Label: One Records
Release date: 30. 12. 2022
Executive producer: Žanil Tataj – Žak
Mixing and mastering: Piknik studio Novi Sad
Album length: 51.06 min
Genre: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Melodic Metal
Rating: 9.0/10
Žanil Tataj – Žak is a fixture of the Slovenian heavy, distorted music scene. Look beyond the border, across the region of the former common state, and Žak is simply a legend. A legend of metal and hard rock. Whether it’s Divlje Jagode, Jersey, or our own Postojna-based Mary Rose, the same goes for Žak’s adventures into the heart of metal purism with Turbo and Black Diamond. Anyone who knows these bands knows exactly that Žak is not only one of the most recognizable vocalists whenever the talk turns to heavy metal and hard rock in the late common state, but also one of the best. Among a handful of the finest, most respected and most magnificent. The records of all those acts, with Žak’s vocal charisma of unexpected fire and expressive power on board, surely wouldn’t have reached such a final triumph, such a ‘cherry on top’, or say such a ‘final kick’ in the production polishing of pomp and bombast.
Žak spent a long, detailed stretch forging original material for his debut album. And the album absolutely bursts with true-blue moves of classic heavy metal and hard rock. Musically it’s a ravenous and seriously pompous piece of work. Given the vocal color, approach, charisma and of course the range this excellent singer commands, the only right thing is to give such a vocal character maximum room to stretch out and show its expressive reach. And that’s exactly how the album “Al Fine…” works. This is an album tailor-made for devotees of the classic hard rock and heavy metal legacy of the eighties from the former common state, and of course everything Žak recorded and released with the bands listed above.
Žak approached the making of “Al Fine…” with a finely tuned ear. For the people playing on the album he picked from the very best. So with Žak you get a brotherhood of musicians here who can boast not only outstanding performing skills and talent, but who also share the same wavelength in Žak’s vision for the album. The album shows it. It grabs with unbelievable passion and fire, and instantly sucks the die-hard fan of classic metal and hard rock, with a surplus of seductive, musically bombastic pomp, into the world of this kind of vibe. On “Al Fine…” you’ll find a colorful crew of excellent musicians and sound engineers. It’s a real ‘Yugoslavia in miniature’. The lineup is monstrous. Just skim the names of a few of the guitar aces who contributed solos to the album: Igor Paspalj (Brkovi), Alen Šenkovski, Eki Alilovski (Mary Rose), Nejc Vidmar (Black Diamond),…. There’s no point nitpicking the production, though at times you do miss more low-end volume, which you can already notice in the opener Hologram, where the sonic picture could use more pulsing bass lines (Markelj’s no-holds-barred breakneck pace on the snare drum ‘cuts through’ the mix a touch).
The first three tracks hit with explosive maximum. The album jumps out of the gate in a glow of adrenaline rush! Pulsing on the wings of high-octane burn: the trio of Hologram, Dali ti je dosta? (the same song is tacked on at the end as a bonus in English – but it grabs far better in Croatian) and Buđenje. The first real shift in mood comes with the fourth track, Novi svijet, adorned with a great atmospheric contrast between the verse and the catchy chorus – built on a classic musical progression (A minor-G major-F major). With its ‘hyper-musical’ nature, this song could go straight onto radio playlists without any hesitation. No heavy philosophy here. But that kind of simplicity and instant grab is sometimes much harder to find. We’re talking about an approach to songwriting that delivers a potential hit. Back in the eighties, Žak would have set the charts on fire with this one. Moda danas is another tune with an incredible combination of explosiveness and musical catchiness, waiting for us in the middle of the album. Another candidate that, with its fiery nature, could open this album.
The album also carries a clear and loud socially critical note, and the poetry in the messages doesn’t skimp on calls for a general awakening and the search for a better path into a ‘new tomorrow’. You can sense quite a bit of revolutionary bite in the lyrics, which fits the pure-blooded nature of rock music, ruled by the eternal postulates of fun and rebellion.
The vocal execution is flawless. Žak reigns supreme in expression, and it’s a real pleasure to listen to him. Every single second. This time he took the conductor’s baton into his own hands and measured out the ‘scissors and cloth’ himself. That’s why “Al Fine…” brings even more vocal variety (Žak shows off even more sides of his vocal talent) than we’re used to from his vocal turns in the bands where Žak sang or still sings. All the variety of his vocal charm, the doubling of vocal lines with which he intensifies the unfolding drama theater (especially in the catchy chorus melodies of the album’s hardest and heaviest songs), takes the focal position on this release by a mile.
The album contains three covers. The first two are Pustite da živim and Duga zima, which originally belong to Žak’s eighties band Jersey. They’re taken from the album “Pustite da živim”, released way back in 1988. Updated, refreshed and sensibly set into the core (the middle section) of this release. Fiery evergreens. Especially Pustite da živim. Fantastic. Their compatibility with the rest of the charisma of “Al Fine…” isn’t just outstanding, it’s self-evident. The third cover is especially interesting. Especially for Slovenian heavy metal nostalgics. It’s an inventively reworked Turbo classic, Falling Angel. The new version is happily outfitted with orchestral arrangements. This refreshed take on the song now works almost like a ‘little symphonic-metal, darkly dramatic EP’, gradually flirting with power metal rhetoric. The theatrical orchestral intro could make an excellent choice for opening the album itself, but since this is Žak’s solo album, that’s of course out of the question. This Turbo track originally comes from the record “A Glimpse Of Home” (1995) – so you don’t have to go digging around the internet.
An album that doesn’t let up in expression even during the heartfelt vocal manifesto of the ballad Laku noć possesses a highly developed dynamic through which it unfolds and speaks to the listener. That goes for the track sequencing too. A fast song is followed by a mid-tempo one, and that adds to a pleasing contrast in the album’s mood swings. Quality is a prerequisite, of course. Of songwriting and expression. And “Al Fine…” offers plenty of both in lavish abundance. At every turn.
While Žak’s generational peers are ‘sleeping’, or resting on the laurels of the glory days of the eighties, the legendary vocalist has, right at the dawn of 2023, thoroughly shaken up the world of hard rock and heavy metal across the region of the former common state! With a fascinating solo album that speaks the classic language, and that works that way a full forty years after the golden age of the genre it belongs to, rare, special, lost in time and space, and works regardless of the fact that it deftly handles the tricks of the legacy of classic metal and hard rock days, while still sounding quite delightfully its own. Albums like “Al Fine…” are getting rarer by the day. Their musical dossier belongs to the generation that set hard rock and heavy metal on its feet in the eighties, on our soil and across the wider region of the former common state. Žak belongs to that generation too, and in 2023 he shows remarkable liveliness and decisive potency. The bounce of a twenty-year-old stallion. “Al Fine…” is a polished piece of work. Refined. Detailed. An album that elegantly rides the invisible thin dividing line between the elements of classic hard rock and heavy metal. An album that, with all the studio virtues on display, must also come alive on concert stages as soon as possible.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Hologram
2. Da li ti je dosta?
3. Buđenje
4. Novi svijet
5. Možda danas
6. Pustite da živim
7. Duga zima
8. Grom u koprive
9. Kišni dan
10. Laku noć
11. Falling Angel
12. Have You Had Enough?
Lineup:
Žanil Tataj – Žak – vocals, backing vocals, bass guitar (1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12), acoustic guitar (4, 7, 9), keyboards (6)
Guest musicians:
Nejc Vidmar – guitar (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 12), bass guitar (11)
Pavel Denisjuk – guitar (5)
Ivan Pop – first guitar solo (6)
Emir Hot – second guitar solo (6)
Imran Duraj – guitar (7, 9), first guitar solo (7)
Muris Varajić – second guitar solo (7)
Dragan Đurakovič – ‘Englez’ – guitar (8), first guitar solo (8)
Igor Paspalj – second guitar solo (8)
Stefan Šegulja – electric guitar (10), acoustic guitar (10)
Alen Šenkovski – first guitar solo (11)
Eki Alilovski – second guitar solo (11)
Zoran Saulig – keyboards (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11), programming (10)
Olja Dešić – keyboards, orchestration (6)
Nikola Celić – keyboards (7), orchestration (7)
Matko Basara – keyboards (9)
Damjan Deurić – keyboards (11), orchestration (11)
Sven Marenković – bass guitar (6, 7)
Klemen Markelj – drums (1, 6, 7, 9, 11)
Miroslav Majkić Bandar – drums (8)
Neon – drum programming (2, 3, 4, 12)
Eva Rac – backing vocals (2, 4, 9, 10)
Lea Rac – backing vocals (2, 4, 9, 10)
Nataša Tonković – backing vocals (8)
