Artist: Big Addiction
Label: Self-released
Release: 2012
Rating: 3.8/5
The Saleška Valley has always had a reputation as a promised land of rock, one that has already given Slovenia plenty of interesting acts. From Šank Rock and Res Nullius to 6 Pack Čukur and everything in between. Big Addiction, yet another fresh arrival from the valley, are staging a new scene breakthrough. With their own rock paradigm.
This bundle of eleven tracks is opened by the infectious Morfij, melodically compact, with a nicely led chorus hook from a manly vocal with a throaty, rasping edge that roughly sums up the point of singer Roman Kopitar’s vocal delivery. A properly hard opener, as befits a serious addiction! With the best possible friend. Right from the intro, the band surprises with a sensible mix of raw energy and catchy melody.
The first eight tracks on the album are sung in Slovenian. Among them only Maska is a slightly less successful composition, while the rest manage to keep the album well above the creative average. Maska simply doesn’t need a guest duet with a female vocal, and the keyboard ornament in the middle and at the outro is placed a bit awkwardly too. With a little more studio skill, the producer could have »styled« it better and glued it into the fabric of the song. There’s nothing wrong with the female vocal itself, it just doesn’t fit this particular melody. The combination of this male-female duet even comes across as annoying and irritating, with the female part taking the lead over the male one, which for a type of composition like Maska isn’t exactly advisable. It’s a calmer song that would belong somewhere between slots 4 and 7 in the album’s running order. Still, this track hints at the band’s alternative beat, their link with punk.
The next track confirms that link with punk. With a title that couldn’t be more fitting. Skrita vez. The verse vaguely recalls the mood and development of Bullet the Blue SKy by U2 (pay attention to the narration of the verses and the riff laid down in the background), but of course the chorus then flips the song into a completely new mood. A very successful composition. Without a doubt one of the album’s best. Big Addiction cultivate a mood that blends elements of melancholy with a touch of darkness, and it fires best in a song like Skrita vez. That art sentiment of unpretentiousness, which could generate even more originality down the road and help give the band’s musical direction a clear profile, is also carried by the song Imel sem vse, which doesn’t skimp on gloomy atmosphere and the core of pain, with a massive wall of sound built on two guitars. One of them runs through a chorus effect, which enriches the song’s atmosphere, dramatizes it, and also stirs up that massive wall of backing sound. A cunning move, a welcome move. With another peak in the chorus hook.
The R&B-flavored title track shows that Big Addiction listen to very different music. So they try their hand at several genres. A saxophone is added, and it slots nicely into the song’s bluesy melody. The southern-style intro to Razvajen, right after the title track, swings the atmosphere into Texas blues with a country connotation. The fun number Razvajen is the brainchild of Don Mentony boss and Buldožer member Janez Zmazek Žan. A very successful change of pace for the album. The song is packed with slide-guitar solo adventures and a cheeky note that Big Addiction otherwise don’t really do.
The advantage Big Addiction have over many of the bands knocking on the door of the mainstream is that they’re dark but melodic rockers. That sounds modern, you could even say trendy. Basically, the whole thing feels totally genuine and unforced with Big Addiction, and the album unfolds organically and naturally. The excellent chorus of Mojca confirms it (this one should have come out as a single!).
Notranji demon, with its wah-wah-soaked intro, is the kind of song that keeps an excellent balance of modern alternative, authentically delivered feelings of melancholy, anger and pain, and a melodically crafted chorus that grabs your attention. A song perfect for closing the album! In this one the deliberately »nasal« vocal faintly recalls Zoran Benčič (Res Nullius) or even Grega Skočir (Big Foot Mama).
Big Addiction are a band that doesn’t hide its big appetites. It comes across as ambitious. The self-released album is a nicely designed »sandwich« of digipack packaging. Every single page of it is carefully detailed. The production delivers a sonic arrangement of building blocks in dynamic balance, and the album breathes. It has an element of rawness but a clear organic feel! The sound got its mastering in New York City
Addicted, right after it the southern-flavored She Is A Sinner, and the closing Sweet Devil are the album’s moments of wildness, raw rocker jolts that are nowhere near serving up the pile of interesting stuff the first eight tracks do. This ending takes away the album’s appeal, as the tangible musical substance of the first eight tracks gets lost. Why the band decided to save all three English-language tracks for the end of the album isn’t clear. They could have scattered them among the songs with Slovenian lyrics, or not put them on the album at all. There’s no need. Why?
All three of these tracks hold more blues rock contours within them, with boldly composed and boldly performed material, but the whole thing is spoiled by the unfortunate fact that American bands do this much better and that we’ve mostly heard it all before.
The second reason why this album would have burned brighter if it had been sung entirely in Slovenian is the bonus track Odhajam od doma, which, added to the first eight tracks, would have shaped »To nisi ti« into a fully confident and credibly high-quality studio debut, the kind many other bands can only dream about. In that case the English-language songs could have been calmly and quite justifiably marked with an asterisk as extra tracks (had the band included them on the album at all).
Odhajam domov is of older origin and has a slightly less warm (or colorful) sound production, which makes it even a touch rawer. Grotesque enough, it counts as one of the best songs on the album, one that could have effortlessly opened this otherwise very high-quality studio debut. The integration of Zlatko and his RAP sermon is also remarkably successful, and the band once again shows it has an excellent feel for building up dramatic moments, culminating in yet another great chorus hook, the kind that hits you right off the bat.
»To nisi ti« is a very high-quality debut that has to open the door for the band to break through toward the center of the most recognizable rock acts of the new wave of Slovenian music. The songs have character, with a touch of punk rebellion, stripped-down rock attitude and adrenaline rush, plus fine detailing that shows the band knows how to play the arrangement game very artistically. The bottom line is proof that Big Addiction can put together a catchy chorus and that they consistently keep the genuine and honest nature of their expression. The chorus hooks of Morfij, Skrita Vez, Imel sem vse and Mojca, and especially the one belonging to the »unjustly hidden« bonus track Odhajam od doma, are successful creations with which Big Addiction signal that we can expect plenty more interesting things from this band.
They’ll just have to decide: either they go down the road of predictability that using English lyrics leads them into, which Big Addiction really don’t need, or the band keeps nurturing the cues given by the first eight tracks of the album and the song Odhajam od doma, which is far more desirable. After all, that’s the only sensible direction for the band in developing its own authorial insight and defining its musical footprint, which has gotten a very nice foundation with this debut.
Lineup
Roman Kopitar – vocals
Klemen Bujan – guitar
Urban Fijavž – bass
Goran Kužet – guitar
Urh Kočevar – keyboards
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Mojca Zalar – vocals on track 4
Maja Založnik – vocals on tracks 2, 7, 9, and 10
Janez Zmazek Žan – vocals on track 5
Zlatan Čordič – vocals on track 12
Rok Miklavžina – bass on track 12
Urban Kavšak – keyboards on track 12
Grega Skaza – saxophone on track 4
Jernej Car – drums on tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11
Gašper Novak – drums on tracks 1, 4, and 8
Gašper Gradišek – drums on track 7
Teo Vranc – drums on track 12
Production
Aleš Marjetič, Big Addiction & Matej Grginič
Track list
1. Morfij
2. Maska
3. Skrita vez
4. To nisi ti
5. Razvajen
6. Imel sem vse
7. Mojca
8. Notranji demon
9. Addicted
10. She is a Sinner
11. Sweet Devil
12. Odhajam od doma*
*… bonus track
