First of all, this album is smooth. I mean Smooth! It’s as smooth as a freshly shaved snake in a silk suit. A snake moreover, that has been taking smoothness lessons from Samuel L. Jackson and Smooth McGroove. It’s so smooth you could skim it across a pond and it would never stop bouncing. It’s so smooth, if the Police ever tried to arrest it, they wouldn’t be able to get it into custody because its wrists would slip right out of the cuffs.
Rough Edges, None! I think you get my drift.
The production seems both effortless and perfectly nuanced, extracting the essence from each performance and polishing; facet by facet until it shimmers, astraly , in even the dimmest light. Roughening the poppy sections and caressing the metallic edge until they meet, glory-bound, in a golden middle ground. All this is done without compromise or denial of any of this unique band’s, sponge-like musical influences.
This is Detiny Potato’s debut album, but its songwriter David Maxim Micic is a bit of a musical machine, with already 3 solo albums out under his Bilo moniker. And both his experience and expertise is writ large for all to hear on this record.
The music walks a constantly twisting road of timbre and attitude. It slides without effort from folky electro rock to Djenty power pop via metals; death, thrash and tech. It is a stunning soulful and glitteringly edifying and educational listen.
Lun is the most genre packed album I can recall since S.C.I.E.N.C.E by Incubus. But it is all pieced together so precisely that its journey is like being conveyed on a magic carpet; floating high above what others perceive as possible and required. A genuine eye opener as to what real talent can accomplish.
Moving with subtlety and style from track to track, an action that is often taken for granted or neglected by musicians, for most of whom silence is just an absence of music. But on this record one gets the sensation that is akin to watching an orchestra, where the gaps are just as vital as the sound and action.
Aleksandra Djelmas voice ranges from a judiciously used death fry to an opera inflected scream, taking in all the views that a trip through a pop and rock landscape can possible present. She has a rounded, depth of note that is quite delicious to hear in all styles she employs.
I guess to some dyed in the wool metal-heads, her voice may not have the belligerent intensity that they initially desire. But her performance here is one of the most complete I have heard, in any genre, for many years. Her voice perfectly suits the genre- defying nature of the music with its elastic facility for both drama and subtlety.
The playing throughout is distinct and precise, making every song ring with the resonance of a band focused on a single point of success and pulling in total unison to achieve their goal. Its technicality bounces along with a accessible joy of life, enticing and exciting both the amateur and the professional with its precise experimentation.
Dear reader, I implore you: Listen to this album. My feeble words cannot possible express the scope and delicate brilliance of it artful construction. It is; Heavy and poppy, soulful and rocking, aggressive and joyous, zesty and essential and filled with life.
Destiny Potato cite their influences simply as: “20Hz-20kHz”; which is the entire range of Human audio perception. After listening to LUN a few times, this seems neither pompous nor arch, but a precise description of the lives of dedicated musical crafts people. Coming from Serbia, they pump fresh Eastern European air into the Tech-metal / progressive djent scene.
If you love the brutal side of metal you are probably thinking that Destiny Potato, with their weird name, pop edged choruses and female singer are not for you, but you are wrong; innocently but fundamentally wrong. Ignore my use of the adjective poppy and find yourself laminated in its progressive charm.
At the moment you don’t realise you need this album in your life, but I can guarantee that you do.
– John Whitmore
