Stridžie dni

I came across Malokarpatan by accident and after listening just a sample of one of their track, I wanted to search and form a complete image of their first release which is called “Stridžie dni”. Malokarpatan come from Slovakia and they were formed in 2014, while they are contained of three members. So “Stridžie dni” is the first album of the band which was released in September of 2015 and it contains eight compositions and a mysterious, atmospheric introduction, of overall duration of about forty five minutes. The music that they present in this release is very special and it is the result of a lot of different paths that were connected and they created a very interesting result.

In this album, the listener will come across from heavy, barbaric, primitive blasting, to melodic Heavy Metal riffs. The rhythm mainly is fast with many rhythmic parts, while the slower – more melodic passages are here too. The riffs present quite a large variety and they are quite interesting. As I mentioned before, the band presents dirty, primitive riffs, old school Thrash, Heavy, epic and other times slow and torturing riffs. The aesthetics and the madness that the band puts out will remind you of a dirtier and more violent version of Master’s Hammer, while musically the influences are spread across the entire spectrum of the old school Metal sound. Maybe they will remind you of Cultes Des Ghoules. The tracks are evolving and are competed through the time that they need, while maybe sometimes you feel that the composition last a little longer than it should. Their structure is quite good with smooth changes, different feelings and atmosphere.

The instruments have good performance, even the drum machine. On the other hand, the sound is not the best possible. The guitars have a heavy, dirty and primitive sound, which adds a very dark and violent feeling to the album. They are played with accuracy and power. The bass is quite heavy and dirty, to the point that you can’t recognize it inside the composition. The drum machine is programmed well, even into the parts that its style of playing becomes almost electronic, it fits to the style of the compositions. Its sound is quite good and too close to the sound of real drums. The vocals are very expressive, heavy, dark and primitive Black Metal vocals. The sound as I mentioned before it is mediocre. It is fuzzy, flat, very bass and dirty. The mixture is quite balanced and it is trying to offer the primitive sound of the old school, barbaric Black Metal sound of the first days and it manages to deliver it quite well. Finally, the lyrics are written in Slovakian and i don’t know what they refear to.

Summing up, if we overlook the quite mediocre sound, this weird album is good. Malokarpatan achieve with their first release to catch the attention of the underground fans and to show that also the scene of Slovakia contains musicians that can offer to the European Black Metal scene. The fans of the old school, primitive sound, you will be thrilled. It worth your attention.