Tag Archives: DIY

(fanzines) Croatian hardcore punk zine OOPS #4 is out!

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During my growing up and formative years in the scene, there was no Internet, only letters, tape trading, later first cd trading and fanzines with their flyers, interviews and reviews were the only real source of information.

There are not much physical copies of the zines made in Croatian scene, heck even I am doing a webzine, which is easier and much more comfortable way to reach out to the scene, but I totally support the people who do old school zines because I did quite a number of them back in the days and I know how much work it takes to diy cut paste and copy those little fuckers hehe.

OOPS is short for Oštrom olovkom protiv sistema(English: Sharp pencil against the system) and it is done by dedicated hardcore punx from Pula, Croatia, younger generation which carries the flame of the scene on and on forward, never to get lost.  Zine is classic made, in black and white cut/paste style, and it looks really good. There is a Spermbirds review, an interview with excellent Spanish band Blowfuse, political non music piece about utopia and leftism, Pula hardcore punk bands info scene report, I didn˙t know there are so much new bands there and I am so happy for that fact. There is also a non music text about punk and fashion and that is about it. Short but sweet. The zine is in Croatian language, so if you like it, order your copy and write to:

lukasardoz@gmail.com

Instagram: pulahc

(review) Lovecraft-Dark Ages(PCT Musique)

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PCT Musique, a label from Montreal, Canada always surprises me with their great releases. How do they find all those excellent bands?

This time, it is Lovecraft from south west of France, formed in 2017. How not to listen to punk band which carries the name of my favorite horror writer and one of my all time favorites for reading? I expected something melodic, yet dark and I got it. There is kinda mistic feeling in the music of these guys. This record offers ten songs of melodic punkrock, with English speaking lyrics, at times noisy, at times poppy and at times very, very atmospheric. I love Last Day Of My Youth, showing straightforward punkrock, and then turning into something darker with that wicked and catchy guitar melody of the title track which is absolutely one of my highlights of this record. There are no lyrics enclosed but as I understand, they are personal and inspired by the nineties, nature, love and similar themes. Sometimes the songs of this album make me sad, but that is okay. This is a very strong debut album.

8/10

https://pctmusique.bandcamp.com/album/dark-ages

(gig report) Bödale napadaju vol.6-Prostor Čakovec-04.01.2020.-DAY TWO

The second day of the festival was not so crowded although it was Saturday and I really don´t know why was that, whether people thought that Friday line-up was better or something else, there was not so much people in Prostor like the night before.

No matter, Ashine from Slovenia opened the second night. This band plays a mixture of Scandinavian melodic death metal and more modern approach to death metal and I am sure that I heard also some progressive influence in the songs. The guys were really a surprise, I didn´t expect set delivered with so much energy and so much passion. Their half hour and one encore proved that they are really a force to be heard in the near future. Great set, great band.

Attitudes To Human Extinction are from Koprivnica and if I am right, this was their first gig ever. This band has some familiar faces from other bands in the scene like Gemišt and Ogenj for example. They delivered about twenty or twenty five minutes of brutal technical death metal with dual vocals and lots of wicked and at times chaotic song structures, but all in front of the stage had good time while they played.

Next, groove/stoner from Zagreb, Sloanwall played their about fourty minutes set with lots of greasy riffs, upbeat and groove and it was great to see the guys on stage how they had fun while playing with Ivda from Senf delivering some guest vocals in couple of songs hehe. This music is personally not my type, but all people who watched Sloanwall play were satisfied with what they were seeing and hearing.

I had much expectations from Reverse Gangbang from Zagreb. I didn´t check them out online prior to gig, so I thought this was gonna be some porno grindcore or something judging by the name. The energetic singer was wearing only his underwear and screaming at the top of his lungs, while guitarist, bass player and drummer played like there was no tomorrow. The music is not grindcore as I thought, but some weird hardcore punk. Imagine a mixture of Black Flag, at times Madball riffs here and there then a bit of noise thrown in for good measure. Too bad, there were too few of us to enjoy this set a bit more.

Gemišt from Varaždin/Koprivnica are one of the hosts of this festival, playing each of the six editions until now, so we knew what to expect from their twenty five minutes set. This was my first time seeing them play live with their current vocalist and I can surely say that he is way better and more energetic than the guy who sang before. Energetic hellish grindcore set, one of the highlights of this festival for sure.

Unfortunately we didn´t catch Drone Hunter from Varaždin closing this year´s edition of the festival due to going home, so sorry, but there will be other times. What to say? This is a proof how diy scene lives and strives for more, fighting against the censorship and keyboard warriors who do nothing for the scene but poison it with their lies and gossip.

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