KORAI ÖRÖM (2009)

After their '2005' peak album, which was truly great, my expectations were too high for this one at first. Especially having considered the fact that it took them almost another 5 years to record 2009 album (as it was with 2005). This is good album, but it took me some time to acknowledge that. It cointains some material almost as good as on its predecessor, but this crazy Hungarian group had only 30 minutes of a real gem this time. First of all, the tracks have their names! Before this album, for about 15 years they`d had the tradition of naming them with numbers, but as You can see they`ve become somehow tired of the unability to tell the listener what they mean. You won`t understand most of them anyway unless speak hungarian, but some titles like 'Latin', 'Akusztikus' and 'Új Arab' can give you some hints.

First four tracks are just almost as good as 2005 album was and thankfully they last for more than 30 minutes, which sum up to two thirds of the recording. 'Új Arab' starts with some meaningless chanting, but when it kicks in, it`s overall very good with some eastern heavy riffs and female 'moaning' vocals. 'Tizenkettő negyed' is wonderful classic. You can spot clip for this one on youtube or elsewhere (I think it`s on the cd as well, but I do not physical one). It was recorded during their all-time-members-reunion 18th birthday gig. 'Kínai' is my personal favorite, it`s growing step by step and gets better and better, creating great atmosphere. The first part of the album ends with more than 11-minute track 'Úszós', which is also essential here.

Well, then there`s the rest of the album, but I don`t care about it much. There are two shorter tracks (Mbira, Szubarú) that are really unnecessarily mixed in. 'A Paraszt visszavág' is a joke. I can tell one thing about jokes in music ? most of them get me angry when I hear them too often. The track begins with parody of Michael Jackson`s 'Beat it' ? the choice that isn`t really original and makes me just a bit too embarrassed when I hear it. Then it becomes straightforward electronic (disco?) track which is pretty stupid, but fairly listenable, even though there`s much chanting in Hungarian (I guess). The last two tracks 'Latin' and 'Akusztikus' are good, but nothing spectacular.

If You`re into band, it`s highly recommended. When You don`t know then, check '2005' album first. But If have a chance, listen to first four tracks of this one, they`re really something, if You are enough open-minded to appreciate this kind of eclectic, a bit tribal, a bit psychedelic, sometimes complex, sometimes straight, but always interesting music.

ps. It`s their last album with original keyboard/synth player Biljarszki Emil. He is good. The new player is either not half that good or the whole band just got terribly cheesy, I can`t decide.