Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Mortal Kombat
Label: Self-released
Release: 2013
Length: 50:32
Rating: 4/5
Imagination knows no end. And one of the basic cues for forging a healthy principle in rock n’ roll is dosing out its legacy with a genuine, well-balanced note of piss-taking. »Mortal Kombat« isn’t just the name of one of the most revolting inventions in the world of computer games. It’s also the name of a band. And where else would they come from, if not Serbia. That dose of lucidity and satire in Serbian hands, courtesy of this nation’s black humor, has always hit at full yield. Not even the English, with their admittedly hard-to-top arsenal of black comedies, can keep up with them there.
Mortal Kombat decisively and very willingly steer into heavy metal waters, while in the same breath giving themselves over wholeheartedly to punk rock nihilism. They’re excellent musicians. They play with fury and zero compromise. They fire away with full-balls energy. The album »Runda 2, udri!« is a manifesto of hot-blooded playing with a shot of excess testosterone straight into the bloodstream. No retreat, no hiding, just a wild, full-throttle rush.
The whole musical story on this album unfolds in full harmony with the poetry, which openly mocks all the junk weighing down the average little guy in the new age. He struggles frantically, in his small mental essence with its battery-limited shelf life of 78-79 years on average, to have a beam of movie spotlights shine on him just once in his life. We freely, even unconsciously, prostitute ourselves for a scrap of imagined few-second fame, paid for with the feeling that for a moment we stepped into the center of attention. Meanwhile the manipulators wisely, silently and skillfully play with our emotions and feed us garbage. From FaceBook to talent shows, prize lotteries,… They want to sell us even water. Somewhere in all this mess, hipsters turned up too. Mortal Kombat play metal and make fun of themselves all through the album as well. Of metalheads, that is.
You won’t escape the swearing, it’s there at every step of the record. All of it in rhyme, cleverly put together. The boys’ heads are full of sparks. Let me single out the last song right away, in case you’re already painfully bored by reading these pieces. It’s basically a parody of fans of Pleistocene goats, furs and sour milk, whose great mentor in his day was none other than the valiant Uncle Dimwit. The oil-anointed Manowar. The album’s last track, »Druga runda, udri!« as it says, is O’sto sam metalac (Teški metal) – the original of which is on »The Triumph of Steel«. Instead of »whips and posers«, Mortal Kombat bellow »pičke i pozeri«, but that’s the smallest flower among all the »toilet jokes« and other juicy profanity that keep the album endlessly entertaining.
So we’re talking the tradition of ex-Yugo punk rock culture, from Rijeka’s Hladno pivo to Serbia’s Ritam Nereda, with the genuine folk melos of Serbia cunningly woven in now and then, overdosed with the legacy of classic heavy metal that will hit home with fans of Iron Maiden and their slightly younger offspring. The album opens with a distinctly punky, raging title track, while Preko granice (translation: Across the Border) sails off into a cowboy ballad – with a violin arrangement masterfully thrown in. Nova godina (translation: New Year) comes straight from the rock n’ roll amusement park. So it’s not all heavy metal. Track after track on this album is a parody of a parody, forcing you to die laughing the whole way through.
But in all this wicked piss-taking there’s a full measure of seriousness. So it’s serious piss-taking. The songs are arranged from head to toe tightly and compactly, and they ignite with a combination of raging energy, signature melodies and catchy singing, which, through the gruff, piercing prowl of a burly vocalist, settles into the spot of top attraction in the Mortal Kombat institution. »Runda 2, udri!« continues the story of »Smrtonosna šorka« (2011), which has to open the door for the band onto the wider playground of the former shared territory of the South Slavs. It’s definitely worth fans of the Serbian agro-metalheads Perro Deformerro checking this band out too.
Line-up
Kriki – vocals, guitar
Stole – drums
Laza – guitar
Gera – bass guitar, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Biške – vocals on track no. 4
Production
Dušan Lazić – Duleja
Track list
01. Runda 2, udri!
02. Zvezde Granda
03. Fejsbuk
04. Hit
05. Pozer
06. Ljubavna pesma
07. Nagradna lutrija
08. Nova godina
09. Preko granice
10. Hipsteri
11. 3, some
12. Seljačka buna
13. Ost’o sam metalac (Teški metal)
