Are you bored with your current playlist? Perhaps you are looking for something a bit different than the bands you typically listen to? Then look no further my music-loving friends. Let me introduce you to the Transylvanian folkcore of Dirty Shirt. What started out as a wedding band has morphed into a magical, musical amalgam that blends modern hardcore and nu-metal with traditional acoustic instruments and Eastern European musical influences giving us an entirely new breed of metal with known as Romanian crossover folkcore metal.
Dirty Shirt is very much a do-it-yourself band handling most of the duties themselves including everything from audio and video production to sound engineering, merchandise and management. They’ve even been known to do some van repairs when needed. Despite their humble roots, Dirty Shirt has become a true force to be reckoned with in the metal world sharing the stage with huge bands like Godsmack and Megadeth and playing gigantic festivals like Wacken Open Air and Rockstadt Extreme Fest.
Their latest EP, ‘Get Your Dose Now!’, is a stunning work that exemplifies the best of everything that Dirty Shirt has to offer. Our adventure begins with the dark and mysterious instrumental track ‘New Boy In Town’ before heading straight into the crazy ride of ‘Pretty Faces.’ This is a colossal track featuring Benji Webb of Skindred on vocals with a mix of nu-metal and Gipsy violin along with a cimbalom, the Hungarian version of a Hammered dulcimer. Just try and find another band out there that gives you all that!
Next is a real metal track ‘Dope-A-Min,’ a real banger that will please any metal fan. Nu-metal rap style lyrics are melded with traditional Balkan instruments for the rousing romp that is ‘What’s Going On.’ Things get even crazier with ‘Hot for Summer’ as Dirty Shirt starts off with what seems like an old-school 80s pop anthem before morphing into a Balkan style mid-section and finishing off with some heavy as hell metalcore. The most aggressive song on the EP has to be ‘New Conspiracy’ with its pulsating rhythms and out of control woodwinds and whistles that lyrically speaks about mass media control and how both the mass media and social media control and modify the truth.
The band decided to split the next track, ‘Cand s-o-mpartit norocu’ into Part 1 and Part 2 which makes total sense after listening to both. Part 1 is epic and majestic while Part 2 is quite turbulent with vocals that have a hostile edge to them and layers of instrumentation. The final track ‘Geamparalele’ was inspired by a traditional dance from Dobrojea and starts off with the funky groove of a brass section before diving into some of the heaviest guitars on the record, including an out of this world solo, before reversing course back to the funky grooves.
Whoa! ‘Get Your Dose Now!’ is definitely not your average metal album. It’s simply something that you won’t hear anywhere else. Dirty Shirt is the real deal with extraordinarily talented musicians and a uniqueness that sets them apart from the crowd. If you’re in the market for some new music, this band offers something for everyone, from hardcore metal and thrash to tribal and traditional. It’s like your grandmother’s goulash recipe, a little of this and a little of that, with the end result being magical and inimitable.
- ‘Get Your Dose Now!’ is released on Friday (1 April). You can get your copy HERE.
www.facebook.com/DirtyShirtRomania
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.