Patareni "Same" CD
[Epistrophy]
This full-length from these Croatian thrashers was recorded way back in 1994, but not released until 2002!? Musically this is pretty damn good stuff with a great mix of grindcore, crossover, and metal. The metal influences mainly come in the form of some brief yet blazing solos and the 80's crossover hardcore vibe that some of the chord progressions have going on, plus there are some quirky little rocked out riffs at times as well. The low vocal grunts are the most blatantly aggressive aspect of the release, and I actually think that vocal style detracts from the energy of the music in this case. What's crazy is the variation in song lengths here. The shortest song is barely a minute, and the longest song is well over eight minutes... and this back and forth short/long exchange goes on throughout the entire CD, with just as many tracks running around two minutes as there are surpassing the five-minute mark. Very unusual. I really think these guys should have been a thrash metal band, because the lengthy instrumental passages and metal influences are their strong point. A lot of the faster material bores me, but when they play at a moderate pace they kick some serious ass. The production is a bit dated and inconsistent, of course. The drums themselves sound okay (granted they are sort of rigid), but the cymbals sound oddly digitized, which is one of the most bothersome aspects of the whole release for me. Other than that the only things that need some help are the bass and vocal levels. The bass needs to be a lot louder, and the vocals need to be a lot quieter. The guitar tone is dirty but it works out fine, it just needs more room to breathe between the rhythm section and the vocals. I can handle the recording, but the mix really gets on my nerves at times, and I just know that these songs would be fucking incredible if the mix was evened out. The layout looks really nice. I like the bland color scheme and the arrangement of text (even though a lot of the lyrics overlap and are impossible to read). There are two phrases within the art: "Click Here for Instant Access" and "Featuring Hardcore Old Ladies & Fat Horny Sluts", so I don't know what that's all about, because the lyrics aren't hokey... I can't really read much of it, but most of the lyrics are in English and they seem to deal with personal topics (as titles like "Fake Friends" might suggest). I've read that the band apparently claims that this release is a bootleg and they had planned to re-release this CD with five extra songs on it. I don't know what that's all about or what came of it, but I do think this band has a lot of interesting material going on and I'd like to hear more. I'd imagine they've put out some real ragers in their day. Not bad. (6/10)
Running time - 41:01, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Fake Friends, In the Land]
Epistrophy Records - http://www.epistrophy.de

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