Music reviews: SMASH-Goodbye W.G.C./THE MENZINGERS-After The Party/Obituary-Obituary

SMASH-Goodbye W.G.C.

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This UK trio mixes everything in their music. They are described as punkrock band with britpop and 80-ies new wave influences but in my opinion punkrock in their music is a very loose term. This album contains 8 songs that can serve as some kind of relax music in the background while doing something on your computer, reading the book or something else. The lyrics are okay, kinda remind me on noire movies, I dont know why. That is only my personal impression while listening. The topics are some personal issues, the songs have nice melodies and keyboard backgrounds but unfortunately it is all too soft and mellow for my taste. Maybe youll like it, it is not trashy or bad record. Give it a spin and decide for yourselves. Top songs: “Hedy Lamarr”, “Goodbye W.G.C.”, “Secret Bruise”

5,5/10

https://www.facebook.com/smash-54281614881/

 

THE MENZINGERS-After The Party(Epitaph)

The Menzingers - After The Party (2017)

This American punkrock band formed in 2006.in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This is their fifth studio album and it came out on mighty label Epitaph. The album contains 13 songs of melodic punkrock. All songs are in some mid-tempo, true punkrock style and since I love faster stuff, this album is really not my cup of tea. When I listened to the songs they all had some nice Bouncing Souls vibe but without the energy of the mentioned band. The problem is that every song is quite similar to one another and no song stands out as a killer song that would hit me in my eye and make me remember this record. There are some good songs like “Boy Blue”, “The Bars” or “Your Wild Years” but there are more boring songs on this album than the good ones. If you like honest and heartfelt melodic punkrock then this record is made for you.

6/10

themenzingers.com/

epitaph.com/

 

OBITUARY-Obituary(Gibtown/Relapse)

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With this album this band reached their tenth studio album. Of course, these are Floridian death metal legends, Obituary. I first heard their music when their “The End Complete” album came out. Then came “The World Demise” and I must say that I never considered myself to be a fan of this band. John Tardy has vocal style that never worked for me and the bands prevailing slow to mid tempo tortoise beatdown death metal  just doesnt possess some energy to be convincing for my taste. the album starts promising with fast songs “Brave” and “Sentence Day”. “A Lesson In Vengeance” is slower but great and later it all waters down and becomes slow, songs are similar one to another and it all just doesnt work for me. Closing song “Ten Thousand Ways To Die” is a great song again. In all, this album just leaves some unsaid bitter taste in my mouth. I know that fans love it and also many hardcore kids love it, but to me this one is just an average album.

4,5/10

http://www.obituary.cc/

http://www.relapse.com/

 

 

(Gig report):Organizirani kaos-U Kutini je potreban klub

Za Kutinu i klub Baraka mnoge od nas sa hrvatske underground scene vežu lijepe uspomene. Tamo se sviralo sa bendovima, veselilo, hodalo na koncerte. Pošto Baraka više nije u funkciji, Kutina nasušno treba novo mjesto za koncerte i ostala zbivanja vezana uz underground kulturu i scenu, pa je Kulturni Centar Mladih pod motom “Hoćemo klub!” odlučio nastaviti lijepu tradiciju i ove godine opet organizirati festival Organizirani kaos na otvorenom na lokaciji gradski bazeni Kutina.

Dogovor da se ode na festival je relativno brzo pao i naša četveročlana ekspedicija se u popodnevnim satima uputila prema Kutini. Malo nas je brinulo vrijeme koje je onako proljetno promjenjivo ovih dana, pa smo gledali prognozu na internetu koja se pokazala odličnom za festival. Put je brzo prošao autocestom, kojih sat i četrdeset minuta uz jedno stajanje u Ježevu. Kao prvo po dolasku u Kutinu smo se uputili u dućan kako bi odgovorili na neka tekuća pitanja i pitanja grickalica. Brzo smo pronašli gradske bazene gdje su upravo završili sportski susreti koji su trajali od ranih popodnevnih sati kao i akustični stage festivala. Ekipa je kratila vrijeme družeći se ispred upada i unutra. Pozdravili smo se sa nekim dragim poznatim licima i uskoro je počeo koncert.

Prvi bend koji je nastupio bio je zagrebačko/kutinski bend PONOR. Kako netko mora otvoriti festival, često se dogodi da bend koji otvara festival poprati manji broj publike ispred stagea, pa je i Ponor zadesilo slično.

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No, to nije omelo ekipu iz benda u silnoj energiji njihove odlične svirke. Odgrmili su svoj polusatni set mračnog metaliziranog hardcore punka sastavljen od pjesama sa debut albuma kao i nekih novih sa nadolazećeg novog albuma. Kako je njihov set išao prema kraju, to se i broj publike pred stageom sve više povećavao.

Mrak se polako spuštao, zvijezde su se palile na nebu, a nakon kraćeg usklađivanja i namještanja na stage su stali i počeli sa svirkom ONE STEP AWAY.  Ova varaždinsko/podravska kombinacija mi je u kratko vrijeme postala jednom od najdražih bendova na hrvatskoj punk hardcore sceni. Njihov album “Ni grama srama” mi je jedan od najboljih albuma izašlih na sceni u zadnjih par godina. Odrokali su svojih pola sata odličnog melodičnog hardcore punka uz standardne zajebancije između pjesama na koje smo već navikli na koncertima ovog benda.

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Set je bio sastavljen nekako ravnomjerno od pjesama sa aktualnog albuma “Ni grama srama” i prvog albuma “U šumi drijeva falidu”. Kao što reče moj prijatelj Igor, jako podsjećaju na NOFX tamo negdje u “S&M Airlines” periodu. Odličan nastup odličnog benda.

Nažalost, nastup zagrebačkog benda MUSCLE TRIBE OF DANGER AND EXCELLENCE sam propustio zbog druženja i pozdravljanja sa nekim ljudima koje nemam često prilike vidjeti i pošto smo se morali malo svi osvježiti nakon nastupa dva odlična benda. Brzo je na red došao jedan od bendova zbog kojih smo i posjetili ovaj festival, a to je osječki DEBELI PRECJEDNIK. Prvi puta sam ovaj bend gledao i slušao uživo 1995.u čakovečkom Klubu mladih, od tada sam ih gledao milijun puta, ali svaki puta su mi odlični, pošto su mi jedni od najdražih bendova općenito. Koca je rekao da ima problema s glasom, ali brojna publika mu je rado pomogla pjevajući  od početka do kraja seta sve hitove benda sa njihovih brojnih izdanja.

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Set lista je bila standardna koju vrte zadnjih pola godine tijekom koje sam ih gledao tri ili četiri puta uz jednu iznimku, svirali su jednu novu pjesmu na hrvatskom jeziku sa nadolazećeg novog izdanja koja mi je osobno bila preodlična i jedva čekam da objave album, ep ili što već. Kraj njihovog seta je nekako prebrzo došao sa standardnim “Zaboravi”, “Puška ne ubija ljude”, “Moja su koljenja…” i naravno  za kraj pjesmom bez koje ne može proći Debeli Precjednik gig, a to je “Farmersko srce”. Atmosfera je bila na vrhuncu, čak se upalila i neka baklja pred stageom. Svaka čast. Debelog Precjednika nikad dosta.

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Na red je došao i zagrebački MAŠINKO. Još jedan bend kojeg smatram za svoj omiljeni i mogu ih gledati i slušati uživo milijun puta. Šestorka se nakon kraćeg naštimavanja upustila u svoj set energičnog punkrocka sa tekstovima na hrvatskom jeziku koji uvijek nekako ubodu u srce i stisnuta šaka se uvijek nađe u zraku u prvom redu pred stageom. Redali su neke pjesme sa aktualnog split albuma sa Debelim Precjednikom kao što su “041”, “Monumentalna”, “Rijetka sprava”, ali našle su se tu i stare “Erupcija sreće”, “Gloria”…

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Naravno, najveće pjevanje publike i veselje izazvao je “Kako je Potjeh…” i hitovi sa fenomenalnog albuma “Svugdje je doma…” kao što su “Kad idemo van”, “Odzvanjala je pjesma”, pa cover Mikrofonije “Nema nikoga”….Lijepe stvari kratko traju, pa je i set Mašinka završio po mom mišljenju jako brzo. Mislim da je na kraju bila zamisao odsvirati “Pobuna” od Debelog Precjednika sa Kocom na vokalu, ali iz nekog razloga to se ovaj put nije dogodilo. Bilo mi je ovo peti put da gledam Mašinko live i uvijek su mi genijalni.

Na festivalu su kasnije još nastupili KANDŽIJA i FILIP MOTOVUNSKI, no pošto nas je čekao dobar komad puta do kuće, odlučili smo krenuti doma i nakon kojih sat i 45 umorni, ali sretni stigli doma u Čakovec.

Što zaključiti na kraju? Odlična atmosfera, odlični bendovi i nadasve odlična organizacija KCM-a. Ovaj webzine svim srcem podržava nastojanja da se dobije klub u Kutini i nadam se toplo da će uspjeti.

 

Book reviews:George RR Martin:The Armageddon Rag/Ayn Rand:The Virtue of Selfishness

George RR Martin-The Armageddon Rag

armageddonrag08

Although he is better known for his Songs of Ice and Fire series, this novel is the first one that I have read by this author circa 10 years ago. Now, I have bought this book couple of months ago and read it again. I was enchanted the same as the first time when I read it. Nazgul were a band that was very popular among hippies and rockers playing occult hard rock. Their career abruptly ended when someone shot and killed their singer Hobins during live gig. Now, Nazgul reformed and started playing tour with new singer that looks very much like Hobbins almost as if his ghost takes over the body during gigs. Strange things and murders happen, and the old hippy underground journalist Sandy Blair must discover can Nazgul music wake up the dead? I hate hippy movement and everything about their spiritual pipe dreams. But, this is a damn fine novel, mix of music, horror, thriller and drama about not wanting to grow up. It is very readable and you can absolutely gulp it in couple of days. I recommend this one!

Ayn Rand-The Virtue of Selfishness

220px-The_Virtue_of_Selfishness,_1964_edition

Ayn Rand(1905.-1982.) was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is best known for creating philosophical system called objectivism. This book is a collection of her essays and lectures on ethics and morality of objectivism. The concept is that man must be a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute. I can see a lot grounds for Church of Satan and Anton Szandor LaVey thinking in the thoughts of Ayn Rand. The book is just excellent. Rand says that ethical egoism and rational should be our guiding moral principle. She also rejects both socialism and fascism as negative because they both advertise the state, meaning collective in front of the individual and such societies are not welcome in objectivism. Rand rejects faith and religion and also altruism. For Rand, you can aquire knowledge only through reason. She also very much opposes collectivism, statism and anarchy. Laissez faire capitalism recognizes individual and his individual rights, so it is the only right political system for us. I couldnt agree more.  Interesting book, great thoughts and I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did.