Fără teamă

After an acceptable enough (though not remotely impressive) debut with "30 Minute", Krypton (this time spelled with the 'Y' that would become ever-present from now on) had to endure a lot of internal turbulence, resulting in an almost complete reshuffling of the band. The most drastic absence would undoubtely be Eugen Mihăescu (G), band leader and songwriter, that moved to Germany to study Music at the University of Köln - and to make a lucky escape from Romania's dictatorship, of course. Surprisingly, Krypton managed to survive this massive loss, with bassist Dragos Docan assuming the reins and nearly reinventing the band as a whole. The group decided to adopt especially designed stage clothes (something unique in Romania at the time) and to play a different kind of music, more attuned with the heavier stuff played at the other side of the Iron Curtain. From all this came "Făra Teamă" - not only my favorite album from all Romanian metal, but also one of the most significant LPs ever released in that country.

It was a time of changes in Romania, and "Făra Teamă" was totally engulfed by the essence of those days. Written a short while before the destitution of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the band were supposed to submit the lyrics to censorship's approval - something that never happened, fortunately, as revolution took the streets right on time. The recording sessions began shortly after the end of the communist regime, and the firegun held by drummer Razvan Lupu at the front cover was lent by one of the soldiers who were guarding the streets at those troubled days.

"Făra Teamă" was the first rock album released in Romania after Ceausescu was gone, an impressive enough feat to secure a very special place in Romania's history. But Krypton's second LP deserves a listen not just because its historic background. Actually, it is a bloody good album - something that the weak production and not-remotely-interesting artwork may try to hide, but don't let yourself be fooled. The opening song, "Nemuritori", tell no lies about what's to come, building upon a simple yet creative song structure to deliver an extremely listenable slice of hard / heavy music with a memorable chorus. Really impressive. The following songs are more or less the same thing (thank God), adding some subtle classical influences to make things even more interesting. In fact, compositions like "Sînt Doar un Nor" e "Capriciu 4" are not that distant from what Helloween would do with Andi Deris in later years - surely not achieving the same levels of musicianship or confidence, but very respectable all the same.

The band sounds really tight. Even though his bass is a bit too high in the final mix, Dragos Docan shows how good a musician and songwriter he is, writing nearly all the songs on his own. Razvan Lupu is a strong drummer, and Manuel Savu and Valentin Stoian deliver competent and creative performances as well. Last but not least, Gabriel "Gurita" Nicolau gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up for towering the lacklustre vocals of "30 Minute" and delivering a very impressive performance throughout this album. He is still considered one of the finest singers Romania ever had and, listening to this LP, is very easy to understand why.

All eight songs are pretty good. OK, "Am Crezut in Ochii Tai" (the inevitable ballad) may not be as great as the rest, but its four-and-a-half minutes are perfectly listenable. Apart from the aforementioned "Nemuritori", my favorites would be "Cheama-ma" (a very catchy hard rocker which was a huge sucess in Romania), "Incearca Sa Crezi" (nice chorus), "Inima de Fata" and most of all the outstanding title track, maybe the best song I ever heard from a Romanian metal band (althought Hardton's "Ce Va Fi" is also fucking great). Of course there's a sense of naivety to be heard all over the LP, and the music may be a little too unpolished for some tastes. But Krypton were pretty much opening the road themselves and I still think they made quite a good job, considering all the obstacles on their way.

- originally published at drequon.blogspot.com