Label: Self released
Date: July 6th, 2021
Metalheads in Serbia are divided on those who listen to a band called Brkovi and those who prefer H. C. Z. I’ve heard that somewhere and I totally agree. I am between those two types. If you are tired of serious metal lyrics but you don’t want to give up on good hard core rhythm I recommend this band and its first album “Pijem Hard Core”. And trust me, they do. In the town of guitar festival and the most famous beer here, in Zaječar, stars are born.
In metal everything is allowed, so in latest time a lot of bands with seriously good music but funny lyrics are becoming ultra-popular. Reason for that is probably the dark reality of our country so they are offering some kind of runaway from that. Next to funny subject is specific dialect people from Eastern Serbia have. One small but extra funny effect which will give them fame here.
Honestly when I heard about them I didn’t have some opinion about them as valid musicians but by the time this album was announced, I changed my mind. Hard core groove they have can stand next to bands like Neman or Ritam Nereda even, and that’s pretty high level. On their gigs there will be a lot of mosh pits. It’s aggressive and domination of bass line is perfect. One small detail is that even if no song has a guitar solo, they managed to be different from its own genre. Good job!
Lyrics are a special story. “Mož’ pit (moshpit)” said it all but every song deserves attention. If you pronounce “Mož’ pit” drunk it has other meaning, so watch out. Standard punk story of alcohol as the best friend, hangovers, friends and fun from noon till midnight. Yeah, I know, we already saw that but when you are from the Balkans it has a special dimension. Love between Balkan people and rakija got its own song and part of “Ko je ne voli taj ne treba da postoji” became a scientific fact here. “Burek je samo s mesom” made my day, I don’t remember when I laughed that much on some song. One more fact I agree, burek is burek simply. Free commercial for “Zaječarsko pivo” is the highlight of the album, one natural good from Serbia has its own place among metalheads on concerts. “Raspikuća”, the worst curse you can get from Serbian mothers when some relatives see you drinking is one in line of eleven songs with pretty Slavic subjects. The last song “Fajront”, is a story about sad moment when you have to go home but you have fun as the song said: “Sve što je lepo ima kraj”. And we all survived it.
Cover picture is inspired by one famous Serbian movie, “Maratonci trče počasni krug”. A good idea, dark humour and hard core… Good combination.
In these dark pandemic times it is maybe clever to listen to H. C. Z., to drink beer and rakija together to forget your name, country and society position just to survive with fully functional brain cells. Some would see them only as funny drunk men, some as autobiographic band but I see them in serious competition with bigger hard core punk bands.
