Artist: Diskurz
Label: Dallas Records
Released: 2009
Runtime: 41:13
Rating: 4.5/5
Rijeka and punk. They’ve always had a knack for it. But spring is far behind us, and so are the seventies and the eighties. You slowly forget, new bands come along. They’re solid, they do their own thing, what’s gone is gone. And yet Diskurz, without shame, let alone fear, flat-out deny the fact that the years when punk was young never come back. The album “U protivnom” sounds like it was written in the golden era of punk rock’s rise to popularity. We’re talking real punk here, not that “quasi” MTV-style stench that, after the “grunge” era, they’ve tried to sell us as “alternative” and that long ago soured the taste for good music.
The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, and Diskurz pull the best from the roots of the Rijeka punk rock scene. At its core the thing is driven by a rawness and unbridled energy that today’s “fraudulent” bands, so often artificially injected by money-grubbers, can only dream of, the ones who take a fat dump on the tune of some “quasi” post-punk pathos, with their suffering heroin faces that all the young chicks go crazy for. Diskurz are the heralds of the working-class cattle, the exploited lower class that has to eat dirt to survive and, on top of that, let everyone spit on it. They’re the voice of the street, the voice of the underside of a society that the very people who built it would love to sweep under the rug right now. But that’s not how it works. That’s why punk is here.
You might be surprised, but the whole thing often smells suspiciously like Sex Pistols. The tone of the voice matters a lot here, and so does the way the verses are delivered: full of noise, clear and curt in their dictates, deliberately unmelodic, menacingly accusing, and of course barking and gnawing just annoyingly enough to burrow into your ears from the first listen. Maybe it’s beside the point, but it’s also perfectly logical, that Diskurz are far better musicians than the Sex Pistols ever were. Beside the point, because punk doesn’t need you to master “Flight of the Bumblebee” on guitar. Diskurz sound supremely confident in their sermon the whole way through, highly coherent, their working chemistry is convincing, and the energy of the garage sound they create doesn’t let up for a second across the album.
The album is cut on a single frequency that knows nothing about planting flowers, and instead grinds everything beneath it in a highly convincing execution of compact songs, where the vocal, committed and furious, naturally claims the attention it deserves, the riffs carry a heavy curtain that covers a huge amount of sonic space, and the rhythm section, oiled up with “groove” and its contrasting thickness, delivers the required sonic steamroller. An attack without mercy, driven by pure anger and a feel for rock energy!
The album’s frequency doesn’t stray from the basic formula, so this time you’ll have to find your own favorites. I’d single out the track Debela glava, which literally wrecks the place with its sermon, pointing a finger at society’s parasites (“Svaki dan nam seronje sere, broje pare na sav glas…” and shouting out complete defiance of the rules (Nitko nam neće puniti glavu, niko, baš niko…). The song burns with an excellent combination of the bizarre simplicity of its punchy chorus slogans, which flows right out of the amusing pre-chorus verses, and all of it rests on destructive electric intensity.
Diskurz drive convincingly through the album with songs like Polet, Izlom (with a slightly more melodic riff), Isto je sve, Nitko i ništa, the “old-school Pistols-style” Repelent, the “biting” Iz…, Obskura, which once again rages and wrecks,…. Across the album they truly never rein in their primordial, untamed rebel attitude. These guys have style. They have their own recognizable style. “U protivnom” is an album that stands tall in its tradition from head to toe. It’s obvious that punk really can’t die, even if it wanted to. Bands like Diskurz keep reminding us of that. Unbelievable. In 2009! Diskurz are punk! The rest is a lie today!
Lineup
Bojan Bajić – vocals, guitar
Andrea Živković – bass guitar, backing vocals
Ivan Ritoša – drums
Production
Boris Rakamarić – Bora
Tracklist
1.Želite
2. Debela glava
3. Polet
4. Izlom
5. Isto je sve
6. Na stranu
7. Nitko i ništa
8. Repelent
9. Oksimoron
10. Iz…
11. Obskura
12. Prazan hod
13. Razgledi
