Hey, time for another Croatian band from my home scene to grace the pages of this zine. Kriva Istina are band originally from Slavonski Brod, but are based in Zagreb. Their last album from couple of years ago is one of the best albums this scene had to offer in last twenty years as long as I remember. I was eager to wait what will they do next. There were couple of line-up changes, they got new bass player and added another second guitar to the line-up which made the band even more powerful. This new e.p. is conceived as first chapter which describes situation in our country and world and will eventually be added to full length album at least that is how I understood the plan. There are four songs on this one. What I love about this band is that they sing in Croatian language and lyrics are so smartly and great written, that it is a pleasure to read them along with the music. Kriva Istina play melodic hardcore punk with lyrics themed in some of the wrongs that are happening right now, and themes in our country are neverending with so much injustice, thievery, primitivism being at front of media and people right now. The songs themselves are kind of continuation where the last album left off, with Pitanje being my personal favorite but all of the songs I listened to over and over again. Hod u propast is also superb song and I love every single minute of this e.p. I saw them play live couple of years ago in Slovenia at Tepih na paleti festival and would love to see soon how the new line-up sounds and how these new songs sound live, I am sure they are awesome. This is a strong release by this great band.
I always loved street core, since I was a little hardcore kid growing up, with all those great hardcore bands coming out leaning more on street punk than on metal in their hardcore cookbooks hehe. This is one of such bands. No Restraints are based in Vercelli, north west Italy and they are relatively new band in the scene with this full length album and it contains 12 songs of excellent street hardcore punk based and leaning heavily on OI/street punk and I am amazed that every song on this record is basically an anthem that makes you full with hardcore energy and strength, makes you sing along and listen to it over and over again. Songs such as Streetcore Worldwide, The Flame Still Burns or They Will Never Get Us are sure to become instant classics. Musically this band reminds me of best Agnostic Front, Warzone, Discipline works but they remain also fresh and ready for this new century and decade. Vocals are angry, more of hardcore shouted but fit perfectly to the music and there are plenty of backing and gang vocals to sing along. Lyrics deal with surviving, battling your enemy, loving your friends, unity and all hardcore themes I still love so much. I enjoy every single minute of this record. Excellent!
Austria´s Deadends are in no way strangers to this zine, since I saw their set in my neighbouring town of Varaždin, later on in Slovenia at Petroleum Beat Festival, I immediately fell in love with their music and also they are such nice and friendly crew, I hung out together with Tom at Punk Rock Holiday when his other band Ants! played their final show. Anyway, this is Deadends new full length album and it is a continuation of their awesome mixture of emotional melodic hardcore and punk rock with harsh yet melodic vocals, backing vocal harmonies, great lyrics and songs that remain long in your ears and head after listening and making you listen to them over and over again. I must mention some songs that remained keeping warmth in my heart like Good Intentions, Better Excuses with such great lyrics and melody that I can relate to. I love how Deadends make everyday themes and fantastic songs that make you smile, your eyes moist and your skin crawl with goosebumps. Lyrics deal with depression, anxiety, love, loss, hope, life and coping in today´s world. Some other songs that I mention as highlights for me are the title song, also Ghosts & Demons, Habit To Endure. But, I just can´t get enough of this album. I am so happy this one came out.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 