Label: God Bless This Mess Records
Release date: November 29, 2019
Album length: 37.50 min
Producer: Hannes Jaeckl
Genre: Alternative Rock
Rating: 9.5 / 10
They take their sweet time getting things done, but when the goods finally land, they hit that much harder and sturdier. The new album from Slovenian alternative rock outfit Dežurni krivci, hailing from Sv. Jurij ob Ščavnici, is called “Narobe svet”. This is a band with a self-made, homegrown and instantly recognizable style, clearly traceable all the way back to the first album “Nikogaršnje mesto” (2001), and Dežurni krivci have been diligently cultivating and nurturing that homegrown musical recipe over the years, with their artistic maturing coming through loud and clear, something the new album “Narobe svet” makes no attempt to hide.
For the new album, the band’s first real full-length in six years since its predecessor “Fakti” (2013), Dežurni krivci once again went with a proven name on the production side. That’s Austrian sound engineer and producer Hannes Jaeckl, who also shaped the sound of the albums “Fakti” and “Strup” (2007). “Narobe svet” pours the whole charisma of the team spirit woven by the quartet’s chemistry onto the record as authentically and honestly as it gets. It hits head-on, addresses you without letting up, and doesn’t skimp on any of the blasphemy, spewing out a jagged, high-octane, lurking punk rock heresy, carved out in the Prlekija dialect.
On the new album too, Dežurni krivci keep that unbridled, direct stance of fully tangible mockery, generated by the caustic poetry of a gallows-humor gripe about the injustices faced by the little guy, driven forward like machine oil by the rage of warmly tasting and testing what it means to be part of a brave new world, and being enslaved by it. Rebel!!!!
The quartet is made up of four excellent musicians. Leon Štrakl and his furious vocals are one of the elemental, integral ingredients on which the band’s artistic statement is built, and he is surrounded by three exceptionally good instrumentalists and co-creators of that statement, while the whole quartet radiates a clearly perceptible charisma born of tight chemistry. That’s why these barely 38 minutes of music are incredibly penetrating and grab the listener with such intensity that it carries them into a tension that doesn’t let up until the very last beat of the record. Dežurni krivci prove their instrumental polish within detailed compositions, where they also pull off cunning shifts of mood through cleverly arranged phrasing modulations, mostly found in short mid-eight passages. One of the high points of this kind of arrangement trickery on the album is the track Svoboda.
The phrases leading the songs are once again sharply defined and fully realized in their charisma, and the band creates an extreme contrast between the avalanche-like structures of relentless guitar phrasing and the penetrating depth of the extremely pouty rhythmic attack of venomous snare hits and voluminous yet melodic bass lines, which bore like a drill through reinforced concrete and steel into the framework of the album’s, and the songs’, sonic picture. On the new album, as already said, Dežurni krivci keep their artistic one-of-a-kind sound, which at its core is a blend of rock ’n’ roll foundations laced with elements of blues, stoner rock and, of course, punk bristle, all culminating in the uniqueness of their hugely distinctive alternative rock stance, the likes of which you won’t find anywhere on the planet. The energy is so penetrating that at moments it even draws parallels with the same kind of charisma from the ragged punk-spirited and prematurely buried soul brothers Motörhead.
The album is out in two versions, vinyl and digital. The vinyl has three tracks fewer, but you can definitely expect a more organic sonic feel on it, while the digital version has three more tracks (Lačni psi, Pada noč, Zadnji vlak), and those three are no less essential building blocks of Dežurni krivci for new times. You’re asking me? I’d get both versions, but if I’m condemned to pick just one, I’d still go for the digital, since you get a good ten minutes more music that keeps up all the excellence Dežurni krivci have spoiled us with over a solid two decades of activity. The track order is also notably different on the two versions of the album.
The album was recorded in the studio modeled after a live performance and as much “in one take” as possible. That adds even more value to the product and extra touches of high quality. An abrasive rock’n’ roll storm from Prlekija, captured for new times on the fifth outing from this brilliant band of the wide Slovenian rock underground, is a fresh, biting and razor-sharp manifesto of honest rebel attitude and sharp-witted intellectualism, the likes of which you won’t find anywhere else. Not in Slovenia, let alone in other parts of the “solar galaxy”, so it belongs in every household whose residents still think for themselves.
by: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Čas je
2. Gastarbajter
3. Hej
4. Lačni psi
5. Mogoče danes
6. Pada noč
7. Prazni padamo
8. Rojeni brez imena
9. Svoboda
10. Veliki mislec
11. Zadnji vlak
Lineup:
Leon Štrakl – vocals, guitar
Marko Čuš – guitar
Tomas Tibaut – bass
Igor Ketiš – drums
