Avtor: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Izvajalec: Father
Založba: Dallas Records
Izid: 2010
Trajanje: 58:10
Ocena: 4.9/5
Hard to believe, but we somehow made it through five years of abstinence, ever since the first volley of heavyweight, outstanding newcomers – Father – made its way through our listening channels all the way to the cerebral core of the brain’s cortex. Everything ripe and full-bodied takes time, and One Eon, the new record from the Rijeka scene’s dynamic and renewed weapon – let’s call it revitalized and even improved – is far more than just a worthy successor to the high-octane Inspirite. Father are back in the manner of winners and creators, not followers of musical trends!
Rijeka has always been an incubator of high-potency musicians brimming with ideas and music, and the five young enthusiasts who formed in 2000 do not betray this tradition of the northern Kvarner capital. Seasoned at first in countless local outfits, they came together, counted up their strengths and poured their creative charge into a fresh chalice of magic elixir. Since then they have dared to go from dreaming about conquering the world to actually doing it: laying siege to Britain, convincing it of their power and putting it under their spell – and enchanting all of us lucky ones who got exposed to their music, too. From Easyman a success story was born, and it goes by the name Father. The pure form of flawless toxic beauty runs through the second album One Eon as well, which, as said, had the tough job of measuring up to an exceptionally warm and well-received debut. Father have lifted their musical core of full chords, juicy distortion and, above all, dark yet not even slightly depressing arrangements to an even higher evolutionary level. Five fathers – four of them old acquaintances from the old lineup (charismatic singer Mihael Prosen, the guitar conglomerate of outstanding guitarists Dario Pazanin and the band’s legendary sound wizard Pinky, and the always positively minded, impeccably precise bassist Franjo Jardas), with a new drummer, Marko Jurić, shining behind the kit this time – have given birth to an adorable monster! The drummer change I mentioned was key to reaching an even better launchpad for blasting off into the interstellar universe. Marko Jurić, as the band’s central rhythmic axis, is “to blame” for the rhythms in Belfast Food and the Beatles Revival band, and in the nineties of the last century he was a member of the alternative outfit Gipps & Gaston, and he fits right into the core of what Father are. The band aired out every valve and pulled the influences of their youthful inspiration from their creative wellsprings (that, my dear friends, has always drawn on Tool, A Perfect Circle, Pantera and everything else that makes my mouth water with every single note they create) and made something entirely their own. So let’s get down to the record itself!
One Eon is a collection of a dozen outstanding songs with no filler among them. The only sidestep, if you insist, is the intermezzo Dreams, which ties the whole thing into an even more cohesive package. The opening salvo of pleasure takes you from ecstasy to ecstasy, starting with the opener and the album’s first ace – the song Venus & Mars. That opening salvo is like the cortex of pure Faith No More essence, yet Father don’t become followers on the dangerous path of copying – they tell their story in their own way! The mix of eroticism and combativeness of the two planets defines the unyielding nature of these Rijeka musical warriors. Along their path, their trajectory, their line of clear goals, Father penetrate even deeper with the song The Downloader. The riffs follow one another at a wild tempo, while the full sound is rounded out by almost Maiden-esque excursions into film samples and Tool-style narration of seemingly ambient messages. A real revolution is a revolution of consciousness! Your perception rises to a higher plateau, where you need to be carried gently even further and higher! And that’s just what the very refined texture of Part Of Me delivers. An arsenal of sonic moves that even Billy Howerdel and his hellish alliance wouldn’t shy away from draws perfect circles across a sky of gorgeous colors, and before long perfectly sincere and heartfelt heralds of multiple musical orgasms sneak onto your lips. The Balkan rhythms, whose syncopation recalls the moves of Vlatko Stefanovski, alternatively refreshed, make no attempt to deny the roots from which this wonderful flower of creativity grows. Pyxis follows the same mantra, a return to Oriental suspense – the guys are fans of Japanese iconography too – and it slices like a samurai into the SOAD melodics of the song Satango. And since samurai were also poets and philosophers, inspired by the idea of seeking the perfect cherry blossom, you then float meditatively into the interlude of the little gem Dreams, which logically and melodically grows into the cannonade of Of Truth And Light. The repeated structures and lines fill you up and sate you, but never start to wear you down. After the calm comes time for another climb to plateaus of controlled rage and brutality. Why did you like Pantera? For the riffs, the outstanding guitar passages, the rage, or the pure primal, natural, organic connection of all the parts? Mangiafuoco Il Magnifico ticks all of those boxes, and the epic vocals of the exceptional singer and deeply invested interpreter Mihael soar so beautifully and mightily over the full, juicy foundation of the music. After Pantera you find yourself in an almost Metallica-tinged exit into a glamorous, pompous outro, only to switch to a punk-charged dance along the tip of the Katana. Brighter Than Sun – and I did say I wouldn’t indulge in excessive comparisons – sounds truly as if it were feeding on Alice In Chains nectar, while the Cantrell-like feel for musical composition varies from distortion to pure, airy, sensual acoustics and back again to dark layers of dense thunderous sound. Before the grand finale, a feel of the Orient is woven into the collage, with the Middle Eastern salvos of battle fanfares in the song Home Away, while the closing act is a tribute to the Liverpool giants, The Beatles. Ah, those covers! Many musicians tackle old, much-heard and beloved tunes with sacrilegious nonchalance and almost too much self-confidence. So how does it sound with Father? Eleanor Rigby is a conscientious reworking of the original, to which they add a whole bunch of new bionic upgrades, Borg-style, but since I was already fed up with covers of old tunes after Korn’s grotesque interventions and plenty of others, the parabola of pleasure dips a little here. Still, curiosity drives you onward – but alas, we’ve reached the very edge of this truly outstanding musical offering!
Father have conscientiously and properly brought the parabola of pleasure to its end, though in my spoiled state I’d want even more! They’ve empirically proven that they’ve matured into even better musicians and given birth to a new and improved version of an album that could conquer the world. My pair of ears has been convinced for a few years now, and it’s up to you to listen to the record yourself and decide whether this is exaggeration, a parade of empty words, or just plain fact. Personally, I’d rather sit back down in my armchair, hit “play” and, with half-closed eyes, fly off into the wide expanses of space. One Eon is a superb starting point, worthy of countless (ab)uses and endless hours of your precious time and listening attention. Genius and excellence, after all, lie in the details, and there’s no shortage of those here!
Zasedba
Mihael Prosen – vocals
Dario Pazanin – guitar
Davor Tomić – Pinky – guitar
Franjo Jardas – bass
Marko Jurić – drums, samples
Produkcija
Mario Juničić, Davor Tomić –Pinky & Father
Seznam skladb
1. Venus & Mars
2. The Downloader
3. Part of Me
4. Pyxis
5. Satango
6. Dreams
7. Of Truth and Light
8. Mangiafuoco Il Magnifico
9. Katana
10. Brighter Than Sun
11. Home Away
12. Eleanor Rigby
