Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Cripple And Casino
Label: Moonlee Records
Released: 2013
Running time: 36:48
Rating: 4/5
The second album from the Croatian alternative rock outfit Cripple And Casion from Zagreb continues, deepens and expands the musical story of their debut, which came out in 2009. The quartet has held on to its musical philosophy of dissonant, noisy punk voodoo that knocks its victim flat with the first blow, while serving up more thought-out artistry on the new record.
The new album offers more variety in its lead motifs and the songs themselves, more definition, even though what still feels best about Cripple And Casino is that uncompromising garage punch, which knows nothing about primping and which the band pours out unrestrained from its debut. By now we can say that Cripple And Casino are a kind of younger brother to Zagreb’s Analena. In the dizzying swings of rhythm and mood, and in the use of a female lead vocal, you can even find meaningful parallels (Blood Of My Blood). Cripple And Casino can get painfully noisy and violent at moments. Petra’s vocal is dissonant, detached, cold, disillusioned when it turns to pure falsetto. At the same time, it deliberately and abruptly veers away from that track with sudden explosions of screeching, frenetic vocal outbursts, which are occasionally backed up by male guttural screamo vocals (Of Adam). Petra’s vocal can also be pushily girlish and snappy if she wants it to, which she then balances out again with screechy outbursts she slips into the vocal lines (Et Ideal?, Not You).
Still, into all this trivial core of primal punk rage, an art-prism element clearly digs in, one that wasn’t as noticeable on the debut. In this respect you can even find meaningful parallels with the late Slovenian alternative band Psycho Path, especially in the moments where Petra’s vocal is a dissonant falsetto and the resolutions of the guitar phrases come close to creating a post-hardcore punk mood (Rusted Old Chains, Crystalize, F 23). In these shades you can find the musical starting points of the influences of many older American bands, such as Girls And Boys, Fugazi or Rites Of Spring.
The riffs are carefully placed and positioned. Even if it’s “trivial strumming,” the point is first and foremost locating the right phrase in the right spot. In an environment like that, Petra’s vocal bonds brilliantly, chemically, and the result is the creation of a distinctive atmosphere, which is the key to cultivating the band’s recognizable sound. The active “groove” bass lines have held on to the tension and volume of the debut’s sound and once again cut mercilessly through concrete, using their agility to exploit and fill all the available space in the songs.
“With High Regards” is a new manifesto of a precisely measured developmental step by the band on its upward evolutionary path. With it, Cripple And Casino have defined their recognizable alt rock groove even more clearly and deepened their homegrown expressive stance. You can feel a maturity shift, especially in the greater focus on defining the lead motifs (the guitar phrases), while the basic driving force behind the eruption of Cripple And Casino’s punk nihilism remains the hotbed of raw garage attitude and rock racket and a strikingly “smacked-in” female vocal approach, all channeled into a homegrown form of alternative rock daring.
Lineup
Petra – vocals
Darko – guitar
Zec – bass guitar
Marko – drums
Production
Cripple And Casino
Track list
1. … and Gentlemen
2. Of Adam
3. Brand New
4. Et Ideal?
5. F 23
6. Blood Of My Blood
7. Not You
8. Rusted Old Chains
9. Bigger Man
10. Crystalize
