(We present Didrik Mešiček‘s review of a forthcoming new album by the Slovenian black metal band Srd, along with a full stream of the album.)
In all my years of writing album reviews, I’ve somehow never covered one of my fellow Slovenian bands, so it’s about time we tick that off the list as well and therefore I’ll be talking about Srd’s new release, entitled Vragvmesiton, today. The band is widely considered to be one of the best acts in Slovenia’s surprisingly numerous, albeit internationally unknown, scene, and for them this will be their third full-length record since their inception in 2016 and it’ll be released on April 19th, 2024 through On Parole Productions.
There are few bands of which I have such an intimate knowledge of their discography, mainly as I have a bad habit of not really checking out earlier releases, but Srd is definitely an exception. Whilst their debut album, Smrti sel, had some indications of where the band wanted to go, it was also quite clear that the band was still trying to find itself, and they did so in Ognja prerok where Srd developed their own unique and consistent sound a lot more and switched to having all of their lyricism in Slovenian.
The evolution with these two releases felt very natural, however it’s with Vragvmesiton that the band strays from that path and seems to meander through some twisted and chaotic Satanic black metal maze.
The furious instrumental start in the form of the track “Kačji mašeljn” certainly attracts attention after which the vocals of Goran Slekovec quickly join and the song slows in tempo slightly. The band is very much driven by his skills as a vocalist, both on the album and live (I might have seen them six times – soon to be seven – and they’re fantastic). His style is quite far from typical black metal vocals though, as he mainly utilises a fairly frontal half-growl, which makes him (relatively, this is still black metal) easily understandable but also downright demonic. Meanwhile, the song’s guitars are fairly melodic, yet also generally bleak-sounding, painting a desolate and barren world. I’ve touched on the evolution of the band’s sound earlier and this opening nine-minute piece is still very much in the vein of their earlier work and a very strong beginning to the album.
The slight sidestep begins with “Môra” (nightmare) and the band takes on a more playful tone, as well as a slight shift in their lyrical content and messaging – if before the band was often more focused on death, there’s now a bigger focus on Satan and there’s definitely some religiosity in this piece as it feels like the band’s being possessed. There’s generally a touch more chaos in the riffs as well, while the chorus is fairly simplistic yet oddly catchy for black metal and the titular idea of the album is presented – vragvmesiton or, in English, thedevilinthisflesh.
The devil is in this flesh. And in this titular song as well. Some very interesting choices have been made on this album, one of them being the somewhat ridiculous and unpronounceable title – but one of the more striking ones is exactly what happens in this titular track.
Firstly, the lyrics turn from standard Slovenian into a heavy dialect, and that’s something I thoroughly welcome, even though I can barely make sense of most of it. The odder thing is the inclusion of this drum beat that honestly sounds quite poppy to me. Now, I love dancey black metal, but I can’t shake the feeling that this doesn’t quite fit into the mix. Yet at the same time, I don’t quite hate it, and in some hedonistically-humanistic way it actually makes sense, especially if the album’s story is one of Satanic possession. I can see this being quite polarising and my opinion is undoubtedly subject to change after seeing the band perform this song live.
In “Orji,” the initial calm is interrupted with melodic distortion as if a bunch of brigands invaded a peaceful village. It’s another rather odd piece, but it does have a chorus that will lend itself beautifully to some chanting by the crowd in live performances. Lyrically, this is the second song written in the Prekmurje dialect, and while Srd is generally one of the few local bands that doesn’t make me cringe with their lyricism in standard Slovenian, as they tend to be quite intelligently written, strangely these two songs are a bit of a step-down in that regard, although I do believe this is an intentional effort to add more authenticity to them. A few times on this track Slekovec is joined by other members of the band on vocals and there’s an attempt at harmonisation that stands out, which sadly just comes across as a bit awkward.
“Mrtvaški ples” (danse macabre), the first pre-released single, returns things a bit more on track again as it seems that little experimental detour is finished. Slovenia has one of the most famous frescos of the oft-portrayed motif so it’s only fitting there’s a song dedicated to this idea of the great equaliser as well. While the band has generally been an advocate of death in previous releases, it seems there’s a slight philosophical shift overall, but this track serves as a reminder that no matter how high you may climb in life and what riches you may amass you’re ending up in the same box as those you look upon. This song is another highlight of the album and its instrumentation borders slightly on punkish, which gives some merit to the band often being described as black’n’roll.
Vragvmesiton finishes with a nine-minute piece with a similar theme, and I do very much approve of the band letting the sound develop on most of their tracks like this. “Kaštiga” is another piece that relies heavily on the vocal ability of Slekovec as he preaches to the listener backed by the ominous sound of the guitars and drums. This song features a lot of, somewhat muffled, yet melodious, clean vocals and it actually took me a few listens to get accustomed to it but I decided it works really well. There’s also a short middle section that features a fervent onslaught of sound and it’s something I’d love to have more of – it simply feels cathartic and rageful.
I struggled to think of what to say about this album, yet nearly 1000 words later here we are. As I’ve alluded to in the beginning, Vragvmesiton isn’t a clear successor to Ognja prerok, it’s rather a side-step, an experimental adventure into the chaotic lands of death and misery, before returning to the rightful path. And while I’m not entirely enthused by that middle section of the album, I appreciate the band’s ambition and creativity that lead them to try out new things with their sound.
Overall, though, it’s a pretty strong release that’s well worth a listen if you’re at all into more experimental or melodic parts of black metal, and what I’d recommend even more is catching them on the European tour later this month and in the beginning of May.
https://www.on-parole.com/shop/search/dnJhZ3ZtZXNpdG9u
https://on-parole.bandcamp.com/album/vragvmesiton
https://srdbozji.bandcamp.com/album/vragvmesiton
https://www.facebook.com/SrdBozji/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R674uVq08cU&ab_channel=Srd
Lineup:
Goran Slekovec – vocals
Žan Rantaša – guitars, backing vocals
Matej Pok – guitars
Sid Chiwele – bass
Žan Ambrožič – drums, gong, backing vocals