Quasarborn – A New Weapon Against Pain (2023)

Quasarborn – A New Weapon Against Pain (5/10/2023)

Publisher: Samizdat

Producer: Luka Matković

Duration: 39:35

Žanr: Progressive/Technical Thrash Metal

Rating: 8.4

Belgrade Quasarborn is, as the years have shown, at its best when it reaches for something more contemporary, alternative sources of inspiration. Visible progression between debut “Odyssey To Room 101” and “A Pill Hard to Swallowconfirmed this by turning to an almost post-hardcore sound, thus bringing much-needed diversity to the previously quite conventional tech thrash repertoire. This, apparently, is the essence – when in the genre all the bands are “played”, and naturally skilled in technical performance, and with songwriter acrobatics unimaginable to mere mortals, in the end only creative details can decide, in which the true character of the one who creates.

Therefore, no one would blame the listener who, based on the first ten seconds of the introductory, self-titled single from the Friska album, “A new weapon against pain“ , thought it was an overture to some dangerous tech death grater. Although, in this particular case, it is only a good trick, it is unequivocally true that they are Luka Matković and the team – in parallel with the ironing of the sound, which here sounds crystal clear, but steely – with an open mind, and most importantly, collectively, embraced the contemporary tendencies of the metal scene, and already as part of one thing, together with the founding thrash-nucleus, you can also hear hardcore shoutovisolos known for power metal, followed by triumphant choruses, but also a completely new dominant, which should rather be classified as a progressive sound block.

If, for example, the early Voivod, Mekong Delta, or Coroner, and more recently, Demoniac and Vektor, were to be taken as a kind of quality standard in the domain of this last fusion, the Belgraders would look even a bit foreign in that series, since the whole thing sounds , for lack of a better term, brighter. A more optimistic sound image, supported especially by the instrumental composition “mirror” which heralds the last third of the longplay, testifies to the evolution and maturation of the lineup, which has evidently outgrown the days of reckless nihilism and, regardless of technicality, monotonous thrasher rocking.

If the name itself, and the cover with a predominantly warm color palette were not enough, the fact that it is a radical transformation is best evidenced by the first appearance of the lyrics in the Serbian language, the performance of which was fantastic for Luki, making the band sound more receptive than ever before. Admittedly, all that poetics of personal ups and downs, anti-war sentiment and abstract introspective episodes are saved from complete irrelevance solely by the way they are presented to the listener, since, in the lyrical sense, unfortunately, there really isn’t much that would hold the attention for longer than one- two turns of the whole album.

Of course, when it comes to a composition of this caliber, it is clear that there can be nothing aesthetically unacceptable, tasteless or bad. Rather, the thing is that no line of the text, no thematic unit “jumps out” due to its essential formulaic nature, so that it remains in the memory for a longer period of time, and the only exception to this is truly fantastic „It’s changing“ where the vocals in combination with the lyrics sound particularly convincing, theatrical and powerful, managing to convey the turbulent feelings, arising from the capricious variability of conditions and habits, which structure human life.

After all, all the attributes that fans of the band are used to are still present – perfectionistically precise playing, sometimes breakneck, sometimes slower, dictated by the drummer. Marko Danilović Top; poignant and articulate vocal attacks, in the already well-known, impressive range; as well as unobtrusive riffs, skilfully maneuvering between proger-thrash insolence. All of this, packaged in Citadel’s usual high-quality sound presentation, already puts Quazare on the list of candidates for the regional metal album of the year.