Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Pigs Parlament
Label: Self-released
Release: 2017
Length: 17:40
Rating: 4/5
Pigs Parlament, indestructible, socially critical HC/ska punks with a recognizable touch of metal riffage, hailing from Goriška Brda, released their third album last August, done in the style of a kind of »action thriller« about the rapid decline of Slovenianness. The second part, i.e. the new album, meaningfully titled »Koruptistan«, came out just four months after its predecessor »Slovenska Svinjska Stranka« and is more of an EP than an album proper. Just like its predecessor, it has six new original songs and barely 18 minutes of playing time. »Koruptistan« came out only a few days before the band’s appearance at last year’s edition of the Tolmin festival Punk Rock Holiday.
This time, in the opener Slovenistan, the sharp-tongued HC/SKA punk rowdies from Goriška Brda recall the story of the murder of Ivan Kramberger, who far too early predicted everything that has happened to us from 1991 until today, in the days before the inevitable assassination in the spring of 1991. But Pigs Parlament don’t stop there. In their poetry they try to rise above the state of malaise that has eaten its way into the minds of the citizens of our country, and so they look for a way out both in the personal rebirth of the individual and in rethinking and reviving those forgotten values that generations of our forefathers fought for with calloused hands. In that sense Pigs Parlament are great patriots and a kind of soulful awakeners.
The band keeps growing and maturing and comes across more convincingly from album to album, and there’s no point wasting extra words on their boldness and insight anyway. Although not much time passed between »Slovenska Svinjska Stranka« and »Koruptistan« – both came out in the same year, four months apart – the energetic vibe, as well as the artistic and expressive reach of both achievements, is very similar and definitely related, which is only logical (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree).
The band holds nothing back as the opening Slovenistan hits straight from the shoulder and without any cosmetic makeup, hammering the listener’s receptors with an unbridled tide of anger and disappointment, even if a melody sneaks into the chorus, and major chords sneak in with it. Several vocals are deliberately woven together so that they sound like a pack of fired-up coyotes, occasionally deliberately creating a sense of chaos, which fits right in with the band’s basic guiding principle, since orthodox wine energy (»wine power«) flows through its veins. Despite the socially critical edge, Pigs Parlament are still the right address for a big party time and a rock’n’roll switch-off!
Considering that so much has already been said and played in the genre the band represents, Pigs Parlament have the rare luck of managing to maintain and hold on to their recognizable musical dossier and their recognizable artistic stance. They approach things their own way. There’s not much overthinking involved; the sextet simply does exactly what it feels. The result is yet another extremely convincing and powerful testimony, armed to the teeth with caustic punk rock sharpness and bristling poetry, which in many ways is also a reflection of rebellious anger, answering the dead-end situation of the young generation, which in this eternally gerontocratic system has simply been pushed to the margins of deciding about its own future.
What you see and hear is what you get. No beautifying reality here. The production is part of that, keeping plenty of organic studio feel and live-gig pulse, and showing in its own way that behind everything Pigs Parlament take on stands the big heart of this sextet.
Lineup
Tina Rebec – vocals
Matej Srebrnič – bass guitar, vocals
Vasja Rusjan – guitar, backing vocals
Deni Srebrnič – guitar, banjo, backing vocals
Miha Ivančič – trumpet, backing vocals
Boban Stojkov – drums, backing vocals
Production
Matej Srebrnič
Tracklist
1 Slovenistan
2 Anarchy Is Order, Government Is Chaos
3 If We Unite
4 WW3 Is On FB
5 State Of Confusion
6 Seize The Day
