Label: Nostromo Records
Release date: 2014
Production: Grega Habič
Album length: 38.14 min
Genre: Art Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
If anyone under the bright sun of this sleepy little Slovenian valley deserves to have “D.I.Y.” and “indie” stamped on their artistry, it’s the untamed guitar guru and great musical visionary from Jesenice, Grega Habič. Three years have gone by since “Open Heart Surgery”. Gone in a blink. And here’s the new album. Once again shaped by Grega’s utterly unique musical character, which nobody else matches. That’s why “Kill the Engine” is the right pick for all the most demanding, sharp-eared music gourmets, the ones who only treat themselves to the finest musical experiments and can’t stand clichés and generic, well-worn formulas. Imitators: entry is strictly forbidden once again!
The first part of “Kill the Engine” is strikingly dark (the opener A World) and possessed by a proper metal spirit. In other words, extremely loud. But we’re talking about the opening stretch here. It spits fire and doesn’t hold back on the decibels. Thrash crossed with a progressive streak of experimental weirdness sounds fresh, adventurous and homegrown yet again. Homegrown originality has always been the hallmark of everything this great musician has ever done, and that freshness carries over to the new album “Kill the Engine”. The derailed, bristling basher “A World” lays out all of the artist’s disgust at the dehumanization of a “civilized” society that stumbles through an abyss of emotional and spiritual orphanhood, without a shred of dignity or respect for moral values and compassion for the person next to you. Once Grega pours all his bile and rage at the quasi-morality of sanctimonious preachers into this metallized opening fantasy, the album climbs through two superb tracks. The first, Diluted, is a great mix of jazz-fusion craft peppered with metal phrasing, where melodically lively bass lines masterfully stretch out the guitar phrases and the soft sound of the piano adds a special spice in the calmer passages. Grega is joined on this track once again by the seasoned American musician and his close buddy Jesse Adams. Adams’ hip-hop contribution couldn’t fit the composition any better. Fierce, uncompromising preaching! The third track, Cerberus, is a piece that unites the performing powers of three guitar masters. The first is Grega himself, of course, who brought the composition to the album as his idea, while the seasoned Mark Lemer and the young Tim Draksler (Cordura) each added a pinch of their virtuoso skills. It’s an instrumental full of unpredictable mood swings and a splendid symbiosis of three guitars, where it’s not hard to tell the expressive approaches of all three masters apart, which of course adds extra interest to the track (the welcome ingredient of “art weirdness”) and lifts its quality even higher.
The opening fury is over. From here on the album gets calmer, and Grega goes on to try out some ideas he hasn’t touched on previous albums. First up is Under A Big Black Cloud, where he ties his experimental jazz lines to a pattern of dripping water (the “black cloud”), which, going by the sound alone, comes across like water dripping from a shower head in your bathtub at home (but that’s just one possible association). A calm, melancholic track where Grega puts his innate talent and feel for unpredictability to work, in the flexible kinetics of otherwise highly compatible lead phrases, through which the great expressive power of the jazz characteristics carried by the mind of the genius Grega Habič shines. Tired Of Everything is a typical art guitar-rock tune that once again embodies the expressive uniqueness of Grega’s music. In its own way it’s comparable to tracks by foreign guitar wizards with big names, such as Paul Gilbert or Tony MacAlpine.
With Grega Habič, you have to keep in mind that the neo-classical element is pushed into the background, where it’s present at all (the title track). Grega always puts the jazz element up front and often wisely fuses it with his sense of musicality (Turn the Knife). And he gets there as a true self-taught virtuoso, following only his heart and not giving a damn about any trends. And that counts. The album “Kill the Engine” is a brand-new absolute original and a new milestone in the now tangible discography of this musical master, driven to create by the unfeigned inner call of free-spirited experimentation. Grega knows how to ease off the experimental gas pedal and make room for melody whenever the cohesion of the songs demands it (the ending of the excellent Never There), and that element shines masterfully through the closing Goodbyes too, gently “bent” toward blues and even country.
The new album once again delivers an extremely varied range of musical ideas. It’s defined above all by an incredibly loud opening stretch of three tracks and a later “sonic calming down”, where elements of jazz experimentation win out over the other genre elements. On the new album Grega has pushed the organic feel of the production even further, alongside some seriously bold uses of modern sound techniques (Diluted). At times a very dark, melancholic album that expresses the genuine feelings, emotions and passions of Grega Habič as an individual and as an artist. It’s a fresh, honest document of an intellectual, rebellious stance, of the kind any individual in the field of musical art could claim. An album that preserves and deepens the unique musical language with which the great musical guru and master Grega Habič spoils and enriches the Slovenian music scene. In the new millennium, musical creations often stay hidden from our ears. The new times don’t promise anything good either, so going forward you’ll have to rely only on your own musical perception to lead you to the essence you’re looking for in music. If you want to walk the path of musical purification, you absolutely have to “chew through” Grega Habič’s new album too.
“Kill the Engine” is thus a new masterpiece of unconventional art freshness, embodied by the fiercely penetrating charisma of this generous Slovenian artist’s musical vision. With his new album, Grega Habič stays true to his one-of-a-kind blend of ideas and gives us yet another studio gem.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. A World
2. Diluted
3. Cerberus
4. Under the Big Black Cloud
5. Tired of Everything
6. No Lie Can Live Forever
7. Kill the Engine
8. Turn the Knife
9. Never There
10. Goodbyes
Line-up:
Grega Habič – guitar, bass guitar, programming
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Robert Humar – keyboards on tracks 3, 6, 9 and 10
Jesse Adams – vocals & keyboards on track 2
Mark Lemer – guitar on track 3
Manfred Dikkers – percussion on track 9
Marko Volk – keyboards on track 2
Tim Draksler – guitar on track 3
Jovan Jovanovič – bass guitar on track 2
Maks Habič – vocals on tracks 6 and 9
