1984 • Helidon
Here's a weird one for today, and an old one: a post-punk band from Croatia in the late '70s and early- to mid-'80s. I'm not sure why I even have this album, as this band is awfully obscure, but I figured it'd be an interesting one to look at today.
I've heard few albums whose sound immediately evokes the '80s underground quite like Zastave does—dry, lo-fi production, lots of delay, chorus on the bass, and so on. Though it makes the album feel incredibly dated, it's an interesting aesthetic—one that I've gotten familiar with from diving into old tape releases from this period, and I really like that aspect of it, especially the neat samples used throughout the album.
The style of the music itself isn't the most unique, but it has plenty of interesting elements: jangly guitars, gothic-style vocals, almost motorik drum beats, and some weird Doors-like organs and keyboards to round things out. It gives the album a sort of ritualistic / tribal sound at times, which is pretty cool, though it can get a bit corny at times (like "Oj ponose moj", which isn't a bad song, but that chanting would attract odd looks from bystanders).
I dislike how the songs have a tendency to get a bit repetitive, although on the other hand I guess that fits with what all the other post-punk bands around this time were doing; and for a poppier, song-oriented band like this I shouldn't be too surprised. It still can get kind of catchy sometimes and have the occasional good hook ("Kad se oglasi"), so it's not a huge problem.
Zastave is definitely a neat slice of punk history, though it's probably not something I'm going to find myself going back to a whole lot as the album has worn itself out for me after just a couple listens (and I don't think it was really my style in the first place). Worth looking into for anyone into this part of post-punk, though.
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