I don’t think I’ve reviewed a Slovenian band before. What a nice first. Anyway, Analena play a harsh sort of emo sound which throws back to many a mid 90s band, but they seem to bring a modern progressive indie element to what they do as a secondary influence.
In parts, this is seriously frantic. Relentless wave after wave of feedbacked guitars loaded with dissonance perfectly complement the harsh, piercing lead female vocals. Drums are nicely backgrounded, as, to a lesser extent, the vocals sometimes are, allowing the variety of guitar playing to come through; heavy, distorted riffs (e.g. in ‘Notturno’) are exchanged with more soothing melancholy indicative of softer element at work here which is merely protected by and outer casing of a sharper, more angular nature.
‘Split Milk’ builds into a crashing pile of guitars backed by some lovely dual vocals. The male backing could probably do with being a bit higher, just to give the vocals that little more ‘oomph’, and to more markedly contrast with the sometimes soft yet often piercing female lead.
Overall, this is a sort of amalgamation of punk rock aggression, indie stylings, noisy post-punk gritty bits and old emo soul – a real melting pot. The 10 tracks on offer seem to sometimes cover the same stylistic ground, which is mildly disappointing, but aside from that this is very solid indeed.