IDEM is a solo project of Antun Aleksa, good spirit of Croatian underground scene who also plays in Trophy Jump, Porto Morto and Jeboton among others. This is a collection that IDEM grew for couple of years now and mixture of escaping and coming full circle. This is in fact collection of ten songs mixing post punk and pop punk sensibilities with beautiful and at times haunting melodies. Lyrics are in Croatian language and speak of fun, love, feelings, growing up in an loving environment, lust for life and also being thankful for happiness and small moments that make life worth living and continue soldiering on. Some of the songs are similar and remind a bit of Trophy Jump, but different and original at the same time. I can’t help myself but this album brings somehow joy into my heart and makes me warm around heart while listening and enjoying this music. Songs like ‘Uvijek Super’, ‘Žujice’, ‘Nikad Sama’ or ‘Potopi Ovaj Brod’ sure to win you over. So, I recommend this album to listen as a whole, at the same time reading lyrics and get into the vibe that it brings. I know it brought lots of joy to me. Hope it will bring it to you too! The album is at name your price on Bandcamp, but if you download it for free, drop a word or two to Antun, I know him and I am sure he will appreciate it a lot.
Samiam su bili jako popularni devedesetih, barem su se ovdje među punkerima koji vole melodični punk u Hrvatskoj slušali rado i često. Ja moram priznati da sam tada imao problem s njihovim albumima, jer su mi bili jednostavno prespori i previše pop punk u odnosu na brže kalifornijske melodic punk bendove koje sam tada slušao, no sada mi leže i više nego ikada ovakvi bendovi i bio sam se jako obradovao kada se bend ponovo okupio i počeo svirati i najavljivati novi materijal. Evo nam novog albuma koji sadrži dvanaest pjesama pop punka, ultramelodičnog i senzibiliziranog, no dovoljno čvrstog da to bude onaj pravi punk rock sa srcem i dušom. Ima nešto laganijih pjesama kao što je odlična ‘Monterey Canyon’, ali pjesme poput ‘Crystallized’, ‘Shoulda Stayed’ ili ‘Scout Knife’ savršeno odgovaraju raspoloženju u kojem se nalazite i ovaj album sa svojim odličnim gitarskim melodijama uz ponešto post punk utjecaja, još boljim vokalnim melodijama i backing vokal harmonijama će stvoriti sunčan dan i kada je sivo i oblačno. Odličan povratak benda koji je utjecao na mnoge, pa i mene.
Glasgow’s Atlas : Empire released their new album containing twelve songs. How to describe the music on this release? Hard! Not because it is bad, quite the contrary, because it is so good. The music is a clever mixture of post rock, pop punk sensibility with ultra melodic song parts, some nineties emo punk band influences and also underneath it all lies good old pop rock music and its sense for great songwriting. They reminded me a lot of Croatian band called Trophy Jump. This music and album is quite personal and every one of us can listen and sense this album differently. In some songs it almost brought tears of joy to my eyes, thankful for being alive and listening to such great music with songs like ‘Former Lives’ and also ‘Resurrector’, song sounding so mighty and powerful that I had to listen to it two times in a row. This is one of those albums that you must listen to for couple of times in a row, because every time you listen to it again you will find something more beautiful that you didn’t catch upon last listening. Songs like ‘Inheritance’ or ‘Grey Havens’ are sure to win you over, but go listen and find your own favorite.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 