Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Thunderbabies
Label: FV Music
Released: 2014
Runtime: 47:33
Rating: 4/5
Thunderbabies are yet another very well-guarded secret of the Slovenian alternative rock underground, one that puts its trust in the legendary label FV Music. That label has always been committed to fighting the good fight in music. The band has been active since 2002 and shortly after getting going dropped their first album, titled »K4-411«. Then came a whole decade of gritting their teeth. But it paid off, because »Kick Off!« is an honest document of scrappy, cheerfully unhinged rock’n’roll from four ferociously committed sonic terrorists.
Thunderbabies don’t make the kind of alternative rock that comes wrapped in a sugary, perfumed coating, a habit more or less popularized by Zablujena generacija and a pile of followers who play »punk«. The album »Kick Off!« delivers a real kick straight to the forehead that takes no prisoners, let alone leaves survivors. A place, in other words, where makeup and kitsch don’t get in.
The 16 songs took their final shape over the last two years. First, guitarist Tomaž Berginc joined and brought a fresh breeze to the band, and a year later the new drummer Juš Šenica came aboard. Thunderbabies, now grown into a quartet warmed up to proper working temperature, recorded the new album as early as April 2014. An album just the way a real punk rock mash-up cobbled together under the Slovenian sun should be! Alive and crunchy, garage-corrupted, rasping and sharp, boundlessly wrecked. Played in one piece, in one take, the first one, following the principle of a live gig in the studio. No separating tracks, no cosmetic fluff of “ironing out” the sound in the studio. The Thunebabies album will definitely go straight to the heart of lovers of old-school punk rock ideology, born on the hard crust of bread in the days of brotherhood and unity. The sound of »Kick Off!« measures out the sonic footsteps of the rightful heirs to the first generation of Slovenian punk rock bands. In artistic terms the content brings nothing new or unheard, but it’s delivered wholeheartedly and uncompromisingly so. A band stance like that, unwilling to strike compromises, is fueled by anger, rage and a raised middle finger of rebellion against conformism. The lyrics are of course full of it too, otherwise you can’t make it in the real punk rock school. Honesty In its rock’n’roll hanging out, long and wide, you can also sense the veil of the iconic Motörhead, but with Thunderbabies there’s no trace whatsoever of any HC,
The album »Kick Off!« is a mix of raw, erotogenic-suicidal debauchery that will scrub your ears clean and wind up your cochlea! Even though Thunderbabies’ form is genre-staked and predictable, it’s the measure of heart, and above all the inventive guitar solutions of Škerjanc and Berginc, that add a dose of lucidity to the instrumental side of the Thunderbabies story, just as the lyrics are lucid. The album »kick Off!« is thus a creation of the authentic Slovenian school of punk, racing along at high-octane rock’n’roll speed, rolling out track after track as if the band were handing out slap after slap. »Kick Off!« is an album that only understands charging in at the highest rock’n’roll gear. It does that damn convincingly, while bringing in the required element of original sonic and stylistic recognizability! Let’s hope the next album won’t take another ten years, even though with »Kick Off!« the band more than made up for the long wait, delivering a full 16 honestly tuned flammables dripping with puked-up rock ‘n’ roll arrogance. Enjoy it hot and at (full) volume!
Lineup
Brane Škerjanc (Bruc) – vocals, guitar
Tomaž Berginc – guitar
Alenka Hrvatin (Thunderbaby) – bass guitar
Juš Šenica (SickStick) – drums
Production
Gregor Dovjak
Tracklist
1. The Airport is Closed
2. Hemlock
3. Big Brother
4. Carriage on the Steep
5. Cold Soul
6. Over-regulation
7. Top Stories of the Day
8. Land of Hedonists
9. The Secret
10. Lonesome Wolf
11. Black Mondays
12. Mantaman
13. Weakness
14. Strong Sense of Emptiness
15. The Searchers
16. Vengeance
