Noviot Pochetok – Melancholic machine

One of the great things about being a reviewer is that you sometimes are surprised with great music you wouldn’t have known about if you hadn’t reviewed it. This happened to me when I reviewed Fonija. Upon contacting Sixtynine Records to get myself a copy of that album, they asked me if I wanted to check out Noviot Pochetok’s album Melancholic machines. Well, that wouldn’t hurt, would it? Upon opening their bandcamp I was a bit dissapointed the album was already released beginning 2012. Are we going to bring you old news? With nothing better to do at that moment I just hit play and went on with regular business.

After listening to Melancholic machines a couple of times I have to conclude this is another Macedonian quality product. How come I never hear anyone talking about this stuff? As I like this record so much I decided to review it anyway, and that’s why you are reading something about a record that’s already 2 years old. Blame me for not being up to date, ask me if I’ve lived under a rock the last couple of years, but if you just listen to this music, you’ll be grateful for this late review (I hope…).

Noviot Pochetoks sound can be compared to Fonijas’ (based on how long both band exist I guess this should be the other way around, but I got to know Fonija first, so they are my frame of reference here). Both play extremely catchy punk. Noviot Pochetok includes a bit more hardcore influences though, that shine through on short, fast songs like Milion Prashanja. The mix between punk and hardcore reminds me a bit of Good Riddance or Rise Against. Not the worst bands to be compared to, huh? They now have Macedonian competition, it seems.

The production of this album is very smooth, and thus fitting the style perfectly. Everything is clearly audible but with enough crunch to keep this music energetic. This is the bands third album and you can clearly hear there’s a lot of experience in the band.

The lyrics are all in Macedonian. I assume this is because the band can express their message more precisely in their mother tongue. This might scare away some listeners. Well, that’s their loss, I guess. One thing I could have done without: the hidden track. Please skip that kind of stuff next time…

Bottom line is: this might be relatively old, but if you are into catchy melodic hardcore punk (and don’t mind lyrics in Macedonian) you definetely need to check this out!

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