Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: GHB (Grega Habič Band)
Label: Nostromo Records
Release: 2018
Duration: 34:13
Rating: 5/5
And here it is: the sixth studio album from top Slovenian guitar virtuoso, composer, arranger and producer Grega Habič! Four years after its predecessor »Kill The Engine«, this autumn’s musical wizard is back with his sixth studio album, packed with songs of »breathing freely«. With his outstanding musical talent and an artistic audacity that neither knows nor accepts genre limits, Grega Habič is a phenomenon on the Slovenian music scene. He’s one of a kind. Put him on the international stage and he’s »just one of those« players who are all still unique, yet there are plenty of them out there. Here at home, though, Grega is pretty much the only one. The only one in the sense that, through his drive and musical activity, he single-handedly fills a huge genre gap when it comes to progressive metal and art-metal fusion, poured out through a mix of technical complexity and infectious musicality. Grega’s identity as a guitar virtuoso is every bit as unique as the artistic identities of Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Tony MacAlpine and Steve Vai, except, of course, that those guys turned everything they do into a nice little business. Grega Habič is therefore an uncut diamond and, as I always say about him, the best-guarded musical secret in Slovenia, who sounds like an artist who isn’t Slovenian. More like American or Canadian.
Well, Grega Habič has released the album that sounds the most »band-like« of everything he’s put out so far. Even though Grega once again did the bulk of the work on the album himself (besides playing guitar, he programmed the drums, contributed bass guitar on the track Disconnect, added extra effects and keyboard layers, and produced the album), »Songs Of Breathing Freely« has a feeling of greater performance tightness and chemistry between the building blocks of the sonic picture. That means the new album is a step forward in terms of production. Although the jazz element is clearly present and noticeable in the album’s compositions (Transmission), this time it’s not as prominent as on its predecessor »Kill the Engine«. As a whole, the album once again sounds distinctly dark, at times even post-apocalyptic (Anticitizen One – apparently Janša, who pops up on the track, has now got his very own »murgle« tune), which fits perfectly with the superbly designed cover and the inside of the album’s booklet. Even though the album is gloomy and at times seriously charged and weighed down with metal sharpness, it’s also loaded with unbridled playfulness and sparkling wit, generated by Grega’s knack for bravura virtuoso »trickery« in his solo adventures, as well as his sense for implanting extra sound effects.
It’s worth stressing that »Songs Of Breathing Freely« is also an album that looks for the individual’s way out from under the crushing machine of the neoliberal order we’re enslaved to. The album is a kind of longing for a world where nobody sticks their nose into anybody else’s business, everyone can breathe freely, and the individual can express themselves freely. A world we dream of, where equality, honesty, justice and love aren’t just illusions allowed in movie scripts. But Grega doesn’t give up. That’s shown by the track No Love Lost, which Satriani would give a thunderous round of applause, with Gasar’s superb bass line set against Habič’s guitar phrasing. If Breathing Freely is a track that speaks to you through a playful yet dark metal swing (Van Halen meets Mr. Big), the next track, Prosthetic Brain Nation, is its funk-vamped counterweight, with a solemn but incredibly charged, thrash-metal intro. The best moments, though, are when Grega completely catches the listener off guard. And there are quite a few of those. Besides the aforementioned Prosthetic Brain Nation, another of these brilliant artistic liberties is Could Should Would, which has no shortage of cunning switches between seemingly incompatible phrases, meaning it’s built quite intricately and develops in a completely unpredictable way. The closing Until That Day starts off mystical, then the track breaks apart for a moment and the atmosphere turns dramatic, led by an excellent fusion of metal phrasing and arabesques woven into the melodies. The closing motif is the same as the album’s opening, which means »Songs Of Breathing Freely« has a red thread running through it.
Grega remains a thrasher, which means the thrash metal component is clearly present on the album too. Metal fans will be endlessly thrilled by the virtuous metal storm of Sudden Flow Of Light. Grega is unique and inimitable in everything he does. Distinctive, stamped with his own seal, full of penetrating ideas and a real discovery for anyone drawn to gourmet musical dishes that need to be consumed slowly and with feeling. Music for music lovers. Speaking of enjoyment, you can tell on the album that Grega approached everything he took on with great feeling and, as the big perfectionist he is, with a lot of dedication and commitment.
The album is brilliant, like all the previous ones. There’s no way to reinvent »Einstein«, except that this one is a touch more thrashy than its predecessor. Grega, who spent the last three years getting through the Slovenian music scene fairly unnoticed and quiet, has set a new artistic milestone with this album. Once again he casts his spell with his penetrating ideas, layered musical polish and wide musical receptiveness, which neither knows nor accepts limits. The album carries a moment of eclecticism and is exactly what we’ve been missing for the past four years. Grega Habič Band from head to toe. A brilliant work in every respect, one of the highlights of Slovenian music for 2018. Let’s just hope Grega manages to put together a backing band for live shows. Music lovers around the world must hear »Songs Of Breathing Freely« too, since they reward this kind of music far more generously and give it honest recognition, while here at home it remains a complete »underground« genre. Let’s hope Grega will play this gorgeous album in its entirety at his future gigs. From start to finish. Now, I’m going to quickly spin »Songs Of Breathing Freely again (and again).
You can listen to the full album on the official Soundcloud profile of Grega Habič Band (GHB).
Line-up
Grega Habič – guitar, keyboards, drums, bass guitar on track no. 4
Klemen Gasar – bass guitar, guitar on tracks no. 1 and 10.
Jesse Adams – vocals on track no. 4
Blažka Udir – vocals on track no. 2
Aleksander Pozvek – vocals on track no. 6
Production
Grega Habič
Track list
1. Intro
2. Breathing Freely
3. Prosthetic Brain Nation
4. Disconnect
5. Transmission
6. Anticitizen One
7. No Love Lost
8. Sudden Flow Of Light
9. Could Should Would
10. Until That Day
