Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Šank Rock
Label: Self-released
Release: year
Length: 46:55
Rating: 4/5
Three years after the reactivation of the most resonant name on the Slovenian hard rock and rock’n’roll scene, the members of Velenje’s Šank Rock, after an interim stop called »Restart«, are back with a pure-blooded release and brand-new original material. The real studio album is titled »Nekaj več«. With the record “Restart” they confirmed the »reboot«, and it’s closer to a string of EPs than a proper studio album, since next to four new tracks it also has refreshed versions of a few cult classics from their discography,
What »Restart« hinted at, »Nekaj več« carries forward at full swing. For Šank Rock to declare a reactivation, quite a bit of water had to flow under the bridge and quite a few stars had to line up in just the right constellation. When it comes to creating new original material, the main driving engine of the reactivated and refreshed »Šankots« crew is definitely the one and only Bor Zuljan. In Slovenia Bor (and this is no news anymore) is considered an out-of-the-ordinary guitarist, and in recent years he’s been proving his great talents especially as a composer and producer. He’s got no shortage of driving dynamite, and on the new Šank Rock album Bor puts his name to every one of the thirteen new songs. If not as the sole author of the music (that’s the case for eight of the new songs in total), then at least as a co-author.
»Nekaj več« is quite literally a walk through the legacy of melodic rock, AOR and hard rock of the eighties, welded back together according to the Šank Rock recipe. In other words, we got exactly what the band has always done best, and also the thing that earned them a place in their fans’ hearts during the classic years of their run. Picture the period between 1985 and 1990, or rather the ideas and production look of the albums by the world’s most musical bands in this corner of rock. Def Leppard, Winger, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, House Of Lords, Night Ranger all spring to mind, and at the same time »Nekaj več« doesn’t just chase a connection with »Restart« – with the new album Šank Rock lean on their musical heritage, the one they built in the lineup with Bor Zuljan, in a really tasteful and actually very logical way. So? The album catches a sensible compositional and energetic link with the album »Šank Rock IV.«, though its traceable roots also reach back to the days with Zvone Hranjec. At the same time, there’s no need to stress that »Nekaj več« is an album of maturity, made by experienced musicians with enormous mileage, who know what they want, know how to »turn things around« in the studio, and have a clearly visualized goal they want to realize! That’s why »Nekaj več« is a skillfully packaged album. It’s an exceptionally nice and polished product that every true follower of classic Šank Rock will grab right away. It’s also fresh proof, thanks to its quality, that the revived Šank Rock are still damn alive in artistic spirit too. So it’s clear the new material will fit in more than superbly on concert stages alongside the cult classics of their iron repertoire, the ones that can’t be missing from any real Šank Rock show.
Four songs from the album »Nekaj več« we already know from the album »Restart«. They are Restart, Ni sreče brez rock’n’rolla, Vse bo dobro and Ljubezen, resnica, življenje. The new music keeps up the infectiousness of those four numbers, especially when it comes to the bombastic nature of the choruses, and among the new tracks the catchiest ones include the title track, Malo, malo, Rock bo preživel, the superb catalyst 3, 2, 1 … Panika!, and, toward the end of the album, Le nekaj sekund. Even the calmer songs, like Ljubezen dela čudeže and Najina pesem, are album moments that simply confirm the great wisdom of songwriting, although in the ballad department Metulj and Pravljica o mavričnih ljudeh probably remain elusive. Hand on heart, why would a band in its mature years, with nothing left to prove, try to »repeat« itself?
Šank Rock remain eternal optimists and positive thinkers. They remain the right name for a party, for a total switch-off, true, wholehearted and fiercely committed Slovenian rockers to the bone. No letting up. As an extremely skilled and experienced arranger and producer, Zuljan masterfully packaged thirteen expressively powerful and convincing new tracks into the wrapping of an optimal sound result. The songs breathe live and organic, “fat” enough and rock-jagged. They convince completely, one after another. And so does the album as a whole, offering everything from a tightly girded »bottom end«, meaning Cveto’s bass lines that push decisively through the framework of the songs and, as such, underpin the wildness of Ratej’s drumming, to the expressively crafted guitar phrases of the sharply ruffled Zuljan, all the way to slick modulations packed into mid-eight passages, where we can revel in the virtuoso, breathtaking escapades of fast-fingered Zuljan. And here again is that cherry on top, which Šank Rock’s heartfelt Matjaž Jelen, with his unmistakable vocal charisma, brings into the final picture of the music time and again.
This is a superbly packaged, maturely defined and detailed album. May Šank Rock hit the stages with it as soon as possible, and may the Slovenian legend of rock live on. The first chance to face the album »Nekaj več« will come at the band’s big concert, already announced for Ljubljana’s Križanke on 12.05.2017.
Šank Rock – Nekaj več (official lyric video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl2JqwiaQ7Q
Lineup
Matjaž Jelen – vocals
Bor Zuljan – guitar
Sašo Gačnik – keyboards
Cveto Polak – bass guitar
Roman Ratej – drums
Production
Bor Zuljan
Track list
1. Proti toku
2. Nekaj več
3. Rock bo preživel
4. Ljubezen dela čudeže
5. Malo, malo
6. Restart
7. Najina pesem
8. 3, 2, 1… Panika!
9. Ni sreče brez rock’n’rolla
10. Izberi svojo smer
11. Le še nekaj sekund
12. Vse bo dobro
13. Ljubezen, resnica, življenje
