Wow, this is an unexpected release from the generally intense hardcore/punk label Trujaca Fala. This Polish act is basically an emo band, but they're also damn good, playing in much more of a 90's style that I truly miss these days. So expect generally midpaced chord progressions with lots of clean passages and melodic lead lines with lightly sung vocals contrasted by harsh screaming that all keeps a certain level of feeling and integrity involved. The songs are often catchy and memorable, but not without atmosphere, and it's awesome that they're able to communicate this kind of emotion to me singing in their native language, since I can't understand a single word, of course. "S.E." opens with a nice, open chord progression that doesn't fully reveal the band's complete direction until the vocals kick in - eventually building into one of the finest songs herein, perfectly contrasting heaviness with laidback clean passages; while "Cien W Sercu" takes a similar road that presents itself in a shorter and catchier format; and "Przyklad" is also a little more energetic and rocked out than many of the other tracks. It sounds like there might be some keyboards or organs or something in the distance of "Naznaczeni Ku Sobie", while the chilled out "Przed Upadkiem" does indeed bring in some faint piano behind the dry clean guitars. The recording is definitely a little too thin to really allow the songs to make their full impact, but this is one of those records where I'm willing to overlook those minor shortcomings since I really enjoy the songwriting. Basically I think the guitar tone needs to be a little heavier (i.e. thicker) on the distorted side, while the rhythm section simply needs a little more of a low-end push. They're on the right track, and for the most part the mix is balanced and all that, it would just help to gloss things over a smidge more to maximize the efficiency of their performances. The disc comes in a nice glossy digipack with bleak looking artwork that will certainly have most prospective listeners expecting something far harsher and heavier than what awaits them. Even though most every page of the booklet kind of has its own look, I actually quite enjoy all of the artwork and stuff, so the packaging is certainly in order. As mentioned, all of the lyrics are in Polish, so I'm not really sure what the songs are dealing with, but I can say that the samples in "Zwykly Dzein" are definitely dealing with socio-political topics, so my guess would be that such topics are present within the lyrical content as well. I'm definitely into this, and I'd like to hear more from this band. I think they need to experiment with a hint more diversity in terms of tempo variation and differentiating more of their songs from one another, and as mentioned a fuller sound would really suit them well, but there are some great songs here, and I commend the band for keeping this particular style of emo alive. Quite nice.
[Trujaca Fala]
Running time - 32:05, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: S.E., Cien W Sercu, Przyklad, Zach?d Slonca]
Trujaca Fala - http://www.trujacafala.com
