Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Interceptor
Released: 2008
Length: 69:00
Rating: 5/5
Interceptor, by now a pretty legendary Slovenian band, was born way back in 1991. That was the year Slovenia entered its first year of independence, and in Žalec Gregor Čulk Jr. and Marjan Pader, today the band’s only two remaining original members, founded Human Remains, which soon renamed itself Interceptor. The name is of course borrowed from the cult classic Mad Max. In 1993, after some early lineup troubles, they put out their first album, The Beginning, which the media and the fans took to with open arms. In 1995 came the second record, Fade, which also featured a cover of the legendary Pomaranča, Goba zla. Plenty of people remember Interceptor at least for the much-talked-about track and video Uničimo tabuje, in which Čule’s growling was matched by the one-time first lady of karaoke, Deja Mušič. That song found its place on the last record before the band split, Mora, released in 1998. The following year came the Fuck Off Commercial tour, the final monument in the band’s history, closing out a high-profile eight-year career, looked after above all by the master of media provocation, “Čuli Stage Crusher”. Last year, in a year when reunions were obviously all the rage, Interceptor decided to make their comeback too. Pader and Čulk rebuilt and freshened up the lineup, which set off to reconquer Slovenian stages. In just under a year they racked up a nice number of gigs on the Fuck Off Commercial 2 tour, where they also premiered a fresh track, Homo Stupidus. It’ll land on the new record too… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today Interceptor are presenting a cross-section of their ten-year career with a best-of record, Ten Years After.
The album is split roughly into three eras, covering all three released albums in chronological order. The first five tracks throw us back to 1993 and The Beginning, then the wrecking-ball Blame grabs us by the hand and leads us into a good hour of riding the thrash/groove carousel called Interceptor. Scum of Society, rarely heard live these days, keeps up the social criticism, while Zadnja žrtev, still a concert favorite today, calls to mind Pader’s legendary lineup Epidemic Zone, which counted as one of the bigger metal bands of the former Yugoslavia and contributed its tracks to the cult split cassette with Polska malca and Salem, Provinca vrača udarec. Even though it was the only song in Slovenian on the album, it’s more than proof that you can write good Slovenian lyrics, and Zadnja žrtev remains a reminder of one of the more important bands in our corner of the world, with a dynamic structure and chilling lyrics told from the point of view of Death itself, and it still pulls that off brilliantly today. One of the best tracks from Interceptor’s first record naturally lands on this best-of too: Mors Victrix, a mid-tempo anti-war masterpiece reminding us that in war and death there really are no winners. The first era closes with Alive Isn’t Worth To Be, one of the band’s more forgotten tracks. The five songs from the debut The Beginning successfully capture the band’s early sound, which clearly drew its influences from Sepultura. You hear it most in Čule’s vocals, which often recall Max Cavalera, and the sped-up thrash parts bring the Brazilians to mind as well. The title track Fade, which got a video that was also in rotation on national TV, moves us on to 1995. The six tracks from Fade show the album got much better production than the debut, and musically Interceptor matured too, bringing in an element The Beginning didn’t know yet, like the acoustic intro to Revive. The bass lines are catchy and extremely groovy, the drumming is more polished (a nice proof is the varied, dynamic drumming in Mental Recovery), and Čule’s growling is a bit more refined. Interceptor stayed sharp, nasty and dark on Fade too, and in Insane, Čule, by repeating the title, really sounds like a patient locked in a padded cell. With Paparazzo, Čule&co take us to the band’s (for now) last record, Mora. Mora is a great proof that you can easily write a whole album of Slovenian lyrics that are still very relevant and don’t sound bad at all. Paparazzo is a text that’s still timely today, pissing all over everything in print that smells of yellow journalism. The track immediately proves that Mora is the peak of Interceptor’s creativity. The music isn’t technically on a high level, but it’s well thought-out and polished, and the production is clean and full. On Mora, Interceptor tried out quite a few things never heard before, like the sax in Paparazzo, the pretty psychedelic solo in Blato, songs full of backing vocals, and Čule’s singing is much cleaner, more melodic and more accessible too. Puške namesto kruha is another excellent anti-war track in the style of Mors Victrix. Uničimo tabuje is how many people got to know Interceptor, since the video was in pretty heavy rotation on national TV. Deja Mušič with her excellent guest vocals nicely complements Čule’s growling, and Mark Lemer (today Lunn-a-park) rounds the song off with a guest solo. Deja and Čulk are probably even the first example (or at least the best-known) of a “beauty and the beast” vocal concept in Slovenia. This good collection is closed out by the title track of the last album and Pedofil, whose title alone says plenty about its subject.
Ever since they’ve existed, opinions on Interceptor have clashed, but whether you like them or not, you can’t deny they’re one of the more important metal bands on our soil. It’s worth respecting already that in the nineties, when metal took a heavy hit worldwide thanks to grunge’s popularity, Interceptor proudly played this kind of music in a place as small as Slovenia and, last but not least, brought it closer to the wider public. The future is definitely bright for Interceptor, as the excellent new track Homo Stupidus proved, which went down just as well live, and if the new record goes in that direction, there’s no fear it won’t be at least good. Ten Years After is definitely a collection that belongs on the shelf of every self-respecting Slovenian metalhead. I’d maybe just have wished for more substantial packaging, at least a jewel case and a booklet with liner notes, but hey, fuck it, we’re living in times of recession. Maybe a topic Interceptor will touch on yet…
Lineup
Gregor “Master of Disaster” Čulk – vocals (1-17)
Marc Pader – guitar (1-17)
Toni Uranjek – guitar, backing vocals (1-5)
Mirko Kauzar – bass (1-5)
Primož Štorman – drums (1-17)
Aleksander Rauter – bass, vocals (12-17)
Production
Interceptor
Track list
1. Blame
2. Scum of Society
3. Zadnja žrtev
4. Mors Victrix
5. Alive Isn’t Worth To Be
6. Fade
7. Revive
8. Mental Recovery
9. Insane
10. I Don’t Have Faith
11. Legion of Death
12. Paparazzo
13. Blato
14. Puške namesto kruha
15. Uničimo tabuje
16. Mora
17. Pedofil
