Katalena - Človek ni zver

Založba Pivec, 2018

Katalena - Človek ni zver

On their seventh album entitled Človek ni zver (Man is Not a Beast) Katalena enters the monstrous theater of death; a battlefield where rifles, bombs and tanks crush bodies and souls. Man is Not a Beast was released three years after their Enci benci Katalenci, an album of children songs. The antipode could not be more apparent, but great bands are capable of great transformations. Katalena once again proved that it is such a band.
Stories of war, separation, collective or personal tragedies, conflicts, complex situations and characters are not only dealt with admirable courage and consideration, but also with a generous measure of sensual existentialism and moral sensitivity. There is not “us vs. them” in Katalena’s war-related contemplation, no blame or ideological contamination. The engaging narrative is equally humanist as it is intimately visceral.
The band has never sounded so convincing, mature, uncompromising, subtle and heartbreaking.