Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Gabula
Label: Dallas Records
Released: 2013
Runtime: 52:37
Rating: 4/5
Gabula is a rock band from Zagreb that got going at the end of 1986. But only for five years. The outbreak of war wrecked all their plans, and by the end of 1991 that was it for Gabula. In those five years the band picked up a nice bundle of publicity and had solid promo on radio and TV too. But after the war comes the time when you start a family, and then there’s barely any time for anything else, if any at all. Anyway, if music runs through your veins, the only real cure is to actually live it out. So 2009 rolled around, and the old friends figured the time was right and they could play together in Gabula again. Add up all the years from the band’s inception to today, and Gabula finally put out their studio debut after 28 years. A debut of songs written in the eighties. Arrangement-wise they kept all the basic traits of the original compositions, while the sound itself is updated for modern times, which is only logical.
Gabula packed 14 songs onto the album, and given the long ripening process, they’re firmly coherent pieces with polished verses and choruses. Take Pustite me van for example, a cheeky rock’n’roller with a hefty dose of punk rebelliousness creeping into the chorus, and then the very next one, Grad, is an exceptionally gloomy number built on a metal guitar phrase, which Smail Aga complements in the same vein just before the end of the album. Grad is considered the darkest song on the album, and precisely because of that it stands well apart from the rest of the material. Right after it comes Sve za tebe, a song written way back in 1988 and chosen as the first single to introduce the album, marked by an easygoing rock romp adorned with pop finesse and a fun yet grabby, melodic chorus. The same goes for the opening title track or, toward the end of the album, Dama u bijelom and Evo me (with one of the most beautifully laid-out arrangements on the album, a kind of epitaph from the band to the eighties). Then there’s the gorgeous acoustic ballad Neki novi svijet, bursting with all the melancholy trapped inside it. Right after it, the heavy rocker Ne nije istina kicks in, with a primal rock riff masterfully backed by constant guitar ornaments, which in the chorus gets close in energy to Pustite me van.
Gabula’s music is deeply anchored in the eighties. With one important caveat. Gabula can’t copy anybody, because they are themselves a product of the eighties and are developing their own authentic rock charm. Yugo rock nostalgics, you’ll take them as your own in no time, if you haven’t already. Most of the songs capture the past in a thoroughly authentic way, and it’s the album’s singles Evo me, Sve za tebe and the title track in particular that get under your skin in a »moment of nostalgia«. The emotions and passion hit especially hard in the closing Zauvijek tvoj. Gabula are seasoned musicians. The rock contour, ever-present thanks to the decisive guitar sound, is organically and effectively backed by keyboards, joined by a chemically flexible rhythmic backbone. Gabula also boldly and sensibly dress up the choruses with multi-part vocals, which effectively shakes up the moods within the songs. The vocal approach and the poetry itself almost astonishingly »re-create« the eighties, and most importantly, the poetry has passed the test of time, which means it’s lost none of its relevance.
Although Gabula’s music blends elements of blues, pop, even hard rock and heavy metal, thanks to the exceptional flexibility of its incisive guitar solutions, the album’s basic engraving remains a typical »yu rock with a slight veil of punk-minded gazing«. And all of this comes through on the album »Kao ti i ja« in a completely authentic, original way. It’s an exceptionally lovely, organically alive album with a bundle of songs of clearly defined character and varied themes and expression! That’s why it’s an album that strings together plenty of moods at once, and above all it’s graced by a genuine language of unbridled emotion and passion, remarkable compositional maturity, and a fire that, even in their mature years, the members of Gabula have kept fully intact, approaching their own material with real sincerity when it comes to interpretation.
With this album, the band has happily closed out a 28-year epic of »birds without a nest«. The songs have finally found their home. Let’s hope it doesn’t end here, that the band hasn’t yet fired off all the ammo of creative inspiration, and that the next studio album comes into the world within four years, or five at the very latest.
Line-up
Igor Božiček Božo – vocals, guitar
Christian Gadler Kiki – vocals, bass guitar
Željko Lončarić Žac – guitar
Silvio Pasarić Silver – guitar, backing vocals
Denis Čihor Hunza – drums
Production
Silvio Pasarić Silver
Track list
1. Kao ti i ja
2. Gdje si ti
3. Pustite me van
4. Grad
5. Sve za tebe
6. Neki novi svijet
7. Ne nije istina
8. Gabula
9. Ivana
10. Prolaznik
11. Dama u bijelom
12. Evo me
13. Smail Aga
14. Zauvijek tvoj
