty’s fall” in 1996, which is quite probably the first hardcore release on our soil. A year later they switched up their style, the lineup rotated, and the result was Wrong, an angry nu-metal project that has, to this day, racked up nothing but success, at least on the surface.
Already “Nothing Ends”, the first Slovenian nu-metal record, was one of the best, if not the best, releases of the genre in Slovenia. Today we’ve got “Mysterious Sleeping Flyer” in front of us. I can say with confidence that this one, even though it’s not (yet) seen as such, is one of the best releases in this genre in the world.
I’m not a huge nu-metal fan. In fact, I could count the ones I like on my fingers with fingers to spare. But musical quality is easy to spot, whether you know the genre or not. And with their latest record, Wrong deliver phenomenal music. They’ve built a distinctive style of their own; some would mistake that for repetition, but I stress, it’s a style, the band’s stamp … kind of like hearing Siddharta on the radio (if we’re talking Slovenian bands). You’d recognize them right away, even if it was your first time hearing the track. That’s how it is with Wrong. After a couple of songs it feels like home – we spot Wrong instantly, especially in the choruses. And that’s their TM, their trademark. The wild layering of guitars in the background with Ruš’s low, raspy tone, the harmonic vocal overlaps, the screams of rage at the transitions. All of it seasoned with lyrics that are pretty typical – angrily aimed at society, politics, personal frustrations.
What’s especially surprising is the incredibly colorful and seriously inspiring melodic work, mostly from guitarists Kiki and Pečko. The shifts between verse and chorus, the backing of the vocals … That’s exactly why the music doesn’t need solos. There aren’t any, and maybe for the first time ever I’m writing that as a good thing. The band forms a unique mosaic of vocals and guitar arrangements, so the mood needs nothing added and nothing taken away. That’s why Wrong are first and foremost musicians with “feeling,” and only then technicians and modern-day “wankers” running up and down scales. And feeling will always come before technicality in music; the latter is owned by every diligent practicer, the former only by geniuses.
With all that, I’d hardly say the music on “Mysterious Sleeping Flyer” is complex, overly technical or, on the other hand, too simple. It’s probably not the product of long, demanding calculation of musical arrangements, notes, time signatures, counterpoints, individual instrument inserts (I can’t think of the rest of the jargon right now). But it’s got that little something extra, the thing every band is after – it’s got its own signature sound, its own “sound”. All the rawness, the message, the melodies, the vocal harmony and the rest just come along for the ride. Even though the songs are all cut from the same cloth, that cloth is exactly the sound that makes Wrong Wrong. Intro, verse, chorus, verse, maybe another round of the chorus because it’s just fantastic (that is, every one), outro. A totally ordinary formula, but one only Wrong know how to plug into the equations correctly.
“Mysterious Sleeping Flyer” is therefore recommended to everyone. It’ll touch gentler jazzers, demanding prog fans, raging metalheads. It’ll win over casual listeners and climb to the daily rotation of music lovers. English majors will forget about Ruš’s occasionally broken English pronunciation. Fans of technicians (guitar heroes) will forget that guitar solos even exist in music. “Mysterious Sleeping Flyer” transcends the limits of “genre-ism” and is simply – excellent.
Lineup
Vasja Rovšnik “Ruš” – vocals, lyrics
Kristjan Horvat “Kiki” – guitars
Sašo Potočnik “Pečko” – guitars
Andrej Kurbus “Čaki” – drums
Istok Kuzma “Cimpek” – bass guitar
Production
Plueg in Wrong
Track List
1. Miami Nice
2. Suspicious Jesus
3. Hit Me
4. One Angry Boy Left Behind
5. Scat-Man
6. We Got The Shit
7. Mysterious Sleeping Flyer
8. Trotl
9. It’s So (We Have Luck)
10. It’s Future
