Kultur Shock - Kultura-Diktatura
Kool Arrow Records

file under alternative / pop

Evil Dr. Smith: You thought a reviewer had an easy life? Well, you’re right. Getting CDs for free, a long time even before they are downloadable from Internet, having cosy chit chats with your favourite bands and shows which are already sold out are no problem to get in… for free! But every now and then it’s a little bit more problematic. For instance, when you have to write a review about a band that will take a little more effort than rewriting the official bio and copy/pasting stuff of their homepage within ten minutes.

This problem occurs when dealing with a quite extraordinary odd band like Kultur Shock. All right, let’s pretend they play some kind of metal, but it’s so full of other elements and styles that it’s almost impossible to compare this band with only one band, or even one genre. Their basic style is some kind of modern punk and metal with a lot of twisted folk elements. But before you might think their just another Skyclad, In Extremo of Elvenking-wannabe, Kultur Shock incorporates their ancestral genes in their sound and that is a combination of Bosnia, Bulgarian, Japanese and American blood. They blend rhythms and styles like metal, punk, gypsy, rumba, dance… well, in fact, what do they not use? Their Balkan brass metal is quite impossible to label.

If I have to compare this band with a band, I think they are like the System Of A Down from the Balkan. Even though they’re from Seattle actually. Their songs are very energetic, a bit ‘crowded’ in arrangements and atmosphere and the songs are mostly sung in Slavic, however I might have heard some Spanish, Arabic and English as well. People who are familiar with the first two albums of the band – a live album and ‘Fucc The I.N.S.’, which is produced by ex-Faith No More bass player Billy Gould – or with the Finnish brass band Slobo Horo and/or those who really are into a potpourri of different styles and cultures which are way beyond the multiculti-metal of Sepultura and Laberinto, will adore this album.

I just can’t wait to see this band live (which will happen this month actually, because they tour Europe in May). Their combination of the fucked up adrenaline of Rage Against The Machine, the partypunk horns of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the kaleidoscopic energy of Manu Chao, the gypsy festival of The Gypsy Kings together with an occasional female choir like Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares who are singing like they’re on drugs in a harem from some wealthy oil sheikh (‘Hashihi’) or feeling like they’re in a Scandinavian mood as Värttina (‘Nightmare’), is lyrical connected with the left-wing irony of Frank Zappa and injected with a modern punkmetal twist, all this without the fact that Kultur Shock doesn’t sound like any of these bands in particular. You can hardly believe they put all these ingredients together, cause the result is so damn catchy and logical, that you’re immediately dancing some Bulgarian dances along the music. Although you never danced or even knew about this dances before in your entire life… Kultur Shocks doesn’t shock cultures, they bind them. They’re the perfect integration.

Evil Dr. Smith diagnoses: 85/100 (details)

http://www.kulturshock.com