Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: No Limits
Label: Self-released
Release: year_month
Length: 35:00
Rating: 4/5
The veterans of Slovenian hardcore, No Limits from the coast, are hitting back! A solid ten years have passed since the release of their debut full-length www.borba.non-stop, but the elder statesmen of the local hardcore scene were only resting on the surface. Social change, the struggle to survive, the chase for material goods, personal circumstances and the ever more visible depravity of the capitalist system gave the band plenty of meat, momentum and subject matter for a new studio record, simply titled Hardcore, which sports a gorgeous, comic-book-colorful cover that hints at what awaits inside.
If there was ever a time for angry, ranting hardcore like No Limits’, it’s now, even though the themes they touch on across Hardcore reach wider than just the socially and politically critical. And in a good half hour, No Limits say more than all 90 brilliant heads of the National Assembly in all their marathon sessions combined. On Hardcore, No Limits don’t philosophize, don’t ramble and don’t overcomplicate. Instead, for all 35 minutes the album is brutally honest, painfully realistic and, above all, current. Vocalist Enco shows no mercy as he settles scores with the nation’s rotten sociopolitical setup, with employers whose whole point is squeezing the already wheezing »proletariat« dry down to the last drop of blood, with global warming, with the instant, moronic »hits« of Slovenian mainstream »music«, with blind obedience to military orders, with megalomaniacal pharmaceutical corporations and, last but not least, with his own demons. Whatever the topic, No Limits stay honest, passionate and sure of what they »preach«, delivered through punchy, energetic and uncompromising crossover.
Hardcore offers exactly what we expect from it – 30 minutes of concrete, »no bullshit« punch that’s dynamic, interesting and varied from start to finish. The band’s Hardcore touches on numerous genres, which they fuse effectively into a destructive and furious whole. No Limits brush up against elements of crust/grind and even death/thrash metal (Ne morem, for example, stomps in places like old Sepultura), pure-blooded, brutal hardcore in the style of Ratos de Porao, crossover a la D.R.I. and Suicidal Tendencies, old-school punk led by Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, and lively skatepunk that comes close to the likes of NOFX and Bad Religion (the chorus of No More Lies).
Holy rage keeps spurting and erupting from Enco’s throat like a volcano, and the words are suitably hot and explosive. Backed by the destructive instrumental foundation, Enco delivers them in a varied, diverse and interesting way, touching on crust/grind/death metal growling as well as proper hardcore barking and even more experimental screaming, chanting and squealing. The seemingly simple music thus never falls into monotony, and what saves it from that is the album’s excellent instrumental side too. Guitarist Boštjan chameleonically masters a range of guitar styles from metal through punk to hardcore, while the simple but incredibly destructive rhythm section (double bass drums and technically complex transitions are for pussies) adds the big HC to the hardcore. The album never runs out of variety or power; only some songs come off better than others, but saying as much as No Limits do in three minutes at most is no small feat. To close, the guys whisk us from the coast to Brazil and, with a cover that opens with a humorous phone call between Enco and Joao Gordo, pay tribute to one of their biggest influences, the legendary Ratos de Porao.
On Hardcore, No Limits aren’t like the bora wind that only blows harder in gusts, but a proper tropical hurricane. Hardcore knows nothing of complication, only simple, living, unbridled energy that at times sounds like the angry soundtrack of the Slovenian uprising movement, and at others like an honest, personal confession about life. Put differently: Hardcore is the only way to avoid capitalist decadence.
Line-up
Enco – vocals
Matjaž – drums
Boštjan – guitar, backing vocals
Dexter – bass
Production
Denis “JD2” Scher and No Limits
Track list
1. Prologue
2. Ne morem
3. Fušaš
4. Global Warming Warning
5. Hit
6. Just One Day
7. To Live And Die
8. Hardcore
9. On Crack
10. No More Lies
11. Tamiflu
12. We the People
13. Epilogue
14. Quando Ci Vuole, Ci Vuole (Ratos De Porao; bonus track)
