Self-released
Release date: May 9, 2021
Production: DavidOFF
Album length: 28.00 min
Genre: Progressive Metal/Art Metal/Instrumental/Guitar Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
DavidOFF is a music project, let’s just call it a fully instrumental guitar art rock and metal project, run by Carinthian guitarist David Breznik. “There aren’t many of us, but we’re well spread out,” as the saying goes for Slovenia’s solo artists who talk first and foremost in the language of six-string (or more) theory. Bor Zuljan, Franci Zabukovec and then the slightly younger Igor Potočnik, to get us into the post-millennium era, when Grega Habič from Jesenice shows up, still seen today as the most consistent of the bunch. Then there’s Uroš Planinc from Celje, who, let’s hope not for good, “stopped” at two albums, and now Carinthian David Breznik too. Those are the players with solo albums, even though Slovenia has plenty more guitar aces (Mark Lemer, Matjaž Sterže, etc.). We’re talking about a type of musician, solo artists who put instrumental guitar playing front and center as the basic language of creative expression. Their own art beings. All we’re waiting for now is for the first lady of the Slovenian scene to maybe join them, and that could be Katja Plaster. David Breznik is, once again, his own musical story, his own book about music. Self-grown and one of a kind.
David Breznik already put out a debut at the end of 2020, and this spring it’s followed by his second album, “Vojna”. An album with a telling title. Right at the first step of his discography career, the guy wanted to show two different faces. The debut was set up as a kind of tribute to his musical idols, the guitar heroes he learned from, developed with, matured and grew up on. The new album, though, is a sharp departure, because it’s a full-blooded reflection, an imprint of David Breznik’s inner world. A record that radiates the artist’s personal musical dossier, with David using the language of guitar playing to lay bare even the most hidden bits of his sensitive soul. With passion and fire.
What David pulled off on “Vojna” is a seriously bold production. His guitar sounds bristling and massive, kitted out with bombastic reverb, while he also masterfully covered the low end, loosened up the arrangements, breathed drama into them with vivid keyboard arrangements, and made sure the drums sound completely organic, courtesy of the guest musician on this album, Dejan “Dimme” Dimec. DavidOFF goes for concise, confessional playing and doesn’t waste the listener’s time on potential adventures into the fields of (indifferent) avant-garde weirdness. The substance is tangible throughout, it follows musicality, but it’s also challenging, because DavidOFF proves a deft tightrope walker, following the red thread of fusing many stylistic influences while moving within his own musical statement. It’s an album that weaves together elements of neo-classicism, jazz rock lines, and moments that blues rock could happily adopt, and up front the musician of course serves avalanche-like salvos of metal phrasing that could hold their own in the progressive metal arena too.
The guy can be very subtle, which shines through especially on the fourth track, Sreča. It’s particularly melodious and refined, and for all its dynamism it’s still wonderfully pleasant to listen to. Even though this is an all-instrumental album, it speaks very aptly and effectively (without lyrics), and still in a very personal, confessional way. The song titles hint at that, and it’s easy to link them to the nature of the playing and the arrangements, since they carry a tangible, expressive character. That was the musician’s goal, and it’s been pulled off very skillfully.
The tracks Vojna (the opening phrase unintentionally pulls you toward the legendary Rush’s BU2B) and Orgazem are arranged in pretty similar ways. A thunderous, piercing guitar phrase, which also breathes in some dark atmosphere, defines both tracks at their core. Those two are the more direct ones. Then the album also features, among others, a more experimental number, let’s call it progressive metal in nature, which is Droga, developing in the lead phrase of the first part of the track as if Kashmir (Led Zeppelin) had gotten its own distinctly “back to the future” update 45 years later. The steely progressive track Nebo can also be counted in that league of the album’s standouts.
The album can’t stand overkill and ego trips. DavidOFF makes it clear he’s an exceptional guitar virtuoso, but he doesn’t overdo the showing off in the slightest. The tunes stay extremely compact. In that sense the whole thing is comparable to Joe Satriani’s old-school way of arranging, although DavidOFF is considerably more varied in his stylistic fusion, let’s even say more challenging. And when he fires off bursts of hellishly fast shredding, he never overdoes them, instead placing them in the right doses, in the right spots across the album’s eight tracks. That’s the big strength of this studio effort, since it guarantees hitting the right measure of art metal and art rock for this instrumental release, one that will be listened to with interest both by the more demanding music fan and by those who can’t stand too much complication and primarily bet on the minimalism of instantly ignited, energetic three-to-four-chord phrasing.
With “Vojna”, DavidoFF is a musician signaling that we’re looking at an artist of great talent and great expressive potential. In terms of development, that is. The starting points for further evolution are a small sea. Precisely because of the young man’s layered polish and focus. Everything depends on where he steers his musical vision, but it would be great if he could, in the short term, put together at least a backing band so he could present “Vojna” live. Sure, there’s only 28 minutes of music on it, but that’s not a problem. Add an original leftover or two, plus a cover, and an hour-long show is guaranteed. “Vojna” is a hugely interesting, quality release and therefore deserves some serious live promotion. So we’ve got yet another artistically exciting story ahead of us, one that may well throw up plenty of musical delights of home-grown substance down the road.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Vojna (3:18)
2. Sanje (3:04)
3. Nebo (2:59)
4. Sreča (4:13)
5. Orgazem (3:09)
6. Droga (3:47)
7. Moja ljubezen (3:40)
8. Prah (3:33)
Lineup:
David Breznik – ‘DavidOFF’ – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Dejan Dimec – ‘Dimme’ – drums
