LITTLE VICTORIES

"Little Victories" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Ukrainian post rock act Krobak. The album was released through MALS Records in September 2013. "Little Victories" is available on the band´s Bandcamp profile. Krobak was originally a one-man act founded by Igor Sidorenko and the debut full-length studio album "The Diary of the Missed One (2008)" was recorded solely by Sidorenko. A few years went by with a few concert appearances and the release of some splits, but Sidorenko didn´t feel Krobak got the attention that the project deserved and lost his enthusiasm for it. After recording and touring for a couple of years with his stoner rock act Stoned Jesus, he got his enthusiasm for the project back and started assembling a lineup. He found like minded musicians in Natasha Pirogova (drums), Asya Makarova (bass) and Marko Nikolyuk (violin) and with Sidorenko on guitars the lineup was complete.

The music on "Little Victories" is slow building and atmospheric instrumental post rock with some nods toward ethnic folk in the melodies. It´s greatly dynamic music with both mellow melancholic parts and more louder, and at times, quite heavy parts. Krobak are a tight playing unit, but it´s the organic quality of their performances that are the real asset here. This is actual living people playing and you can hear it. The bass and drums lay the rhythmic foundation, while the guitars play either heavy or more atmospheric chords and notes, but it´s the violin that often defines the sound. Beautiful melancholic themes delivered with passion, on top of the more basic post rock foundation, work like a charm.

The 50 minutes long album features 5 tracks of post rock which will take you on an emotional ride through a landscabe of melancholy, heaviness, and slow building atmospheres. The repetitive slow building element of the band´s music predominantly works really well, but there are times where it´s drawn out a bit too long, like on the 15:01 minutes long closing track "Amnesia (2013)". A track which was featured in it´s original version on the Krobak/Krikston split from 2007. The remaining material are also from that early period of Krobak´s existence, and are re-arranged and re-recorded for "Little Victories".

"Little Victories" is packed in an organic sound production, that suits the music well. Upon conclusion "Little Victories" is therefore a quality release by Krobak, featuring intriguing compositions, great musical performances, and a well sounding production and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.