Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Skalp
Label: ZKP RTV Slovenija
Released: 2012
Runtime: 33:56
Rating: 4/5
Five years after their debut »Preproste rešitve«, Skalp from Ajdovščina are back with their second full-length, »Mars je prodan«. The guys stay true to the sound they started building on the last album. Quick aside: the band, which has been knocking around the planet since 1997 or so, has collected some nice laurels over the years and got known on the Slovenian music scene thanks to radio rotation. Singles like Vrtičkar and/or Metka baletka are surely still ringing in a few of your ears.
»Mars je prodan« serves up mid-wave-leaning rock with a simple, no-frills stance, sworn to the full-on melodic payoff of its lead hooks. The guys know how to build a verse-chorus arrangement that works, one that swells into a proper atmospheric crescendo in the choruses. A very important point with Skalp is the quality of the production. At the producer’s helm stood one of Slovenia’s best guitarists, and you could say one of its most seasoned musicians, Bor Zuljan. If anyone gets the point of rock at its core, it’s Bor. »Mars je prodan« pulses with life and breathes dynamically. The building blocks of the sound are packed in tight in all the right places. The guitar riffs grab hold of a wall of sound and give the expressive vocals a reinforced-concrete backing, while the bass line, with its heavily weighted pulse, punches effectively through the tightly bound riff wall. Very effective and invasive. Instantly catchy! The adrenaline shot really bites with Skalp.
Sure, Skalp aren’t reinventing the wheel, since they move in predictable, generic riffs, but they approach the work with a primal feeling, let’s just say instinctively. They tackle things with passion and love. That’s why the songs grab you by the ear instantly and the album doesn’t let up in intensity from the first second to the last. Which means it’s played with proper, rattling, thick-skinned rock balls! The songs are polished, subtly and carefully, within their otherwise simple arrangement form. The »less is more« principle is often fiendishly hard for bands to pull off, but Skalp have no trouble with it whatsoever. The guys have the principle down in the pinky of their left hand.
The guys cleverly stick to Slovenian, which is an important factor that pulls the band away from the realm of the generic. Slovenian adds a note of recognizability. One way or another. In every respect, when we’re talking about Slovenian verses inside music. The lyrics are smart, they don’t slide into pathetic wallowing, they’ve got a nice manner of defiance, cheek, arrogance, even machismo, and most importantly, they know no mourning over girls. We know there are as many of those as leaves and grass, but that’s another story.
The band spent quite some time preparing favorable ground for the landing of the new album »Mars je prodan«. To get the album to »stick« as well as possible, they tactically released 4 singles first. First came the opener »Vem, da lahko!«, followed by the calmer but very neatly executed half-ballad »Krik izpod mrzlih rjuh«, then the title track »Mars je prodan«, and finally »Dol med plamene« (if I may indulge a nostalgic urge from a past era of rock, The Sweet would have called it »Shoot Down in Flames«). All the tracks are palpably varied, with the basic premise of being recognizably tied to the character and work of Skalp. The rest of the album (read: apart from the singles) keeps up this relaxed, playful and concise rock kinetics, which pleasantly spoils you with simple solutions but grabby melodies. The band surely had a few headaches picking the singles to introduce the record. The songs are just carefully polished. Bor must have given some advice on the arrangements. Surely. The ballad »Sam proti vsem« suspiciously smells of the good old days of Šank rock. It’s an excellent ballad, and an optimistic one at that. A rather boldly arranged ballad, »Sam proti vsem« proves that Skalp are not just good musicians but also very talented composers.
»Mars je prodan« is a full-blooded step up from »Preproste rešitve«. Both in sound and production and in how much more mature it is at landing arrangements that catch fire. The guys didn’t need to sing about Šejla in the song »Še enkrat« (Divlje jagode really don’t need any more advertising), but once the energy of the ripped riff in »Resničen svet laži« kicks in, even the remark about the choice of female names in that song’s lyrics becomes a minor thing. Beside the point. »Mars je prodan« is a really nice, straight-ahead rock album with a positive stance, stripped down, charging, and full of palpable melodies. Born for radio rotation. And made as such. It carries the retro symbolism of hard rock within it. How nice, really priceless in fact, to realize, as we look around at Slovenian bands chasing the »maisntream«, that in Skalp’s case, for once, there’s no need to use that well-known »worn-out« word. »Alternative«.
Line-up
Peter Krkoč – vocals
Aleš Pelhan – guitar
Matjaž Koron – bass
Tonči Valič – drums
Production
Bor Zuljan
Tracklist
1. Vem, da lahko!
2. Še enkrat (Šejla)
3. Krik izpod mrzlih rjuh
4. Dol med plamene
5. Grem na svoje
6. Mars je prodan
7. Med štirimi stenami
8. Ko razum popusti
9. Sam proti vsem
10. Resničen svet laži
