Distax - Božská komédia (2022)
By Flork (contact)
Every time I get the chance to review a band like Distax I feel like a pig in shit. I mean, this is the stuff Flork! really enjoys listening to, stuff that gets your heart beating and other parts of the body moving (including your bowels). And Božská komédia by Distax delivers a heavy, yet fun collection of emo-crunch punk rock that leans towards classic hardcore with punk and anarchy at its heart.
I admit that I don’t know much about the Poprad-based group, if anything for that matter, but I do appreciate their description in English on the bandcamp.com website. According to their bio, they’ve been writing the material for Božská komédia since 2015. They’ve also been around since 2011 and have gone through a number of changes in personnel leaving Andrej, the founder of the group as the only original member left to this day.
But none of the above matters to me as I’m a brand new fan. This means complete unbiasedness to their history, previous albums, ex-members, and so on. I get the chance to join their musical journey at a time in their career when things are starting to happen for them and hopefully will continue to do so in the near and distant future.
Božská komédia opens with Stádu, which I think in English translates to a flock or pack of animals. This is a cool and lively tune that kicks-off the collection of punk-crunch compositions. It is the second longest track on the album with over 4 minutes of power chords and high riffs that are complemented with punkish-hardcore vocals. Like the other songs on the album, it is sung in Slovak and full of raw energy. Kráľ (The King) follows immediately after and the pace picks up even more. This is a faster song with great production between changes in high impact foreground music and low-fi single guitars filling in the grooves. It’s an interesting song full of energy and somewhat negative vibes, but does have an overall great sound.
My personal favourite is the title track. This is where Distax shows its true talent with great riffs and energy all throughout the track. In some ways it’s very catchy as it alternates between fast and slow beats. The track that follows, Nehodnoty, is similar in nature and displays the group’s skills and talent brilliantly. I have to add that the drumming is top-notch.
Maybe their strongest song is Diktátor (Hippie Killer cover), a composition that was recorded with care and attention in the studio and most likely sounds equally or better on stage. The album finishes with the light instrumental Zmierenie (Reconciliation) and the heavy Znovuzrodený (Reborn). The latter is laden with the band’s signature heavy vocals and amazing drumming and bass.
I have to say that this album blew me away. It’s full of energy, both raw and polished, organised into extremely intelligent compositions that would please fans of hardcore and crunch as well as music fans alike.
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