Self-released
Release date: 15.12.2018
Production: Matej Pečaver
Album length: 33.42 min
Genre: Alternative Rock / Punk Rock
Extaza are Slovenian punk rockers, or more precisely a trio that formed back in the early nineties, but right up until mid-December 2018 it never managed to catch the right alignment of the stars to get at least its studio debut out of its system any sooner. Well, here at last is »Alkimija«.
These guys are from “another planet”. Or if not that, then at the very least from another time. They hopped into a time machine and jumped a good 25 years into the present. You feel it right away. Extaza write simple songs that gravitate toward the basic stance of punk rock, with no shortage of a cheerful vocal delivery or of poetry, with that party-time flirtation that was trivially and (almost bizarrely) easily internalized by the expansion of Green Day-style fun-loving, and Extaza also carry that happy, joyful vibe-trick that The Ramones from America once, long ago, began introducing into rock’n’roll, unlike their more “destructive” punk contemporaries on the British Isles. So it’s no surprise they use three-chord harmonic lines of holy simplicity, which often unfold in the safe shelter of major scales.
So Extaza offer no heavy musical philosophy or confessional revolution in their songwriting, which also means they handle any kind of compositional complication very badly. The guitars, though, can be seriously sharp and gritty in the riffs, and are shoved decidedly forward in the production, which kind of hints that metal was once listened to and played in the garage too, specifically good old school thrash metal.
»Alkimija« is its own album with its own story. Its strength, despite being highly predictable and trivially easy to crack, lies precisely in the fact that it’s generationally lost in time and space, or rather that its release is showing up on the scene more than two decades late. To get a bearing on where the compass needle points in terms of expression, you still have to cling to a few comparisons. Off the top of my head, the whole thing will probably appeal more to fans of the old Big Fot Mama, or of the “swaying” Lovšin and his Sokoli, than to anything that has come out on the Slovenian rock map later, in the post-millennial era, wearing the punk label.
Musically, Extaza sound a bit archaic today, even though what keeps them afloat above the waterline of possible “museum-piece expressive stiffness” is a seriously over-distorted, jagged and tightly pouting guitar sound, which they use to compensate for sheer triviality, since in their search for a direct stance some songs can come across as occasionally almost childlike, if not downright naive. Viewed, of course, through the prism of today’s level of development in Slovenian rock. The more interesting piece on the album is the polka-punk march V tvojih očeh, which calms down the album’s pace a touch in the middle, with pleasant (extremely minimalist) guitar embellishments that don’t go beyond the simplicity of, say, The Drinkers.
Short, punchy and straight on target! A very relaxed and easygoing rock album. “Alkimija” shows that the band developed entirely the natural way, with no hiding places and no kindly uncles pampering and backing the group with candy from behind the scenes. This trio always had to fight for everything on its own. For reaching all its goals and, at long last, for this album too. There’s no glam polish here, just absolute honesty. Definitely a band that hits you with a full dose when you run into them on stage, and a band that, thank God, finally got a studio debut out of its system. With its “old school” approach in today’s world, it works as at the very least a sweetly nostalgic record, even if it can’t surprise in terms of character. With its mostly cheerful, optimistic nature, it can entertain any listener even in moments when things in their everyday life aren’t going to plan. Welcome among the living, guys!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 7.5 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Do roba neba
2. Naša pista je lajf
3. Ta cvet
4. Moja si ti
5. V tvojih očeh
6. Minutes Away
7. Alkimisti
8. V ritmu sanj
9. Hvala ti
10. Zen moment
Lineup:
Dani Polajnar – vocals, guitar
Martin Valič – bass guitar, backing vocals
Aleš Korošec – drums
Guest musicians
Andrej Zevnik – guitar on tracks 1, 4, 5 and 8
Žiga Kožar – drums on track 5
Kaja Polajnar – backing vocals on track 10
