Label: Nika Records
Release date: October 21, 2022
Production: Metropolis
Album length: 31.49 min
Genre: Rock ‘N’ Roll
Rating: 8.5/10
Metropolis are a rock’n’roll trio from Ljubljana. Anyone in Slovenia who follows the rock scene even a little knows the band today. These are three seasoned alley cats with incredible mileage on the Slovenian rock scene. After more than twenty years of waiting, the band pretty much had to get its new studio album out of its system. Even if they hadn’t wanted to, they had to. Metropolis revived their live activity in 2016. The year before, Marko Čulajević ‘Čule’ had joined the ranks, a very well-known figure among the Slovenian rock’n’roll troublemakers The Sausages. With a guitarist like that on board, Matjaž Hočevar ‘Hotschko’ and Anže Breskvar ‘BMD’ found their full momentum again and fired up all the passions that have always tied them to the magic of rock. The album Metropolis was thus ready two years ago. Then came the two-year ‘Covid-19 scenario’ and, with it, a two-year delay in the album’s release.
Metropolis have always been hugely inspired by the persona and work of Motörhead. Anyone who’s been to their gigs knows full well how easily covers of famous classics by one of the most iconic bands of the rock era come to them, too. This eternal obsession with Motörhead naturally carries over into the songwriting style itself, as well as the sound and production of the original material. ‘Hotschko’ is vocally just close enough to ‘pleasingly irritate’ the listener throughout with Lemmy associations. His thunderous bass detonates and cuts like it was another guitar on stage. The man often pounds out full fifths and chords that weigh the phrases down even more, while his rattling bass lines, with a note of pronounced contrast, crush reinforced concrete. Much like the famous Lemmy Rickenbacker sound. The guy even throws in a bass-guitar solo excursion in Love Potion Nr. 5.
Čule is a guitarist who’s got, among others, Lynyrd Skynyrd at his fingertips (anyone who goes to The Sausages gigs knows this well). That fact alone makes it instantly clear how devilishly good a guitarist Čule is. And if we keep drawing parallels with Motörhead on the guitar front too, history teaches us they had three core guitarists in their career (more precisely, between 1977 and 2015). Going by the comparisons and by what he shows on the songs of the album “Metropolis”, Čule would get a pretty apt association with the moody Scot Brian Robertson. He’s exceptionally technically polished, and a track like the ‘boogie excursion’ Bony Maronie (one of the album’s definitive songwriting highlights) is especially vividly infused with his unstoppable stampede of soloing madness, which gives not just this song but all nine that extra octane drive of primordial, almost instinctively created rock’n’roll nature. The trio stays true to the elemental magic of rock’n’roll throughout this release. That’s exactly what they were after. That’s why “Metropolis” grabs you fantastically all the way through. Motörhead associations aside, what matters is the packaging. It’s played with giant balls, fierce fire and heart. And that’s exactly what this kind of musical story needs.
A few songs sound like Motörhead forgot to record them. It’s as if they’d been sitting there since “Another Perfect Day” (1983), waiting for Lemmy, Philthy and Robbo to get them onto the follow-up, but that never happened, since Lemmy didn’t put up for long with the ‘ballet pirouettes’ at Motörhead gigs of the time. We’re talking about those four album tracks that are seriously potent slaps in the face, loaded with surplus testosterone, adrenaline rush and boiling alcohol fumes. These are: On The Road, Love Potion No. 5, Looking For Trouble and, toward the end of the album, End Of Time. Seeing what the trio Metropolis do on the new record, Lemmy would surely raise at least one eyebrow and greet the album with full approval.
But Metropolis are also their own story, whatever the Motörhead comparisons. There’s the mocking Dancing King, in which Hotschko once again greedily hunts innocent girls through the smoky rooms of nightclubs. This song also impresses with a craftily slipped-in ‘honky tonk’ piano, as well as another brilliant Čule solo charged with erogenous voltage. Along with Bony Maronie, Dancing King is another detour on the album, a reminder that listening to Metropolis doesn’t begin and end with Motörhead. Among the eight originals there are also two slower numbers. Gone To Hell and Good Night (the guitar solo is spiced up with some ‘slide’ moves, too). These two also bring welcome dynamic detours from the rest of the material. Given the all-out hammering, strafing and relentlessly mocking charge of unholy mischief from three rock ‘n’ roll renegades, which is what most of the album’s songs embody, such deviations are welcome. The trio knows exactly how to serve things up so the album grabs you right away. Metropolis master the axiom of sacred rock’n’roll simplicity with incredible skill. The songs bite and attack from the very first note. Like predatory slaps of primal rock’n’roll stock that get everybody up on their feet in an instant. The vocal lines are soaked in alcohol fumes, and the raw, raspy yet powerful, earth-shaking voice of Matjaž Hočevar is definitely the element that hooks the listener instantly. And holds them tight throughout.
The album “Metropolis” is an honest album. It’s alive and feels organic. Recorded in the studio modeled on the trio’s live performance. The bonds between the trio’s members are extremely coherent and intertwined. They generate an excellent sense of one another and a shared language in creating the sound and style that define the album. Metropolis is a band you absolutely have to catch live. Tacked onto the tail of the album is a ZZ Top cover, Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers. In a (new) flawless execution. And do you know why the trio picked this tune? Because Hotschko, Čule and BMD are exactly what the song title says. The album “Metropolis” carries a meaningful title. With this album the band was, in a way, born anew. They reaffirmed their mission. And the album is hellishly enjoyable. It nicely cleans out your ear canals and gets the blood pumping through your body. With a tickling effect. All the way down to the swelling parts of male intimacy. That’s also the elemental mission of every good rock’n’roll album run by true mongrel ‘motherfuckers’. And believe me, “Metropolis” is exactly that. According to the band, the new Metropolis era has only just begun with it, as the trio promises new studio activity soon. So the trio pulled off the first act as convincingly as can be. With real macho swagger!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. On the Road
2. Dancing King
3. Love Potion No.5
4. Bony Maronie
5. Lookin’ For Trouble
6. Gone to Hell
7. End of Time
8. Good Night
9. Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers
Line-up:
Matjaž Hočevar ‘Hotschko’ – vocals, bass
Marko Čulajević ‘Čule’ – guitar
Anže Breskvar ‘BMD’ – drums
