Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: GHB (Grega Habič Band)
Label: Self-released
Release: 2014
Length: 38:54
Rating: 4.5/5
If anyone beneath the bright sun of our Šentflorjan valley deserves the »D.I.Y.« (do it yourself) and »indie« (independent) stamps on their artistry, it’s the untamed guitar guru and great musical visionary from Jesenice, Grega Habič. Three years have gone by since the album »Open Heart Surgery«. Gone in a blink. And here’s the new record, once again shaped by Grega’s one-of-a-kind musical character. Nobody else sounds like him. That’s why »Kill the Engine« is just the right pick for the most demanding, sharp-eared music gourmets, the ones who only treat themselves to the finest musical experiment and can’t stand clichés and generic, well-worn musical recipes. Imitators are strictly banned from entering again this time!
The first part of »Kill the Engine« is pronouncedly dark (opener A World) and righteously possessed by metal. In other words, extremely loud. But we’re talking about the opening stretch. 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. Just as homegrown-ness is the first label on everything this great musical master has ever done, so that freshness carries over to the new album »Kill the Engine«. The derailed, souped-up basher »A World« unrolls all of the artist’s disgust at the dehumanization of a »civilized« society, one that staggers through an abyss of emotionally and spiritually stripped-bare orphanhood, without a shred of backbone or respect for moral values and compassion for the person next to you. Once Grega has poured all his bile and rage over the quasi-moralism of callous pastors into this metallized opening fantasy, the album climbs through two top-notch tracks. First comes Diluted, a great mix of jazz-fusion know-how peppered with metal phrases, where melodically lively bass lines masterfully stretch out the guitar phrases and the sweet sound of the piano adds a special spice in the calm passages. Grega is joined on this track once again by his seasoned American musician friend and great buddy Jesse Adams. Adams’s hip-hop contribution couldn’t fit the composition any better. Fierce, uncompromising preaching! The third track, Cerberus, is a piece that unites the powers of three guitar masters. The first is of course Grega, who brought the composition in as his idea for the album, while the seasoned Mark Lemer and the young Tim Draksler (Cordura) each added a handful of 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.
The opening fury is over. From here on the album brings more calm, and Grega goes on to try out a few ideas he hasn’t combined on any previous album to date. 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 the showerhead in your home bathtub (though that’s just one possible association). A calm, melancholic track where Grega puts his innate talent and feel for the unpredictability of the supple kinetics of otherwise highly compatible lead phrases to work, and through them 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 number 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-name reputations, 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 front and center and often wisely blends it with his sense of musicality (Turn the Knife). And he gets there, of course, as a true self-taught virtuoso who follows only his heart and couldn’t care less about any trends. And that counts for a lot. The album »Kill the Engine« is a brand-new absolute original and a new milestone in this musical master’s already tangible discography, 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 need to keep the songs compact calls for it (the outro of the excellent Never There), and that element sparkles masterfully through the closing, gently bluesy and even country-»bent« Goodbyes too.
The new album once again brings an extremely varied dose of musical ideas. It’s marked above all by an extremely loud opening run of three tracks and the »sonic calming down« that follows, where elements of jazz experimentation overpower the other genre ingredients. On the new album Grega has further upgraded the organic feel of the sound in the production, alongside some very bold uses of modern sound techniques (Diluted). At times it’s an intensely dark, melancholic album that expresses the genuine feelings, emotions and passions of Grega Habič, both as an individual and as an artist. It’s a fresh, authentic document of the intellectual rebel stance that any individual can wring out of the field of musical art. An album that holds on to 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 the ears. The new times don’t promise anything good either, so in future too you’ll have to rely solely on your own musical perception, which will lead you to the essence you’re looking for in music. If you want to walk the path of musical purification, you simply have to »chew through« Grega Habič’s new album too.
»Kill the Engine« is thus a new masterpiece of offbeat art-rock freshness, embodied by the piercing charisma and musical vision of this generous Slovenian artist. With this new album too, Grega Habič stays true to his unique quality of many-sided blending of ideas and brings us yet another studio gem.
Line-up
Grega Habič – guitar, bass, 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
Jova Jovanovič – bass on track 2
Maks Habič – vocals on tracks 6 and 9
Production
Grega Habič
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
