Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Siddharta
Label: Nika Records
Released: 2015
Rating: 3.5/5
Siddharta, one of the strongest musical brands on the Slovenian rock ‘n’ roll scene, are closing out 2015 with yet another studio album. After »Infra«, which dropped in mid-June, now comes »Ultra«. As you’d expect, »Ultra« is a slightly different beast. It’s a mild detour into experimentation, a bit of testing the band’s expressive range. Which is only a good thing. Self-repetition, especially when new studio albums come out this often, can definitely grate, and in the long run it chips away at a band’s artistic credibility. So with the new record, Siddharta shoots down any hints that they’ve settled cozily into the »comfort« of the popularity they worked so hard for early in their career.
The few novelties with a whiff of experiment about them sit right at the start and at the end of the album, so anyone who wants a faint, »distant« echo of classic Siddharta on the new record will be happy. The core of the album, from track two through track eight, is a dead-simple, already-proven and therefore totally homey-sounding Siddharta recipe. In many ways »Ultra« follows its predecessor »Infra«, which is perfectly logical. Siddharta still deal very effectively in a seductive mix of grabby moods and pronounced musicality. The choruses are once again full of it. Among the tracks, Nastalo bo stands out in particular. Like some moments on »Infra«, it carries that classic Siddharta feel and would fit in very well on »Rh-«. Consequently, Val 202 is already full of the song.
The opener Volk o ovce, where the band builds up the intro mood step by step with a sample of radio voice Miha Šalehar’s narration before blowing the track apart in a raging, foaming barrage of Tomi’s famous, vocally experimental »choppiness«, is the album’s first interesting move, and it successfully grabs the attention of every curious music head once the record is spinning. Given the rest of the album, it could just as well have been swapped out in the opening slot for the »energetically akin« and equally stripped-down rock of Terminal. The second more interesting spot is track nine, In Leviatation, which successfully merges the Siddharta style with elements of trance-style DJing. The danceability and the pronounced musicality are woven together well. The weak spot of this track is the occasionally less-than-graceful placement of English words in the melody carried by the lead vocals. Speaking in places. Now and then in the verses. English, one way or another, was never Siddharta’s best ally. Track ten is titled Strele v maju, and it brings in another special guest, Damir Urban. When Siddharta started their career, Rijeka’s Laufer had already built themselves a monument with the evergreen Moja voda, and the members of the rising Siddharta probably saw them back then as a kind of role models. Strele v maju delivers a pronounced darkness, over which arches the solemn, theatrical, far-gazing atmosphere of typical Siddharta. The sensual longing of the vocal delivery, which of course is again here in abundance across the whole album, brings no expressive peak, interestingly, even with Urban and Tomi teaming up. The feeling is that Tomi’s vocal covers the whole thing perfectly well, and that Urban’s, which the production in places even deliberately buries under Tomi’s, holds back the atmospheric development more than it boosts it, in an otherwise quality song combining Slovenian and Croatian verses.
So here we have a typical Siddharta album once again, which means they haven’t gone overboard with straying from their established style. Or rather, those few small novelties are used in a way that preserves the artistic maturity Siddharta have earned with this new record, while also keeping up the quality you’d demand. In arrangement and production terms, that is. So the band isn’t resting on its laurels, and »Ultra« brings a few interesting new, musically creative moves, which Siddharta wove very effectively into the trademark of their own arranging and artistry. »Ultra« is thus »Infra«’s younger brother, who has once again taken his first steps with flying colors.
Lineup
Tomi M. – vocals, guitar
Primož B. – guitar, backing vocals
Tomaž O. R. – keyboards, backing vocals
Jani H. – bass guitar, backing vocals
Boštjan M. – drums
Production
Dejan Radičevič
Tracklist
1. Volk Q Ovce
2. Premladi
3. Nastalo bo
4. Flip
5. Korakamo
6. Calvi
7. Dolga pot domov
8. Terminal
9. In Levitation (special guest Umek)
10. Strele v maju (special guest Damir Urban)
11. Road (bonus track – Siddharta Crew)
