The metal scene in the Czech republic is both awesome and perplexing. Several bands I listen to regularly hail from there or thereabouts, and have won awards in the "hard and heavy" category. This seems to be a catch-all for metal and hard rock of all types. I like it.
The music shops are great. Lots of bands, both Czech and international, whose albums simply can't be found on the British high street because HMV don't deem them commercially viable are there on the shelves, interspersed with all the pop and soft rock music. It's weird to see Scar Symmetry for sale beside Britney Spears, or Rotting Christ and Rammstein beside Rihanna.
One thing that did catch my eye was a poster for. Czech band I'd never heard of; Kabát, with their new album Banditi Di Praga. What better souvenir of a city than a local band's new album about the city in question? Of course, being a sucker for new and interesting, I bought it.
It turns out that Kabát have been about for a while. 28 years, in fact. Although they were formed in 1983, they didn't have a stable lineup until 1990, and didn't release their debut album until 1991. Since then they've released 12, all with the same lineup.
Perhaps the strangest bit of trivia is that they represented the Czech Republic in it's first ever Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Fitting, as it was the year after Lordi took the prize and the contest was awash with hard rock, metal and gothic bands.
Never being one to judge a book by it's cover, I had no idea what to expect from this album. Actually that's a complete lie. I expected a sort of roguish strand of old-school heavy metal, perhaps similar in style to Amon Amrth's Viking metal, or Alestorm's Scottish pirate metal. And that's exactly what I got.
There are loads of different styles and influences on this album, making it nicely varied and not samey-samey in the least. The riffs are distinctly reminiscent of heavy metal acts of the seventies and eighties, with Deep Purple mixing with Black Sabbath, throwing a bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Judas Priest in there for good measure.
There are some stand-out tracks, Banditi Di Praga being the first. Don Pedro von Poltergeist, the absurdly titled Mouse Decadence and the awesome Kdo Neskáče Není Švéd (He who does not jump is a Swede, apparently. Some sort of colloquial insult?) The songs are largely based around traditional metal pastimes. Notably drinking, more drinking, drunken introspection, partying and drinking. This seems to be quite a popular form of entertainment for Czechs so it makes sense, and the chanted choruses would make great drinking songs if I could but pronounce them. Must improve my Czech...
On the whole, as randomly bought souvenir purchases go, this is a good one. Highly recommended, even if I can't sing along.
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