Artist: Kronika
Label: Self-released
Release: 2012
Length: 40:21
Rating: 4/5
Not from Črna, not from Visoko, Frankolovo through and through! Kronika dish out an old-school blend of rock, say dirty rock ‘n’ roll, that now and then rubs shoulders with real punk arrogance and flirts with the blues too. This six-year-old band sounds like, had these songs seen the light of day in the dearly departed eighties, they’d have settled into the canon of renowned classics that generations would remember. Especially the ones who spent their teenage years in the former federation.
How can Kronika’s vibe make your mouth water for the golden days of carefree abandon, when the old yu rock bands Električni orgazam, Azra, Partibrejkers, Majke and the like roamed the Balkans? The album’s telling title, “V napačnem letu”, holds the answer.
Truly born »V napačnem letu« (in the wrong year), yet all the sweeter for it. The nostalgically rustic, authentically alive, garage-y, hell-raising racket the band generates is the element of their musical approach that wins you over completely. From the first note to the last of this album. Kronika aren’t reinventing the wheel with their studio debut. They wriggle out of the tricky jam of potentially reheating old soup with their genuine, unbridled arrogance of rebellious indifference, their cheeky humor, and the occasional drama-theater moment where heartache is in no short supply.
You could say Kronika bring together under one roof the best elements of old-school punk rock bands like Hic Et Nunc and Res Nullius, and add to that a sentiment of sparkling rock ‘n’ roll simplicity that didn’t ignite this fiercely even on Big Foot Mama’s debut. Two guitars hold up a hard riffing vise across the whole album, and between them rides the vehemently, outrageously catchy vocal rampage of singer Žan Kovačevič. The voice is at times a touch stoned and nasal, yet it can also be strikingly gruff whenever the nature of a particular song calls for it.
Revivalism is always a beautiful thing when it ignites for real. And this album is packed with exactly that. The songs don’t buckle. They carry a coherence embodied by the character of an inexhaustible stampede of rock potency, and it’s not hard to sense that the songs were basically nailed in the first take. As long as the band keeps shaking out musical moments as convincing as the song Hodim, there’s really no need to fear for the future of Slovenian rock ‘n’ roll steeped in authentic punk grime. It’s also worth pointing out that the band seasoned the songs with guitar solos that never feel pretentious and instead keep a true, simple rocker’s stance of carefully blended notes, often dosed with the trimmings of old-school »Slash-esque pull-offs«.
»Power blues« creeps into the dangerously tilting Bluz, where Kronika prove once again that they’re an unpolished, sharp rock ‘n’ roll crystal that can cut you good if you handle it carelessly. Besides a heartfelt, convincing vocal turn from a roaring howler, Kronika show especially here that they know how to use the available space with both guitars, generating a juicy, rock-ruffled dialogue that weaves lead guitar phrases together with guitar embellishments grafted on top of them.
One of the finest rock ‘n’ roll oddballs on the album is the song Rojen v napačnem letu, where the band holds just the right amount of biting melody (verse), a gradually escalating build into punk ska rattling that culminates in an atmospheric peak within the chorus. Rage over the edge! In Nirvana the vocal is deliberately mixed hollow and stoned, which creates a special mood on the album in this song. Dost mam brings a bit more melody, with one of the guitars running through stereo chorus effects, while the strong messages of the verses sustain the song’s inexhaustible rebellious core.
Kronika are comparable desperados to the ones in the Stara šula crew from Lower Carniola. Both bands birthed their studio debuts this year, and both used them to lay the cornerstones for building up a recognizable rock n’ roll charisma. Both are armed with an authentic lingo and convincing studio records, and both have nice growth potential for the future. It’s also clear that both bands’ music has to be heard »live«, since there’s no shortage of authenticity.
The album »V napačnem letu« is an honestly cut, old-school-sounding rock ‘n’ roll record, honestly weighed down with noise and the fervor of rebellion, and as such it carries the deep character of a rock that, back in the eighties, could have been the Slovenian answer to the punk ‘n’ roll legacy of the bands that ruled the territory south of the Kolpa.
Lineup
Žan Kovačevič – vocals
Rok Pinter – guitar
Lovro Lah – guitar
Vid Verdev – bass
Davorin Ulipi – drums
Production
Danijel Tomšič
Tracklist
1. V leru
2. Razvajeno dete
3. Mladi, lepi in zadeti
4. Hodim
5. Bluz
6. Rojen v napačnem letu
7. Nirvana
8. Dost mam
9. V žilo
10. Na granici
