Artist: Siddharta
Label: KifKif
Release: 2006
Rating: 2.5/5
Once upon a time, they were a young and very promising band. In 1999 they released the album ID and opened the gates to heaven, won over a huge number of fans, and their rise just kept going. Who doesn’t remember the hits Pot v X and Lunanai?
Then they built on that with the album Nord, which was a bit colder and darker, but still excellent. Day by day more people backed them and followed them from gig to gig.
The guys didn’t slow down, and put out Rh-, a very polished album, though quite different from the previous two. They surprised listeners once again and the album went down a treat, and as the cherry on top, they even filled Plečnikov stadion.
But after that came silence. We waited a long time for a new album… And given the time the guys took, you’d expect this to be the best album they’ve ever put out. I can’t deny at all that the album is very high quality, but what good is that to them when the originality has died out in them!
You can tell the guys were deeply disappointed by the failed breakthrough abroad with Rh-. They said they wanted to go back to the garages with Petrolea, but did they actually pull it off? And how painful that must have been for them – from a huge stadium back to the garage and small clubs, because after Petrolea came out they couldn’t fill even the bigger sports halls. A painful fall from the heights…
It feels like the album was “slapped together” in a hurry under pressure. The cover alone bothers you before you’ve even heard a single note. Sure, it’s nicely designed, but what good is that when you can’t read the text on such a background?
Still, the outer packaging is just the “icing” on the whole, so I cautiously put the disc in the player.
First you hear a dirty guitar sound, joined by a slightly warped vocal, and then the rest of the rhythm section. That’s the song Ohm. Even though the chorus hits pretty hard, something is still missing from the song. It strikes me as rather bland and empty, as if the instruments didn’t fill the right part of the track.
Domine, their second single. Again a punchy rhythm section, with the bass guitar standing out. All nice and great, until I get to the chorus, where once again I feel both the punch and the completeness are missing.
Il a modras, if we make an anagram out of it we get Modra misel, so the guys have certainly played around with the title successfully here. The song is one of the better ones on the whole album, starting off hard-hitting, with a determined and confident vocal. Here, for a change, all the instruments are placed properly and so fill the void they failed to fill before. The lyrics are focused on the Earth and its downfall this time. The melody gets into your ear incredibly fast and leaves some kind of mark on you.
Mr. Q starts with the sound of a train, which the other instruments then join. The bass is in the foreground here too, but the song doesn’t get into your ear as quickly, quite the opposite, I’m listening to it with great effort. Although the chorus is somewhat better, they again end up arranging the instruments in a way that leaves an audible emptiness…
Neznano, the best song on the album. Both vocally and instrumentally it’s very polished and draws you in so much that you want to listen to it several times in a row. It goes slowly, without instruments, all the way to the chorus… And then at the chorus all the brakes come off and the guys give it their all here too. On top of everything, Tomi plays around with the pronunciation of words here, and that makes it really that old Siddharta everyone wants so badly.
Homo Carnula has an excellent piano foundation, there’s no denying that. But when you hear the lyrics, you lose interest. A mountain of moaning and “whining” in one place. Maybe the guys wrote this song because their breakthrough abroad didn’t work out. I don’t know how many people will identify with this song, but I’m certainly not going to be one of them. After a good two minutes of expressing suffering, it finally gets a bit punchier, which changes that monotonous, dull track at least a shade. There’s no standout moment in sight!
Plastika, yet another track they can sell to little kids and everyone who only sees Siddharta. The video was absurdly paradoxical, given the material they showed before. If they wanted to be funny, they somehow didn’t manage it, because other bands around the world beat them to it. The video lacked that original idea. This is a song I’d gladly skip. It just won’t get into my ear, even though the guitars are placed excellently and the bass guitar is superb too. Many people think the guys are making fun of everyone in this song, but I say it’s anything but that.
Tria is yet another one of those classic ballads, about the creation of a child between two people in love. They didn’t show anything exceptional with this song either, but it’s certainly a lyrical continuation of the unique and famous Le Mavrica. Toward the end of the song we hear a piano solo that really spices up the whole track.
Disco Deluxe is a real balm for the ears after the previous tracks. A song that fills you with energy and hope, and shows the band in the kind of light they probably would have wanted for themselves. Both lyrically and instrumentally, the song is truly superbly polished. The build-up to the climax of this excellent track is more than just perfect. And that’s exactly what’s missing on this album!
Brezokoff is a continuation of the excellent track Rooskie (from the album Rh-). And this track has a special charm too, one that pleasantly surprises you. The guys are capable of a lot if they only do it with heart. Here they proved they’re still good and capable, it’s just that the reins are slipping out of their hands. The emphasis is on the entire rhythm section, which makes the track really authentic. A proper tune for those who like their rock a little dirtier. And if I may play with words a bit more, the title could also mean “without shackles”.
Gnan is a really special song, with a different structure from what we’re used to with Siddharta. On top of that, the guys pulled off a real shock by slipping a bit of salsa into the track. Even though the song isn’t as punchy as its two predecessors, it still makes you think about how you can play with styles and how rock can be combined with any genre, if you just know how.
Finally, the ballad Male roke. I don’t know what’s so special about this song that everyone praises it so much and is so thrilled about it. It would have been much better if the guys had made one more hard-hitting tune and so carried at least the last quarter of the record through with excellent tracks, but sadly that’s not the case. A classic ballad about how we’re destroying the world and how our children will suffer. This ballad doesn’t get into my ear, and I don’t really see any true meaning in it either. I certainly wouldn’t miss this track on the album.
Will this album finally make it for them abroad this time?
Lineup
Boštjan M. – drums, percussion
Cene R. – saxophone, ewi
Jani H. – bass, percussion
Primož B. – guitar
Tomaž O. R. – keyboards, programming
Tomi M. – vocals, guitar
Production
Žare Pak and Siddharta
Tracklist
1. Ohm
2. Domine
3. Il A Modras
4. Mr. Q
5. Neznano
6. Homo Carnula
7. Plastika
8. Tria
9. Disco Deluxe
10. Brezokoff
11. Gnan
12. Male Roke
