Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Karamela
Label: Croatia Records
Release: 2017
Length: 44:56
Rating: 3.5/5
Do you ever get a little wistful for the eighties, for Danilo Kocjančič, Bazar, Prizma, Labirint, Boomerang, Kameleoni, Karamela? “Karam…ba i karam…bita?” What? Who? Karamela, formed way back in 1982 and only releasing their studio debut in 1998, are coming back after almost twenty years with a new studio album. The fear is gone, and Jadran Ogrin finally found the courage too, sending a copy of this album to the editorial office of our beloved online music paper at the suggestion of his worthy rock’n’roll blood brother Jernej Vene.
Enough babbling. »Brez strahu« couldn’t sound more retro-nostalgic if it tried. It’s an album lost in time and space. Jadran, Zlati, Marjan and Goran, former members of Faraoni, September, Kameleoni and Boomerang, simply don’t know any other way. They’re relics of the days when rock’n’roll was in full bloom in the eighties. Music just like this used to be a regular on Yugoslav radio waves back then, and today it’s a relic of absolute value. They still play hard rock that’s quirkily fused with eighties pop. Why quirkily? Because to get it you have to go back to the eighties and the hot hits that shaped the world charts, courtesy of Toto, Chicago, Steve Miller Band, Huey Lewis & The News, Mr. Mister, Mike and the Mechanics…. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Add to that the musical perception, shaped under the Primorska sun, of the generation the band members belong to. They’re sweet as caramel. The principle of eighties pop songwriting (especially the melody) stays unsullied! There’s hard rock weighed down with a blues element (Pod nebom padajočih zvezd, Žusterna blues), and the songs carry a charmingly naive streak at times, as if these guys never grew up. The songs vary a bit in quality. Pogled na tvoje oči, on the other hand, is an outstanding track and one of the most successful compositions on the album. That goes for everything from verse to build-up, through the pre-chorus into the chorus, with all the little finesses an attentive ear will pick up (lyrics aside, but more on that later in the review).
Interestingly, the band had to turn to the Croatian label Croatia Records to get the album out. The production is lively, and the Hammond sound that Goran likes to stick to also reinforces the feeling that the good old vibe, carried over from seventies hard rock, is right here with us. Marjan is a guitarist in a class of his own. He’s considered one of the most distinctive guitarists of his generation in this region. There’s no messing around with him, and all I want is for Marjan to finally get some well-deserved recognition in the music media for his guitar work. After all, he doesn’t play an Ernie Ball Music Man »Luke« guitar »just because it looks pretty«. His playing, solos included, is delicately soulful throughout. It’s refined and smooth, speaking to you in a completely unpretentious and pleasant way. Marjan has an incredible understanding of where to place each note so that the passages and solos within the songs have optimal impact. The notes in the ornamental guitar passages and solos are wisely spaced, following the less-is-more axiom. In his playing it’s not hard to pick out the great manual skill of a master who approaches the job with huge enjoyment and a deeply refined feel. He »bends« notes with amazing dexterity, using long-ringing »pull-offs«. That’s the old school, which both David Gilmour and, on the other side, Neal Schon know well, even though they’re very different guitarists. An ace, then, and aces like Marijan are few and far between on the Slovenian music scene today. His guitar is exactly the biggest draw of listening to the new Karamela album.
While Zlati Klun remains a more than trustworthy master of time, keeping the rhythmic framework solid and compact, it’s the incredibly committed Jadran Ogrin who lifts the dynamics with his warm bass sound, which also delivers a lot of melodic movement. He maneuvers deftly through the songs, especially when the sonic landscape needs coloring with greater contrast, and he also works some excellent slap moments into the mix.
In short, these guys remain exceptional musicians, and they play truly superbly. Zrno soli has an outstanding funky groove, and its middle-eight passage (with a guitar solo), as well as the extended instrumental outro later on (a keyboard solo), prove the quartet’s instrumental »bite«. In those moments you find yourself wishing for even more extended instrumental passages from Karamela, and maybe a completely instrumental track dedicated to their idols from the late sixties and early seventies.
Well, the album does have a few flaws on the vocal side. Jadran handles most of the vocals. Luckily so, since there’s not much to complain about in his delivery. He’s assured, and with his innate feel he brings just the right nostalgic sentiment of the old days to the songs. Zlati and Marijan (Stara Kitara, and in the closing Luna), unfortunately, somewhat warp the ideal metric lines with wide »O« sounds, which makes the verses come out sounding Croatian. The second flaw is the lyrics. At times, given the maturity you’d expect from four masters, they really are pitched too low. Mef contributed only one lyric this time, for the song Jaz bi še. Sadly, it’s the best lyric, and I’d have loved to see more like it on the album. In line with these two flaws, the songs also vary in quality from one to the next.
Anyway, »Brez strahu« is an absolute oddball. It puts Karamela back on the map of Slovenian rock’n’roll. Precisely because this is an album that truly has no equal these days, it feels all the more attractive and appealing. Given the almost twenty-year gap between the predecessor and »Brez strahu«, you’d expect a bolder artistic leap from the quartet. More polishing, more experimenting, even more variety in the arrangements, including other instruments, programming tricks and so on. Don’t go looking for hits, but given their experience and mileage, you can (given the band members’ track record) allow yourself to hope for a full-blooded spirit that doesn’t flinch even at the ever-tempting ace of musical experimentation, where it doesn’t even matter where it takes you. So, »Brez strahu« is first and foremost a very cautious album. There’s still room for stepping up the artistry. It’s a nice, pleasant and fun album all the same, but let’s hope the follow-up arrives soon and takes it to the next level with real expression.
Karamela – Jaz bi še (official video):
Lineup
Marjan Malikovič – guitar, vocals
Goran Velikonja – keyboards, backing vocals
Zlati Klun – drums, vocals
Jadran Ogrin – bass, vocals
Production
Jadran Ogrin
Tracklist
- To noč
- Pogled na tvoje oči
- Nore sanje
- Manjkaš nam
- Zadnja pot
- Žusterna blues
- Zrno soli
- Jaz bi še
- Kitara stara
- Pod nebom padajočih zvezd
- Luna
