Tag Archives: punk

(review) Mašinko – ‘Pozovite rapsode’

Zagrebački punk rockeri Mašinko su se vratili s novim studijskim albumom nakon više od tri godine. Ova ljepota sadrži 14 pjesama od kojih je jedna svojevrstan intro. Naravno, tekstovi su opet na hrvatskom jeziku i važan su dio Mašinka pošto je Mašinko uvijek imao odlične tekstove, pa se pametni i pjesnički, te angažirani tekstovi miješaju kako ovaj album teče. Pjesma koja je odabrana kao single, odnosno ‘Sitne duše’ ne predstavlja album onako kako bi trebala, pošto je meni jedna od najslabijih na albumu. No, hitovi kao što su ‘Noć s petka na nedjelju’, ‘Na ramenima divova’, su himne na kakve smo navikli od Mašinka. ‘Ono što si ostavio’ je više balada, skoro pop pjesma i nije mi baš legla iako je tekst jako lijep, no pjesma me previše podsjetila na neki Psihomodo Pop ili nešto slično, jednostavno mi nije legla. ‘Preko zidova’ se vraća bržem tempu i tipičnom punk rocku dobre melodije, himničnog refrena i teksta. ‘Uzalud’ je mid tempo punk rock pjesma i takođe spada u jednu od onih koja mi nije legla na prvo slušanje, iako je tekst opet naravno odličan. ‘Obilje’ je za mene jedan od highlighta albuma i jedna od najboljih pjesama na ovom albumu, jedna od onih za koje si želiš da si ih sam napisao. Od ovih sporijih pjesama mi je legla ‘Skoro pa nešto’ koja je odsvirana skoro u 50s doo wop stilu i žao mi je da nema više oooo i aaaa backing vokala na ovoj stvari, jer bi bila još bolja. ‘Džingis kan’ je pomalo onako punk rock glupava stvar, ali ima odlične harmonije na vokalima, pošto skoro svi članovi Mašinka pjevaju i to ih čini posebnim. ‘Život tombola’ je još jedan od mojih highlighta na ovom albumu s prekrasnom melodijom na refrenu i mogu samo misliti kako ova stvar zvuči moćno live. Naslovna stvar je takođe žešća i odličan je primjer kako se radi brzi i melodični punk rock, nije slučajno izabrana kao single prije izlaska albuma. ‘Odlazim iz grada’ je melankolija street punka onako gorko slatko melankolično kako samo Mašinko može napraviti. Najosebujniji naslov pjesme na albumu je ‘Jedna morska kakvu Žera napiše za svaki album Crvene Jabuke’ i zatvara album na primjeren način. Dakle, da sumiramo, ima ponešto stvari koje mi nisu legle na prvu, ali riječ je o odličnom albumu na kakve smo od ovog benda navikli.

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(review) Merit Maker – ‘Pick Ups And Put Downs’

Not much is known about Merit Maker. These guys are hailing from Philadelphia and they play punk rock. This record contains ten songs of fast melodic hardcore punk, bringing back the nineties hardcore punk melodycore vision to this century. The songs are mainly fast, some of them leaning more into hardcore side of things, being not so much melodic but harsher, like for example ‘False Starts’. There is an occasional melancholic melody and atmosphere that goes through the songs like thread that binds them all together, but maybe it is only me that hears such stuff on this album. Bassist/vocalist Joe Stanton’s voice is just made for music like this one. The guy does not have your typical melodic voice but he can transform it also to ultra melodic like in Ramonescore influenced ‘Look Back’ which reminded me of Teenage Bottlerocket a little bit, that is good since TB is one of my favorite bands ever in the genre, not saying Merit Maker copied anyone, quite the contrary. Besides melancholy, I like some kind of untamed and wild punk rock energy that goes through this album and connects all the songs into one whole and makes this good record. My other personal highlights: ‘Sparks Ignite’, ‘Falling Out’, ‘Hang Ups’.

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(review) Dead Pollys – ‘Truth of Tomorrow’ (Too Loud Records)

Dead Pollys are no strangers to this webzine and they recently released new record with Too Loud Records. There are 12 songs on this release and the music is energetic, melodic punk rock, mainly fast and with rough edged vocals not typical for this kind of music, thus making this record a bit more original than other bands. But, I can also hear more harsher sound and harder songs, due to line-up change, with band having new drummer and new guitarist in their ranks. Besides melodic punk, I can hear lots of garage punk influence, even 77 style punk rock here and there, maybe it is only me hearing that in their songs. Lyrically the band explores future apocalyptic world where people rather give up than fight and pretty bleak landscapes are described in lyrics but also enabling us to open our eyes and try to fight for our future. I can only imagine how these songs sound nice and harsh live while listening to epic guitar melodies of ’94’ and ‘Two Weeks To Live’, couple of my personal favorites on this record, maybe because these songs could go into more melodic department of things, also ‘Yes, Sir’ is one of the highlights on this record, not accidentally chosen as a single prior to releasing this one. So, if you like your punk rock harsh yet melodic and garage at times, go listen to this one.

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