Beer Metal

If you're by any chance looking for some nuns, prostitutes, alcohol and sheer perversion, Serbian black/thrash metal band Karakond​ž​ula from Šid is here to deliver all of it. The topic of this review is their debut five track demo "Beer Metal" from 2012, released and re-released multiple times via Grim Reaper Records. Music-wise, Karakond​ž​ula dabbles in black/thrash metal with a dose of rock 'n roll and a bit of hardcore punk, influenced by the likes of bands such as Bunker 66.

Beer Metal keeps things quite simple and straight from the start, palm muted thrash metal riffs with a rock 'n roll/punk overdrive and occasional tremolo picking, harsh shouting vocals and d-beat drums that switch to double bass drumming on "Dead Angel Slut" and reverse blast beats on tracks "In Beer we Trust", "Knife, Candless, Wine and Slut" and "666 Litara Rakije". As for the production, it's actually pretty good and it doesn't sound thin for a demo release, all songs have a solid guitar tone, distorted bass and programmed drums that could have used a little bit more touch up in the mix/master to sound less artificial, but nevertheless they do the job. The songs on this demo are indeed rather entertaining and catchy, but a bit too short for my taste, most songs are around 2 minutes long with the exception of only two tracks "666 Litara Rakije" and "Trule crkotine" being much shorter. I understand that this is a demo release, but I still wish that they could have squeezed in some more songs to keep the fun going and the stream of alcohol flowing.

Overall, "Beer Metal" is a good demo that doesn't demand or feel the need to do things with pretentiousness and complexity. Quite simple and solid songwriting that doesn't disappoint or sound weak at any point, all the songs do the demo justice and fit with the general lyrical themes of alcohol and prostitutes. Other than releasing a split with death metal veterans Scaffold in 2016, it's a shame that Karakond​ž​ula hasn't managed to record and release an EP or a full-length before disbanding in 2016, with a total of only one gig they played in their hometown of Šid. Hopefully some underground enthusiasts will come across this demo and appreciate its absurd and perverse alcoholic nature.