Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Los Ventilos
Label: Self-released
Released: 2017
Running time: 44:25
Rating: 3.5/5
Los Ventilos are putting out their fourth album in a good fifteen years together. And on the fourth one they introduce a new singer. Again. The fourth one in a row. His name is Urban Sever, and with nine new original songs and four reworked »classics« from their own iron-clad repertoire, they remain the band that shamelessly gravitates to the front of the Slovenian pop and rock mainstream, hoping that, riding the waves of Slovenian radio, they’ll win over as big a mass of music listeners as possible. The album title alone, the cover that puts the broad-shouldered, strapping and seductively smiling Urban front and center, the message of the infectious little tunes (thankfully) with a streamlined running time, and finally the famous names of the guests (Grega Skočir, Tokac, Tomi Meglič, Omar Naber) all hint that the band is fishing for the favor of the majority, especially the female part of the audience.
Albums come slowly to Los Ventilos, but the guys don’t lose any sleep over it. They sign off on everything they do under the trademark of perfectionism, and the time it takes to reach the goal doesn’t matter one bit. So »#aveš« aims straight (and once again) at the Slovenian music mainstream, and there’s no doubt about it. In the soundscape they offer listeners, the guys still lean toward guitars, which consequently get more room in the production. The rock element is front and center, while the men eagerly keep the musicality at a high level, which, in the polishing of the songs’ compositional shape, results in instantly infectious catchiness. It grabs you right away!
So. All in all, Los Ventilos’ direction is what it’s always been. The difference is that on the new record the guys come across as more mature and richer for plenty of experience, the kind you only get by defying the odds. So on the new record Los Ventilos present themselves as songwriters who pace their steps more wisely and concisely than ever before, and the same goes for finding the most compatible ideas, which gets them a winning poker hand of aces, ensuring compositional tightness not only across the nine new originals but across the album as a whole. We’re talking about a high degree of compositional harmony in the pairing of verse and chorus (with an optional pre-chorus in between). A trivially simple musical recipe, then, which once again welcomes the less demanding listeners into its bosom — the majority, that is.
So the audience doesn’t forget who Los Ventilos are, the band tacked four newly recorded tracks from its iron-clad repertoire onto the tail end of the album, with Urban keeping company with the lead voices of Big Foot Mama, Dan D and Siddharta, as well as Omar Naber, all mentioned above. Refreshed, effective, igniting instantly. Reworked versions of Med vdihom in izdihom, Ne gledam nazaj, Vanilija and Odpri ventile, in the production and performance dress of the band’s new era. In tune with its evolutionary growth and development. An imprint of its essence for 2017.
Mission accomplished. The quality that the general pop-rock bandwidth of the Slovenian music scene demands is, in principle, guaranteed. The new album keeps the credibility the first three brought the band. With a refreshed lineup, in new times, with new creative power and songwriting charisma. Mature and, once again, even more effective. The rhetoric of the album »#aveš« is such that it should win over the Slovenian music public, including by reawakening the memories of all those nostalgic fans who know the band well from before, because the new material will surely fit them like a glove.
Los Ventilos – Pod črto (official video):
Line-up
Urban Sever – vocals
Boštjan Gradišek – guitar
Martin Lunder – guitar
Nace Jordan – bass
Gašper Gradišek – drums
Production
Los Ventilos
Track list
1. Čas
2. Pod črto
3. Svet na rami
4. Drevo bo vedelo
5. Tobogan greha
6. Prenaglas
7. Punca
8. Kako naj dokažem
9. Naj gre mimo
10. Med vdihom in izdihom (feat. Omar Naber)
11. Ne gledam nazaj (feat. Tokac)
12. Vanilija (feat. Tomi Meglič)
13. Odri ventile (feat. Grega Skočir)
