Label: Self released
Date: June 23rd, 2022
The debuting record by M. K. Z. P. is a rather perfect example of why you need an absolutely full picture when discussing a musical piece. Particularly in rock ‘n’ roll and its subdivisions where, as is commonly claimed, there’s much more than just music.
Talking about “1” and the twenty five tracks on it you can go about the easy way. Without a second glance, you will see a fairly simple design. Whatever the case may be with the mansion on the front cover, the inside offers a call to adopt animals off the streets instead of going to the local pet store, plus a call to smash as many neo-Nazi heads as possible. There’s a short info about the album and a band photo that appears again on the back cover.
Then there’s the music. M. K. Z. P. already does half the job of a reviewer. They dubbed their music thrashcore. Spinning the record over and over, I agree. The quartet obviously know their music and what they’ve set out to do, they’ve done to the letter. Diving deeper, there’s a bit of crossover involved, just a hint of grindcore, some punk and a whole lot of hardcore and thrash metal. Their influences seem obvious and going for the most renowned names in the numbered genres will do the trick. However, I have some impressions that are not too obvious. First of all and most notably, the legends of Serbian thrashcore S. M. F. What’s more, M. K. Z. P. also uses a whole lot of samples from cult Yugoslav movies to open for their own musical reels.
Of course, humor that characterizes those movies is a major part of the band’s creation as well. Most clearly in the lyrics that sometimes go for laughter rather than serious political or social issues. The said humor does not revolve (only) around the movie scripts, but also some local, regular people and occurrences that can also be used in a color palette that describes the local culture, mentality and social issues.
Back to music, M. K. Z. P. uses, as I’ve already mentioned, “local” heroes as influences. Other than S. M. F. you can hear bands such as Dead Ideas, KUD Idijoti (there are two covers of the same song on the album) or Bombarder (“Zastave”) in there. Plus many more, of course, but I will leave it to Yugoslav old school worshippers to find them.
All of the above put together, you get a material that is enjoyable for a while, fun inducing while you listen to it, but rather average when you pile it up next to other, similar ones. M. K. Z. P. is fairly predictable, derivative, just occasionally catchy and easy to forget or just pass by.
But!
For the better part of my life, I’ve been living in a country that included Montenegro as its integral part. However, with megatons of music that passed through my ears, I can count Montenegrin bands on my fingers. Those of metal or hardcore provenance, I can count on one hand’s fingers.
Thus, M. K. Z. P. are among the pioneering projects in this regard. If not the first in their country to practice thrashing hardcore. Such an endeavor must be met with nothing but applause! And if you take this fact into consideration, “1” becomes a much more important release than it would be if the band came from Germany, Russia or Australia.
Okay, some will probably say that it is no way to grade music. Who cares where the author comes from, if the music is not impressive enough? Particularly in the twenty first century, the age of a global village where all the information is easily reached and a small Montenegrin band can easily get to the latest in hardcore and thrash metal in a matter of seconds.
That’s all true, but consider playing this type of music in an environment that is not even close to having even the simplest conditions for performing such music. Where do you find a place for a gig? Or support bands, for that matter? A decent studio to record with a producer who has knowledge with such sounds? Doesn’t sound as easy, right?
Case closed! M. K. Z. P. deserves a shot! Absolute support!
