Label: Nika Records
Release date: February 29, 2024
Production: Dejan Radičevič
Album length: 46.35 min
Genre: Alternative Rock / Alternative Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
Six years after their last (proper) studio album “Nomadi” (2018, RockLine review), Siddharta are back with a meaningfully titled new record, “X”. Their tenth, no less! The band filled the gap between the two albums with a re-recorded version of their debut “Id”, which they renamed “ID20” to mark the members coming of age and 20 years since the original came out.
“X” brings everything Siddharta have taught us to expect over the years. Or rather, spoiled us with! The album delivers the absolute eclecticism that stands behind the name, while Siddharta pull out some fresh tunes and tricks that prove their artistic growth is nowhere near done. “X” is a different ‘beast’ from its predecessor “Nomadi”, even though all the elemental building blocks that give this band its own unique spot, not just on the Slovenian scene but on the wider international one too, are right here!
“X” serves up lavish variety and range. From start to finish. It sounds inspired, fresh, unburdened, and hits straight on in both key directions of the musical identity that defines this band. Emotive and punchy! Seamless. Snug. Like a key in a lock. With a constant drive toward a ‘highly creative artistic payoff’ of intensity and dynamics, which builds that grandiose, epic-bombastic (bittersweet and mildly melancholic) atmosphere Siddharta have always shone at on the Slovenian music horizon, like hardly any other band of their generation.
Ten songs, ten rounded stories, a sculpted identity of expression. Needless to say, this is the work of a quintet that isn’t just exceptionally talented at the root (in terms of songwriting, musical vision in general, and the poetry too), because over the years the individual members have reached a cunning level of artistic growth that not only sustains but constantly deepens the sensitivity of each member, which is the foundation of greatness in musical expressionism. As always, the songs are built so that, through a gradual build-up (the verse), they explode into bombastic choruses (an atmospheric crescendo), which has been this band’s basic formula forever. But… Every single song holds a pile of details and little extras, dictated by the quintet’s hunger for perfection. Siddharta unveil them slowly. Veil by veil. They reveal themselves over repeated listens, which is one of the greatest artistic virtues when you want to make a record that works musically right off the bat, while also ‘shutting the beak’ of particularly spoiled music gourmets and connoisseurs, who will find plenty of cleverly ‘tucked-in’ fine touches of arrangement and ‘coloring’ (decoration) on “X”.
How do you keep a write-up that calls itself a ‘review’ short when it’s about a lavish new achievement from a band, one that was in a way eagerly awaited? The author of this piece simply can’t figure it out. Before the album came out, the band released two new singles. First, the album’s most penetrating track, Prepovedana (especially when we’re talking about ‘classic’ Siddharta), massively backed by guitar phrasing and an instant candidate for every one of the band’s iron-clad live setlists. It was followed by the second single, 1Minuta, which as a composition is in a way the ‘artistic’ opposite of the first single, yet is just as familiar a Siddharta face. Put both faces side by side and you quickly get a pretty clear picture of the band’s core artistic recipe, going all the way back to their beginnings. Satelita is a track that could have been released as a third single, with a brilliantly placed pre-chorus that lays down a top-notch runway for takeoff into yet another ultra-catchy chorus. Polished down to the last detail. In the artistic formatting of the composition. And in terms of ‘pop payoff’ too, easily aimed at the airwaves of the most prominent radio frequencies. The chorus catchiness of “X” works superbly throughout, in practically every song on the new album, and in this department Siddharta don’t ease off at all, whether in ideas, inspiration or creativity!
The album’s especially appealing parts, though, turn up mostly on some of the other tracks, tied to the urge to experiment, test things out and conquer new artistic dimensions. In that sense, the standout of the album is its penultimate track! That’s Party Inc., which at times sounds almost progressive, especially in its rhythmic patterns, and earns its special place through a very bold and spot-on integration of the traditional Balkan wind instrument called the kaval, and the resulting pleasing blend of guitar phrases with oriental melos! Right after that, the album offers its second major departure from Siddharta’s tried-and-tested nomenclature. That’s Khanta, which closes the album with a wrecking ball. It gives off a feeling of cold digital alienation, with machines taking power into their own hands. Hyperplastic guitars build a massive, metal-sharpened wall of sound, and Tomi’s vocals are deliberately ‘effected’ in places, evoking the supremacy of robots and intensifying the feeling of humans losing touch with nature, and their headlong rush into merging with (fleeing into) artificial intelligence. Khanta is certainly a track unlike anything the band has made to date. A dark, black final mass for “X”. Even the album’s opening, with the pompous intro Ava, delivers a lyrical realization about humanity’s current delusions, a species that with its ‘progress’ drove itself long ago over the edge of ‘normality’. An intense contrast of moods between verse and chorus, with a firm kick into an anthemic chorus full of musical melodiousness. A recipe that’s unique to the band and has always dealt them a winning poker hand of aces. Ava is an excellent opening choice, a highly effective atmospheric and energetic catapult that grabs the listener in an instant, so they stay ‘glued’ to “X”. All the way to the end! Siddharta crown their exploratory streak with an effective sense for shaking up the compositions, especially in the mid-eight passages, which open extra room for the ‘wit’ of the individual quintet members to shine, and this is pulled off especially well in the track Boj, among others.
RGMGMT (Moje Rane), especially in its chorus, is another intensified album ‘stormtrooper’ from the harder end of the spectrum, with a mild SKA flavor in the verse, through which Hace’s bass guitar brilliance (already proverbial) sparks especially fiercely, as the bassist very resourcefully ‘fills’ the available space with musical vividness. Na nebu is the album’s ballad-leaning composition, which once again underlines that in a ‘softer’ arranging environment Siddharta are especially resourceful masters at intensifying grasping passions and emotions!
“X” is a remarkably cunningly balanced album that shows the band’s harder and softer sides of artistic expression in equal measure. It hits and speaks fresh and intense in ideas, and certainly experimental too (though that’s cleverly ‘woven’ into a compact format, where the creation of proud, instantly effective melodies takes the lead on the album).
It must be added that “X” hits especially hard thanks to its excellent, I’d even say top-notch, production (mixing and mastering included). The fine mechanics of the production heighten the contrasts, strengthen the album’s exceptional dynamics, and artistically help reinforce the sense that the poetry complements the development of the songwriting and arranging structures. In every respect, the sonic-expressive impact is optimized down to the last detail. Even though we Slovenian rockers know the Siddharta story very well in terms of musical expression, “X” feels artistically incredibly fresh. The band picked the best of the best and enjoyed the studio and the whole process of making the album all over again. You can feel it while listening to “X”. The result is that this musical story we all know so well (and have taken to heart as a national treasure) has received a new artistic sheen, which with the power of fascinating cohesion has captured the essence of the band’s creative, expressive core, one we’re still witnessing 25 years after their debut. At the same time, the new album is a new step for Siddharta, one with which they’ve proven that they remain the very definition of rock individuality, artistically ripening, growing and evolving nonstop.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Ava (4.32)
2. Satelita (4.49)
3. Prepovedana (4.12)
4. Mir (3.48)
5. Boj (5.10)
6. RGMGMT (Moje Rane) (4.13)
7. Na nebu (4.18)
8. 1Minuta (5.23)
9. Party Inc. (5.29)
10. Khanta (4.38)
Lineup:
Tomi M. – vocals, guitar, backing vocals
Primož B. – guitar, backing vocals
Tomaž O. R. – keyboards
Jani H. – bass guitar, programming, backing vocals
Boštjan M. – drums, percussion
Guest musicians:
Bojan Zupančič – alto sax on track 2
Matija Krečič – string arrangements on track 5
Zoran Bičanin – cello on track 5
Izabela Hace – violin on track 7
Petra Vidmar – tubular bells and percussion on track 7
Goran Bojčevski – kaval on track 9
Neisha – backing vocals on track 9
Iris Ošlaj – backing vocals on track 9
