Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Indust-Bag
Label: PureZen Records
Release: 2015
Rating: 4.5/5
Here we go! The old punks are striking for the second time in 2015. After V.I.A. Ofenziva, who after long years of »kicking it around« finally managed to get their first studio album »Bele rože« out of their system, the Metlika boys Indust-Bag are also returning to the scene, fifteen years after their last proper studio album came out. What could be better?
Indust-Bag are legends of the Slovenian scene, as well as across the territory of the late, once much larger common homeland. They were supposedly formed way back in 1979. Quantity-wise their releases have never exactly dazzled, but this band has always been known for constantly nudging the bar of their sound and style up, raising it higher. From a purism aimed at punk mayhem infused with the influences of the eighties new wave, defined also by the phantom rustle of synthesizers, the sound gradually took shape into a more direct, »retro-classic rock stance«, where the band cunningly flirts with elements of rock’n’roll and blues, while through the supremely pleasing, thick and juicy tone of the guitar phrases it keeps all of its live sonic focus. Essentially rock elementality stacked up in the most authentically naked manner that rock’n’roll can offer.
Given that Indust-Bag are simply shoved into the punk rock drawer, the band is notable for putting more effort into shaping their arrangements. It’s precisely this simple, originally rooted rock’n’roll postcard, crossed with punk, that answers why Indust-Bag today (to put it in the most bizarrely caricatured way) would rather lean towards Steppenwolf than, say, Tubeaway Army. What sets the band apart from the bag of Slovenian punk rock contemporaries, led by the likes of Pankrti, Lublanski psi, Otroci revolucije, Niet and a few others from that era, is that Indust-Bag put more work into the formatting of the songs themselves, which by no means insist on staying in the classic punk pigeonhole of standard stereotypical Slovenian sensibility. On the new album too, the lead motifs are often decorated with guitar ornaments, wrapped in a finesse of minimalism, and the bass line (the title track) can veer away from the lead guitar phrase, so Indust-Bag contrast and color the arrangements, or very effectively fill the available space of the soundscape itself. A melody can also modulate when entering mid-eight passages (V nas je strast), with an effective shift of mood in the songs. It’s precisely this variety of true-blue rock riffing, interwoven with punk charisma, that opens up possible parallels with bands of world-famous caliber. Some of these moves could, in different stories, be used by bands like the original (seventies) Motörhead (the title track, especially in its dirty rock’n’roll riff-and-rhythm kinetics), The Cult (some inserts in the opener Ni upora, and generally because of Goran’s vocal approach), or the breezy yet always bitingly incisive The Ramones (Za dober model). The energy can certainly also be compared with bands from our southern neighbor, and Majke are the first to jump to mind.
Indust-Bag also stand out from the rest of the Slovenian punk rock division through a higher level of extracted musicality. Both in Goran’s vocal lines and in the contribution of the instrumental part of the crew. So it’s no surprise that you can occasionally find sonic parallels with the pop-polished Mi2. The melos belongs, after all, to the character of Slovenian-geographic packaging.
Goran’s vocal performance is typical. It stays within the Indust-Bag standard of vocal excess, just as you’d expect (and demand). His vocal approach has remained unchanged through all the long years of the band’s existence. Goran is manly and piercing, passionate, and you can feel the emotions boiling to the surface as the man digs into the verses with full commitment. In unison with the very sermon of tersely confessional verses of juicy poetry. It’s clear that the lyrics for an album like this were written by a man of the generation that put punk music on the rock map, as a means of rebelling against every kind of conformism. Once upon a time. Because they don’t make musicians like that anymore. That’s why Indust-Bag are a band with a fully recognizable and polished art charisma, which defines its original musical character, recognizable a mile away.
The sharp dictates squeeze out an above-average dose of melody (by general Slovenian punk rock standards), and Goran, with a mid-to-low-pitched, manly voice that occasionally recalls great compatibility with the fashionable eighties new wave, uncompromisingly settles scores with the unbearable state of existence in a brave new (mad) world. The album expresses disagreement with the capitulation of the people under an army of bloodsuckers of questionable morals and ethics, who have for over two millennia been forcing us to live life in masks! And the basic driving force of life in masks is imaginary fear and a craving for control (consumerism is control), which brings us safety from imaginary fear. What’s imagined isn’t real. So we live lying lives. Both fear and justice are complete illusions in this system, and we believe in both blindly. And we prostitute ourselves, sell our dignity for a sliver of attention. It’s clear that in such a situation there will never be a rebellion. Just read the lyrics of the opener Ni upora, a critique of the newly raised »pro-American« generation of Facebook addicts »wrapped in mommy’s sterile cotton wool«, who are supposed to take over running the country one day, and of their complete apathy and intellectual colorlessness. They capitulated right away. Before anyone even asked them for their opinions. And if they did voice them, they can quickly get declared schizophrenic and offered tranquilizer pills. Like candy. So that control is easier, of course.
The cover itself too. Perfectly authentic punk design. You get it right away, at first glance, what’s what. Rock’s most genuine punk service! The barbed wire motif that Cerar recently rolled out on the Slovenian-Croatian border, Indust-Bag have just wrapped around the entire planet. The truth is here. We’re afraid. And control is our only solution. At the price of a sold-out freedom. So we live in a planetary prison. For how much longer? The questions always stay the same. They’ll probably stay that way until the end of humankind. Anyway. Lucidity and sarcasm are captured on this record, where in the blackness of the brave new world the band still squeezes out a healthy path to rock’n’roll tomfoolery, and keeps the stories in the songs open-ended, which means the boys still smolder with hope for a better tomorrow and readiness to rebel!
This album is a perfectly “undressed” punk rock’n’roll assault, and in its truthfulness it couldn’t be interpreted any more authentically. The tracks were brewing for a long 15 years (maybe even more), and with it Indust-Bag prove that the potency of untamed passions is still boiling in the quartet’s veins. The guys radiate the energy of untamed stallions on it, like in the late eighties, and approach the performance with full-blooded fervor. Nothing has changed in their hearts. »Kontro kontroli« is probably one of the best rock releases to come out in the punk sphere in Slovenia last year, if not the very best. Let’s hope its quality gives the guys wings and lift, so they start showing up on stages more often again and soon begin working on new original material. For the next studio album, of course. Let them strike while the iron is hot. Until then, we’ll be spinning the album »Kontra kontroli« with great pleasure.
Indust-Bag – V nas je strast (video):
Line-up
Goran Jarnevič – vocals, guitar
Andrej Pečarič – guitar, backing vocals
Boris Vinski – bass guitar, backing vocals
Izidor Ivanovič – drums, backing vocals
Production
Tomaž Maras
Track list
1. Ni upora
2. Kontro kontroli
3. Vrtenje
4. Padamo do dna
5. V upanju
6. Iz ust do solz
7. Za dober model
8. Podkupljiv
9. Bliža se dan
10. V območju napoja
11. V nas je strast
