Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Broken Arrow
Label: Multi Records
Release: 2013
Length: 53:18
Rating: 4/5
Broken Arrow are those Brežice lads who, since around 2005, have been working to grow and develop musically all on their own. From day one they’ve had an incredible bond and brotherhood! Even with their first demo recordings, the band signaled that it was into rock with a strong melodic backbone. At the outset, Broken Arrow were an infectiously rejuvenated take on an up-and-coming hard rock band that drew from Bon Jovi on one side, while on the other knowing how to knock on the hearts of fans of »Slovenian hard rock folklore« with the musical and character recipes of Šank Rock and Chateau. But it’s been clear all along that Broken Arrow are their own thing, the likes of which Slovenia hasn’t seen before. Another important point is that the album »Feel the Arrow« is the kind of thing that keeps cropping up in droves through the decades in Sweden. Over there they’re literally obsessed with releasing albums seasoned with a clearly profiled aesthetic of AOR-sounding retro-melodicism.
A fair few years have passed since the band’s beginnings, and the arrangements have matured along the way. Some songs from the demos, which hinted at the band’s huge potential, were simply outgrown as the band matured, so they didn’t make the cut for the debut. And »Feel the Arrow«, the band’s first proper full-length studio document, is right from the start a record Broken Arrow can be very proud of. With this album as a base, they can polish and healthily develop their own songwriting stamp without any pressure, since even this early, despite a few borrowed influences, they’ve managed to define a recognizable musical character. Let’s hope it gets even more original, deeper and more sharply defined in the future! All of this confirms that Broken Arrow are a band with exceptional potential for growth.
And why would Broken Arrow be any more special than other genre-related bands in the new hard rock wave in Slovenia? Out of the whole phalanx of young Slovenian bands trying their hand at hard rock, it’s Broken Arrow who draw a rare parallel with the world’s AOR legacy. Judging by what the album »Feel the Arrow« offers, Broken Arrow are right now actually the only band of the Slovenian »new wave of hard rock« whose musical character credibly justifies that genre label, which is certainly a flattering thing to have in your backpack.
Broken Arrow have always had a polished, innate feel for combining rock muscle with a distinctive melodic coloring that they’ve always used to paint their compositions superbly. And in this respect, »Feel the Arrow« is, compared to the released demos, an absolute step up in the band’s gradual artistic development and growth over its first eight years. On the debut the band found just the right middle ground, where guitar phrases and curtains of keyboards live side by side as equals, in dialogue with each other, backed by a strong foundation built on the synthesizer sound contours of the eighties. At the same time, the opening Tonight We Rock And Roll highlights a special trait: a well-known part of the arrangement toolkit of international AOR rock bands since forever, but a rare virtue among Slovenian rock bands. Broken Arrow effectively enrich the atmosphere of their choruses by introducing tasty backing vocal harmonies in choir style, which deepens the grabby bombast of this album. That’s also one of the basic requirements for AOR music to work properly. Have A Little Love is a surprise, because in the pre-chorus and chorus it veers stylistically toward Toto, and it’s not hard to say of the chorus too that it tries to follow, in retro-sound terms, some points of the »Toto meets Mecca« discography, which noticeably breathes mid-eighties AOR arrangement.
The ballad Can’t Tell If You Know also successfully dodges all the potential pitfalls and traps of sliding into generic territory and shallow feelings. Matjaž Predanič as a singer handles ballads brilliantly too. And if we agree that a ballad is a thing worthy of all praise on any melodic rock / AOR album, then it’s proof of the great arranging talent of the band in question, in our case Broken Arrow. The song Hold Me Tight carries a stirring »Foreigner-style« intro, as well as a verse build-up before the atmospheric climax in the infectious chorus.
The album’s most convincing moments are above all the ones played at a mid-tempo. In those songs the coloring of the building blocks of the chosen arrangement structure is especially generous in atmospheric depth and contrast. That means Holdin’ On, with its extremely infectious chorus, and a little later one of the album’s best songs as far as the verse-pre-chorus-chorus structure goes, and certainly the high point of the »Feel the Arrow« album, the punchy semi-ballad Wings Of An Angel. Crying In Shadows stands right next to it in these qualities, the song that has most effectively soaked up AOR characteristics and could, without any trouble, slot onto any studio album by Broken Arrow’s contemporaries from the Scandinavian corner of the planet (Bad Habit, Grand Design, Work Of Art,…) .
Then we have two »naughty« songs. Let’s just say these are the ones with a »bad ass« attitude! That’s V8 Serenade, and even more »shameless« is the glam-sharpened Feels Allright, backed up by a cowbell. You could say that some of The Kiss swagger from the era of the album »Crazy Nights« has been very nicely carried over into the ideas here.
The oddball of the album is definitely the song Give Me Your Love Tonight. Even though it has an almost Whitesnake-style title, it’s a playfully goofy rock ‘n’ roll manifesto skillfully dressed in the playfulness of this way of composing by Queen. The song has just one flaw. Everything that needs to happen in it happens within two minutes. Yet the song runs for almost six minutes and is even the longest song on the album, which is a paradox of its own.
The closing Fight Fire With Fire is an oddball on the album too. As the song’s title already hints, it leans mostly on minor keys. It’s the darkest song on the album, and through the lead guitar phrase some metal rhetoric comes through as well. It’s worth highlighting the excellent work of both guitarists, who complement each other masterfully, including in the trading of acrobatics woven into the guitar solos.
Matjaž Predanič occasionally (in a mild dose) channels Jon Bon Jovi in his vocal delivery, so the feel of the album brings up some associations with Bon Jovi. The same goes for the style, as the opening Tonight We Rock ‘N’ Roll points out. At the same time, the band’s drive toward an organic and authentic sound is instantly obvious. The guitar phrases, which are clearly in the spotlight in this song, are tempered by the emphasized use of piano, as well as the warm »Hammond-like« keyboard sound, all commanded by the dominant, melodically polished, authoritative vocal of Matjaž Predanič, and the song reaches its expected atmospheric climax in the chorus, where tasty vocal harmonies join the lead vocal. In this, Broken Arrow passed the maturity test right out of the gate, with flying colors.
The lyrics, meanwhile, are a story of debauchery, chasing women, partying, riding steel road ponies, in short a »bad ass« philosophy (especially the song Hit the Stret) that fits the character of the band’s sound and style! There’s some of that unavoidable naivety in the songs that are love confessions, but you can’t do without it. Broken Arrow are by no means alone on the planet in that. The verses, though, are very well worked out in their use of English.
The album carries a retro sonic sentiment, which sensibly ties it to the Scandinavian new wave of acts trying their hand at melodic rock and AOR revivalism. That’s a big compliment and further proof not only of Broken Arrow’s musical distinctiveness (within the Slovenian rock scene), but of this talented young band’s exceptional breakthrough potential to make its mark on the international scene too. Guys? I think you’re ripe to try your luck with the leading foreign labels when you make the follow-up to your wonderfully good studio debut »Feel the Arrow«, such as the Italian Frontiers Records. An excellent debut credibly opens the doors for moves like that. Good luck!
After bands like Šank Rock, Chateau, Rdeči baron and so on… the Brežice boys of Broken Arrow have, with the release of their studio debut »Feel the Arrow«, taken the torch of Slovenian melodic hard rock and AOR heritage into their own hands and carried it into new times, as credible standard-bearers of a new generation of this kind of musical idiom in Slovenia. Let’s hope another up-and-coming Slovenian band joins them soon.
Line-up
Matjaž Predanič – vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals
Rok Marolt – electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Bor Marolt – electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Rok Plitaver – bass guitar, acoustic guitar
Janko Predanič – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Kristina Iveković – backing vocals on tracks 1 and 6.
Production
Bernard Miholič
Track list
1. Tonight We Rock ‘N’ Roll
2. Have A Little Love
3. Hold Me Tight
4. Holdin’ On
5. Crying In Shadows
6. V8 Serenade
7. Wings Of An Angel
8. Feels Alright
9. Can’t Tell If You Know
10. Give Me Your Love Tonight
11. Hit The Streets
12. Fight Fire With Fire
