Artist: Azil 5
Release: 2008
Length: 48:49
Rating: 4.5/5
Azil 5 is a Serbian quintet from Novi Sad. The band, whose roots go back to 2005, brought its solo studio debut “Strastan, go i bos” into the world after three years, and after another three years of eager waiting it finally landed in the hands of the RockLine editorial team for expert musical judgment. I can only say one thing: it’s a huge honor for me! We’re talking, of course, about a new original masterpiece.
The music of Azil 5 is so intelligently structured that this isn’t some “different” kind of rock. Its incarnation is simply so special that art rock is the only label strong enough to hold the multifaceted approach of the five artists who make up the band’s engine room.
Azil 5 is one of those rare bands that stand out for their musical vision! It’s entirely their own and recognizable from a mile away. It has a clear authorial charisma and a charm that’s genuinely hard to resist. On first listen, the intelligence of the creative approach is even comparable to the elusiveness of EKV, though it’s of course cut from a completely different cloth. In the sense of an absolute one-of-a-kind that reaches high artistic quality at the same time.
The guys approach it all with a perfectly refined feel. They’re in no rush. They simply follow the feelings. The album “Strastan go i bos” grows slowly too. It rises slowly, slowly but extremely effectively subjugating the listener! The lazy, dreamy opening with the song Šah Pat-os offers a special experience in an instant, and it’s immediately clear that the door to a world of special musical adventure is opening in front of you. The first thing the listener notices is the warm, yearning, mid-to-low-pitched male vocal of singer Sava Nikić. If you dare to look for a comparison, you’d find it pretty quickly in Laufer’s singer Damir Urban.
In this colorful musical jigsaw, even jazz is no stranger. If the dark ballad Vetar hints at what these guys can play, the next song, Iskre, absolutely confirms it. It’s a great example of rock (the guitar solo on the way out) blended with jazz, basically held up by a dreamy funky groove on bass. An interesting, contrasting calm in the album builds up in Ne i ti too. The combination is brilliant: a delicate, quiet verse, then a jump to a bristling, rigid chorus where Sava Nikić’s vocal performance stands out, brilliantly bringing the emotions of the lyrics to life! Hopelessness, pain, longing, passion, anger. To caricature it a bit, even though Azil 5’s musical vision has nothing to do with it, just to give you a rough idea: fans of “grunge” vocals will warm to Sava Nikić in no time.
The poetry is remarkably intelligent, and that too is part of why Azil 5 absolutely deserve the “art” rock label. The closing Jutro u meni, jutro u njoj subtly builds dramatic atmosphere, with a cold breeze of piano accompaniment that an immersed, sensual vocal tries to wrap itself in, sounding passionate and at the same breath “confused,” “wandering,” hopeless.
A real tornado of energetic flux, hugely effective in combining a voluminous funky groove drive, richly seasoned with the dynamic rhythmic pairing of bass and drums, with the rock sharpness of forward-pointing, bitingly overdriven guitar riffs, reaches its peak first in the excellent Sestro strasti, where a hint of industrial creeps into the grabby chorus, thanks to the production and the deliberately “flat” but thunderous-sounding drums. The song is built to be a hit! The funked-up Prevara works similarly, but the song Tranzicija! has an even bigger impact: it’s extremely dark and hopelessly furious, with surely the most deep-under-the-skin, bitingly wound-up chorus!
The production is lively and the sonic spectrum is used to the max. Azil 5 undulate vividly, with that organic velvetiness in the sophisticatedly calm parts, which is built up in contrast, always tastefully and with great compatibility, against the overdriven parts. Throughout, we get to enjoy the wonderfully lively melodizing of warm bass lines, which often take on the role of carrying the melody.
Earlier we mentioned the refinement and the excellent feel for building up drama theater. Azil 5 are exceptional builders of the sonic picture. A direct proof is, for instance, the song Prljava ljubav. Here the building blocks are arranged optimally for effect. The shifting layers of many sonic collages (keyboards, guitar riffing, guitar ornaments, rhythmic turns) coexist in remarkable harmony and accord of perfect artistic communication, and they could hardly have clicked any better. And that feeling stays with the album all the way through. The song Zima has some post-punk rock transition from the musical legacy of the eighties, over which a simply bizarre Depeche Mode-style synth pattern is deliberately laid. The warm-cold collages of shifting feelings in it are outstanding.
In places, Azil 5 upgrade the sonic performance and intensify the feelings with the intelligent use of programmed samples and the occasional “twisting” of the vocals through distortion effects (Zima, Tranzicija!).
Azil 5 are musical oddballs. They carry a touch of the avant-garde! Even though they don’t reinvent the wheel, they sound fresh, unusual, special in everything. In their remarkable variety, the songs carry a high level of intelligent authorial stamp that feels sophisticated and juicily fulfilled. The album “Strastan, go i bos” also carries the attribute of unpredictability, thanks above all to the lively funk that breaks up the stiffness that predictable, formulaic rhythms would give in another story. This is an album of remarkable initial affirmation for the band. A solid cornerstone has been laid, and given the multilayered musical vision Azil 5 follow, we can confidently expect it to be built upon, with interesting artistic development and growth in the band’s expression to come. Do yourself a favor and enrich your CD collection with this album too. It won’t let you down.
Lineup
Sava Nikić – vocals
Petar Alargić – guitar
Vladimir Vojnović – keyboards
Borko Basarić – bass
Nenad Kojić – drums
Production
Azil 5, Marto Tomić & Predrag Peđa Pejić
Track list
1. Šah pat-os
2. Sestro strasti
3. Procep
4. Prljava ljubav
5. Zima
6. Prevara
7. Tranzicija!
8. Vetar
9. Iskre
10. Ne i ti
11. Jutro u meni, jutro u njoj
