Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Siddharta
Label: KifKif
Release: 2003
Length: 59:40
Rating: 5/5
Two years after their second album “Nord”, Siddharta reached the peak of their career. They did it with its successor, their third album in a row, bearing the simple but cryptic title “Rh-” (2003). Back in the piece taking a closer look at “Nord” (RockLine review HERE) we established that, while writing that album, Siddharta leaned into sharper contrasts: pushing the guitar riffs up front, integrating programmed samples and synth pads in the background more and more often, bringing in symphonic elements, while Tomi’s trademark vocal, with its unmistakable charisma and tone, kept stepping further into the spotlight.
“Rh-” digs deeper down the road “Nord” laid out. The saxophone has practically lost all significance. Siddharta cranked the guitar riffing up even further, to the point where it sounds downright metal and gives the production a massive wall of sound. Set against it, they hoisted contrasting sails: a string orchestra of violins, violas and cellos filling out the harmonies of the sonic picture. The pipes found even more room in the arrangements too, and the dark, icy, pipe-laden atmosphere that its predecessor “Nord” first called to life and properly brought to fruition hits even harder and more predatory on “Rh-“. “Rh-” squeezes even more out of the sonic spectrum that programmed sampling can reach and offer. On “Rh-” it’s woven into the songs in an even more refined way.
Jani Hace became a permanent member of the band while “Rh-” was being made. Warm, resonant bass lines and a lively, dynamic style with an exceptional feel for planting melody fill the empty space between the riffs and drums with real effect (two very effective examples of what the bass melodies bring are the songs Rave and Ciklon orka). In the parts where the riffing steps aside and the subtle power of the vocal is front and center, Hace’s bass line is the key element that helps give shape to the subtlety and the contrasting force of the mood shifts between motifs. In fact, the bass is the last finishing touch on “Rh-“, with naturally sounding collages, of which “Id” (1999, RockLine review HERE) was full and which the guys returned to seven years later with the album “Saga” (2009, RockLine review HERE).
By this point in the piece, you might get the impression that “Rh-” isn’t all that special an album, since you can already feel a lot of what it offers on “Nord”. But back then, during the making of “Rh-“, the band clearly found itself in the right place at the right time, the kind of moment that happens once and never again in a career. They put out the album of Slovenian generations. With a success that finally capitalized on the quality and commercial potential of the band’s previous two albums, and so defined Siddharta’s “magnum opus”.
That doesn’t mean the band put out the best album of their career, but it’s the most important one, and the one that bounces feather-light out of your head the moment someone says the word “Siddharta”. Here Siddharta managed to combine compositional tightness and compactness, which clears your path to convince through the message of their own art expression, with maximum impact. The songs are optimized to the point where the album sounds like it’s hammering out one hit after another through its own running time. The right blend of melody, urbanly spiced with melancholic minor-key lines, clear and simple tricks, and an easy handoff between verse and chorus, works across “Rh-” practically without a flaw.
Under these conditions, the expressive power of Tomi’s recognizable vocal has of course been used to the max, so the emotional charge of his singing is that much richer, an even clearer and more basic element with which “Rh-” wins listeners over. The production is further polished, sharpened, the contrasts bigger. Just listen to the opener Japan and it’s all clear. The mood peaks with a melodically flawless chorus, tied to an atmosphere building through the verse, a puzzle of contrasts: aggressive riffing, tight string arrangements, Tomi’s authoritative vocal and compact rhythms. And pretty much every “Rh-” song that follows does the same, with no dips in quality. Whether it’s the lost love battle of Ring, or Napoj with “B Mashina” bringing in the pipes for a fresh, intense chorus. The sophisticated, subtly dark ballad Sim Hae, with its sensual delivery of the verses, where the lift in mood to a higher level in the chorus stands out even more. Then there’s Kloner (with the saxophone in a classic outro! – the album’s only moment), which Naiven ples comes close to in energy right after, and then the album’s wittier moment Rooskie, which in its concept departs from the material of this “hit after hit” album. Then the new ones, the medium-wound atmospheric stories Rave and Ciklon orka. A riff conceived a half-step more aggressive, in the vein of Metallica’s Enter Sandman, in T.H.O.R., which could easily swap places with Japan at number 1 in the tracklist of this album. The middle section of this song (the transition between verse and chorus) in its chilling, darkly dimensioned energy (a dialogue of contrasts between whispery-growly and diametrically opposite shouted vocals) even comes close to some parallels with the industrial band Laibach in their more sawing days. The chorus of T.H.O.R. is one of the most intense moments on “Rh-“.
Among the defined direction in which most of the songs on “Rh-” were forged, Venom stands out. It contains a pinch of experimental stirring-up and, precisely through its many motifs, feels like a moment where the whole album plays out in a good four minutes of music.
It’s an interesting fact that Siddharta is never as strong with English lyrics as with Slovenian ones. The band’s recognizable spirit fades fast when it tries to measure up with English verses. In such conditions Tomi’s vocal becomes far too similar to other vocals. Why the band decided to use English in the songs Marslander and Etna, I honestly can’t say. The band knows the simple answer: they just liked it more. But diplomatic answers don’t satisfy us, do they? Not always, anyway. Tomi is simply a rare musician in the Slovenian scene who defines the delivery of his messages in verse more strongly through the use of the Slovenian language. Maybe with these two songs Siddharta tested once again how “Rh-” would fare if it happened to land in the ears of foreign listeners.
In fact, “Rh-” is the point in the band’s creative output where the energy of Slovenianness captured in it is so strong that we can talk about Siddharta as a kind of Slovenian Heroes Del Silencio. Except the reflection of the Spanish essence is replaced by the pulse of Slovenianness, which Siddharta’s approach integrates into rock music extremely convincingly. This is certainly a phenomenon that further elevates the uniqueness of this band. So I can conclude that the two songs at the end of the album come nowhere near the intensity of the rest of the album, which is otherwise led by Slovenian verses.
“Rh-” is an album through which the vast majority of Slovenes (especially absolute music laypeople) can easily identify with rock music. It was made at a time when Slovenia was literally waiting for it. Let’s say that today “Rh-” has become an album of the people. Quality-wise, it’s also well rounded, with clearly crafted lead melodies, lively moods, rich contrasting shades, and the recognizable character of Siddharta’s charisma, and it brought the band unrepeatable commercial success too. The songs don’t waver in quality, nor in style and sound. In this, “Rh-” upgraded its predecessor “Nord” to a level reached by world-class bands of a higher quality caliber. “Rh-” was accepted by everyone in Slovenia. Die-hard rockers couldn’t deny its quality, different generations of Slovenian yuppies flocked to Siddharta’s gigs, the band was suddenly all over TV and the radio, and they reaped the crown of their success (ah, I’m repeating myself!) with a show at the ruins of the Plečnikov stadion in Ljubljana, in front of 30,000 people. “Siddhartamania” swept over Slovenia in 2003 like an avalanche, like a “blitzkrieg”, as the country got one of the most important albums in Slovenian rock history! The album “Rh-“. And the guys, basically, weren’t thinking about any of this. They just made whatever seemed most appealing and interesting to them at that moment.
Lineup
Tomi M. – vocals, guitar
Primož B. – guitar
Cene R. – saxophone
Tomaž O.R. – keyboards, programming
Jani H. – bass guitar
Boštjan M. – drums, percussion
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Rok Golob – conductor
Jelena Ždrale violin
Tina Krajnik – violin
Andreja Zupanc – violin
Maja Repše – violin
Danijela Djordjević – violin
Nastja Cajhen – violin
Maja Prkić – violin
Matjaž Porovne – violin
Laura Zafred – violin
Alenka Semeja – violin
Tamara Tasev – viola
Urška Doler – viola
Peter Ugrin – viola
Petra Gačnik – cello
Ivan Šošterič – cello
Samo Dervišič – cello
Boštjan Gombač – pipes
Production
Peter Penko
Track list
1. Rh-
2. Japan
3. Ring
4. Napoj
5. Sim Hae
6. Kloner
7. Rooskie
8. Rave
9. Naiven ples
10. Ciklon orka
11. T.H.O.R.
12. Et tu
13. Venom
14. Marslander
15. Etna
