Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Koromač
Label: Self-released
Release: 2015
Rating: 3.5/5
Over the past year the Slovenian Littoral has churned out most of the fresh studio releases when it comes to rock and metal, and albums steeped in folk tradition too. Koromač are a band from Vrtojba, a little village that was once upon a time notorious for its snarky law enforcement at the border crossing. Koromač started their career in a very different place from where they present themselves on their studio debut »Punk Enough?«.
The recordings archived on the EP “Who Set the Lines?” (2011) tell that story. The band once developed an obscure sound that leaned on hardcore, even crust, and the first thing to go was the vocalist. They brought a saxophone into the lineup to take over the vocal duties, and added a second drummer too. So on »Punk Enough?« they operate as two guitars, two drum kits, bass and sax. Swap the sax for another bass (a Chapman Stick, or a Warr guitar) and you get the »double trio« lineup of mid-nineties King Crimson. Koromač are light-years away from even being mentioned in the same breath as that famous and cult prog-rock outfit of undisputed pioneering status, but »Punk Enough?« still hands over a heap of possible evolutionary seeds the band can freely launch itself into down the road. The eclectic element is definitely front and center on »Punk Enough?«, and it’s an album that caught a band at an evolutionary moment, right in the middle of a stylistic transition. It’s focused, no doubt about that, but at the same time extremely fragmented in how it expresses its musical substance, often downright »undefined«.
It’s an entirely instrumental release, then. The jazz elements come from the saxophone, which plays free-flowing and totally unburdened in its dialogue with the guitar phrases. That means it often couldn’t care less about their format and so often doesn’t »submit« to them either. Hence the occasional feeling of chaos and motifs falling apart, when the band launches itself into the bosom of free-spirited improvisation. Unpredictability and spontaneity are definitely here. The band recorded the album live, so it’s worth saying that you’ll never hear it played quite like this, the way the tape caught it, anywhere else ever again. It’s played as at a gig. The band basically »insured« itself in advance, performance-wise, against fussing over the obligatory »motif frameworks« of the studio originals. What’s more, every song on this album can grow artistically in whatever direction it likes in the future. In the riffs you can’t miss the resurrected metal chopping that leans on the snarling, obscure realms of crust, hardcore and thrash metal. The sound is »wrecked«, garage-alive, crackling and droning. No usual cosmetic »ironing« and studio »polishing«. The songs strive for motivic variety. The drums and guitars too. Right from the start the band gives the impression that it would rather rehearse, jam, improvise, “train”, and challenge itself than chase compact definition of its arrangements and, consequently, of its songs. Then again, Koromač aren’t reinventing the wheel. It’s enough to drop the name Miladojka Youneed here.
The future remains wide open for the band. It’s impossible to predict where they’ll swing with their vision. Just look at how they use the drums. There are still tons of untapped options, and the question is what the band actually wants with two drummers. If they want to squeeze out more experimental artistry, they’ll have to go to school by listening to records by various formations, say King Crimson, to broaden their horizons and get a sense of how adventurism with two drummers, and two guitarists too, can be served even (more effectively). At the same time they should keep stirring up and holding on to that feeling of bizarreness and highly intellectual artistry that preserves their artistic »elusiveness«. If they end up trimming the branching of their songs, then they don’t need two drummers. The same goes for how they use both guitars. The acoustic field of artistry stays completely open in that respect, for example. The »breaking up« of rhythms on this debut album from a young, exploratory and ambitious band is still more of a chance exception than the rule. But an upgrade of that element in the future is very much welcome.
»Punk Enough?« has a telling title, but you’ll have to find the answer to that question yourself. So let’s let ourselves be surprised. The band’s next album will definitely be completely different. It has to be. The debut carries a nice crop of possible evolutionary seeds for the future, and going forward the band mustn’t just stick to an »ego trip of self-satisfied« jamming, because with its next release it would only earn the meager label of »public rehearsal«, with the additional and thankless realization that it hasn’t moved evolutionarily anywhere at all. Koromač are definitely an interesting band for anyone drawn to musical bizarreness, so they’re worth following.
Lineup
Aljaž Škrlep – guitar
Peter Kastrin – guitar
Jure Boršič – saxophone
Matjaž Bajc – bass
Urban Kušar – drums
Žiga Ipavec – drums
Production
Samo Lasič
Tracklist
- To Disroot
- Insane
- Elephant Stampedo
- Freedom Manifesto
- Forest Man
- Ignoranca
- Free Anal Talk
- Ritards Dance
