Label: Self-released
Production: Stara šula
Release year: 2012
Album length: 54.55 min
Genre: Rock ‘N’ Roll
Stara šula are primordial rock ‘n’ roll jugglers shot through with a strong dose of blues sentiment! As the name suggests, »Dirty 13« is a bundle of thirteen (plus a hidden acoustic instrumental) raw, brazenly stripped-down rock n’ roll marches, cut in basically one studio go (minus a few tiny corrections and sonic touch-ups) and sounding utterly convincing in every respect. From the high-quality arrangements, which hit remarkable tightness and a voltage-charged dynamic flow, to the very character radiating from the songs caught on this record – they’re all played with serious potency and passion! A passion that, in both the playing and the vocals, doesn’t skimp on a sexplosion of erotically seasoned potency, biting grumbling, even the feeling that you’re sitting in a dive bar swimming in alcoholic derivatives, the kind of dive where your sense of balance stopped obeying its booze-laden owners a long time ago.
It’s hard to find as much authenticity, sincere joy and, above all, passion for music as Stara šula radiate! Everything on this album feels honest and real, which we rarely get from Slovenian bands dealing in that angry-toned rhetoric of blues rock laced with punk grime and backed by the untamed bustle of rock n’ roll rolling..
It Aint’ Easy and All Or Nothing immediately dive headfirst into the AC/DC charisma of a devilishly crunchy riff and more. The opening stretch of the album alone confirms that Stara šula are considerably better-trained musicians than AC/DC were on their debut. But let’s leave that unimportant fact in the background, because without AC/DC there would be no Stara šula.
Not all the songs on the album are in English. Neoproščeno is an interesting collision of blues and southern rock that can swerve at any moment into a Lynyrd Skynyrd-style march with a proper pinch of lightly dosed stoner rock, while in the instrumental part the song blooms again into a devilish AC/DC-ish stretch of rock’n’roll galloping. In Jaz se smejim the band doesn’t hide its vivid appeals to perversion, and that attitude fits the structure of this full-blooded rock ‘n’ roll number perfectly. Then there’s the boogie-flavored Going Down with a “clean” sound – the distortion is switched off, and the band builds up an outstanding groove, further boosted by an exceptional vocal performance, delivering one of the most interesting moments on the album.. Remember Bicikl (Leteči potepuhi) or Stones Of Death (Lene kosti)? Of course Going Down is carved out in its own way, in the spirit of Stara šula’s legacy, and it’s seasoned with a vivid use and integration of harmonica!
If any song captures the character of Stara šula best in a single piece, it’s definitely the title track. As such it most effectively combines a coquettish, firmly set rhythm, driven by the true character of blues rhetoric as (once again) AC/DC used to brew it in their rock ‘n’ roll style, with a slightly slowed-down tempo and an erect rock stance that knows no letting up and goes all the way in its authentic idiom. The crown of it all is once again Andrej’s excellent “Superhik-style” singing, which proves one more time how to approach the vocal delivery of unshakably brazen rock ‘n’ roll arrogance, marked on one side by a splash of punk and on the other by blues. Passionate and full of balls!
The vocals are excellent. Tailor-made for this kind of music. They have that angry, disrespectfully grumpy yet utterly arrogant character, with a full dose of throaty seasoning, perfect for a stoker on a steam locomotive, only this time the steam is boozy. His build-up is incredible (the outro of the song Dirty 13), reaching a proper vocal crescendo where the pronounced rasp makes it sound like a chainsaw got stuck in Andrej’s throat. I’d hint that in its throaty roughness the voice occasionally bumps into the familiar character of His Majesty, the unique rock icon, the one and only – the Iron Chancellor Lemmy Kilmister. On the other hand, there’s a bit of Peter Lovšin in there too. But those are just spices from left and right, with no need or wish for imitation. Not at all. The vocalist of Stgara šula is a story of his own, and the vocals are precisely one of the main attractions of their rock ‘n’ roll idiom.
The album sticks to the AC/DC character through all of its nearly 55 minutes. And still Stara šula manage to squeeze out a happy blend of rock ‘n’ roll, blues and punk, which in the end delivers a retro-school rock n’ roll record (from days long gone) that, thanks to its deeply lived-in approach, sounds freshly cut. It’s not hard to conclude that this is how Stara šula are successfully carving out space under the free sun of rock n’ roll in the Šentflorjan Valley, defining a recognizable musical nature (and culture) all their own.
»Dirty 13« is a properly cowboy-belted album, brimming with machismo, the smell of bodily secretions dictated by testosterone release in male physiology, and the stink of alcohol fumes. Unbelievable for Slovenes! I’d sooner say that such raw and ruthless arrogance could be summed up by the feelings that AC/DC’s music otherwise radiates from south of the Kolpa river, but this time I’d be seriously wrong!
True desperados, Stara šula deliver with their debut an album that belongs on the front doors of biker-culture shrines and nightspots! And one more thing! This is music that’s meant to be played live. It’s not short on liveliness and sincerity even on record, but it only reaches its full spread once it breaks off the chain, because that’s when it shows its true face of full-blooded, biting punkiness! I deeply recommend this album to all hardened rockers.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Track list:
1. It Ain’t Easy
2. All Or Nothing
3. Neoproščeno
4. Smokin’ Aces
5. Going Down
6. Jaz se smejim
7. Dirty 13
8. One For The Money
9. Crash Out
10. Crossfire
11. Zadnji ples mrtvih
12. Slovenska pesem
13. Ubijam se sam
Line-up:
Krt – vocals, guitar, harmonica
Tomi – lead and “slide” guitar
Febo – bass guitar
Romi – drums
