Review Summary: Production capacity reached.
Before listening to this album, I’ve watched an interview with DK Energetyk which dates to the last year. The interviewer, Albert Tsukrenko is quite a colorful character himself, also a musician, his band “Hammerman Destroys Viruses” known in Ukraine for making some of the zaniest avant-guard music and giving some of the wildest life performances. I normally like his interviews, but this one was not his best. Out of almost 50 minutes, he spent at least fifteen grilling the band about their attempt to qualify for Eurovision context, whereas I hoped to learn more about their creative process, their values and ideas, and overall approach to making music. Nevertheless, I was able to divulge a couple of important points from the interview. First, the singer Yakiv Marnyi mentioned that he uses the band’s lyrics as a vessel to vent his anger and frustration into. That wasn’t very obvious on the first album with its more reflective nature, but the second one was certainly more intense in terms of its lyrical content. Secondly, the band elaborated quite extensively that they believe in being productive and maintaining a tight release schedule to “stay on top of Facebook feed” as they put it.
Which is exactly what “Zavtra” (“Tomorrow”) feels like to me. Angsty and workmanlike. The band’s brand of concentrated post-punk is clearly established already, and they mostly stay the course throughout the album. Although the very first song shows one of the possible routes DK Energetyk could have taken if they wished to change without undergoing a complete overhaul. The opener “40” sees the band embracing that mechanical sound and going all the way through with it. The bass is positively rumbling, Yakiv’s voice is distorted and echoing, while the lyrics are intentionally absurdist and repetitive. This release certainly would have been more interesting if the band chose to persist with this type of sound. Not to branch out, but to go deeper. Make Yakiv sound like a demon preaching from the basements of hell, focus on the rhythm and the grit, extend the vibe of a grinding never stopping post-punk factory to the whole album, perhaps even bridging post-punk and industrial in the process.
Unfortunately, the band reverts to their more traditional sound after the first song, although that deep rumbling bass is present throughout. At this point, the band’s ability to create classic post-punk melodies is well-known, which leads to diminishing returns. Only “Hotel Secretive” (song number 7) marks a stylistic departure with its guitar melodies leaning significantly into post-rock rather than post-punk. But the lyrics are still centered on the album’s running theme. Like I said, some of the songs are quite intense and angsty, especially tracks like “Gambit” (song No.3) where Yakiv raves and rages until he goes into an actual swearing fit. But most of the time the focus is on one specific subject: some form of exhausting and futile labor. It could be about a guy forced into complete obedience and surface-level “perfection” in the army or a raven black horse giving all it has to win the race without any reward in sight. In the context of this album even love is presented not as a source of mutual pleasure and comfort, but as something that you need to survive through, persevere, and tolerate, some form of extra hard and monotonous toiling. If the music was equally dark and grinding it could have been perceived as a conscious artistic statement by the band. But DK Energetyk still wants to be catchy and accessible, so they don’t go all the way in. The way it is, Yakiv’s rants about politics, the necessity to tolerate his stepmother, or (terror, terror!) spend a weekend with his kids sound preachy and boring rather than relatable.
Imagine a guy treating everything that happens in his life as a day in the office. Establishing a schedule for sex with his wife, creating a monthly plan for hanging out with his friends, conducting every personal conversation as if holding a business meeting. This is the impression that I get from this album. A band stuck in the grind. There is some potential, but it remains mostly untapped, which results in probably the least interesting DK Energetyk release that is but a stop-gap between the actual albums.
