WISH YOU THE BEST

Location: Serbia

Year active: 2025

Members: ?

Related bands: ?

FFO: Danse Macabre, Disposing of False Halos, Eva Ras, In Loving Memory, IWroteHaikus..., The Truth About Dreaming

I came across this project through an email from someone claiming to be based in Serbia. Digging deeper didn’t reveal much - there’s virtually no background information on the Bandcamp page, no lineup, no context. In situations like this, the choice is either to ignore it entirely or take the release at face value and let the music speak for itself. I went with the latter.

The EP What We Do Is Sacred, released last August, feels very much like a solo project -bedroom production, synthetic drums, and a distinctly DIY approach throughout. That’s hardly a drawback in this scene, where plenty of one-person projects operate on raw urgency rather than polish.

Across nine tracks and just under ten minutes, the EP delivers brief but intense bursts of chaotic lo-fi emoviolence. Tight, frantic drumming drives the songs forward, guitars jerk and collapse in sharp fragments, and the vocals are raw and unfiltered. The production can feel a bit abrasive and “icky” at times, but the emotional charge carries it through and ultimately gets the job done.

This is a short, violent listen that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Recommended for hardcore screamo listeners who are always on the lookout for compact releases built on urgency, tension, and emotional overload rather than refinement.

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Na ovaj projekat sam naišao preko mejla osobe koja tvrdi da je iz Srbije. Dubljim kopanjem nisam došao do skoro ničega - na Bandcamp stranici praktično nema pozadinskih informacija, nema postave, nema konteksta. U ovakvim situacijama izbor je ili potpuno ignorisati izdanje ili ga prihvatiti takvim kakvo jeste i pustiti da muzika govori sama za sebe. Odlučio sam se za ovo drugo.

EP What We Do Is Sacred, objavljen prošlog avgusta, vrlo jasno deluje kao solo projekat - bedroom produkcija, sintetički bubnjevi i izražen DIY pristup kroz celu stvar. To ovde teško da je mana, s obzirom na to da u ovoj sceni mnogi one-man projekti funkcionišu na sirovoj urgentnosti, a ne na uglačanosti.

Kroz devet pesama i nešto manje od deset minuta, EP isporučuje kratke, ali intenzivne nalete haotičnog lo-fi emoviolence zvuka. Zategnuti, frenetični bubnjevi guraju pesme napred, gitare trzaju i raspadaju se u oštrim fragmentima, dok su vokali sirovi i nefiltrirani. Produkcija u momentima može delovati abrazivno i pomalo „lepljivo“, ali emotivni naboj sve to nosi i na kraju funkcioniše.

Ovo je kratko, nasilno slušanje koje ne ostaje duže nego što treba. Preporuka za ljubitelje hardcore screamo izdanja koji stalno traže kompaktne materijale zasnovane na hitnosti, tenziji i emotivnom preopterećenju, a ne na rafiniranosti.

TECHNICOLOR LIES

Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Year active: 2011 - 2018

Members: Srđan Janjić (vocals), Vladimir Pantić (guitar), Filip Gašić (guitar), Borko Vesković (bass), Stefan Dunjić (drums), Nikola Dimić (bass), Jovan Pavlović (drums), Mihajlo Đorović (guitar)

Related bands: Incomplete, Muerto Rico, Summer Deaths, Zicer Inc.

FFO: Taking Back Sunday, Cursive, Joyce Manor, Dreamwalk, Fall Out Boy

Technicolor Lies was an alt-rock / post-hardcore / emo-pop band from Belgrade, Serbia, formed in 2011. During their active years, they released two EPs and several standalone tracks. They shared stages with Serbian acts such as Sv. Pseta, Reflection, Young Husbands, and Incomplete, and toured the Balkans, most notably Romania and Bulgaria. After releasing a handful of singles, the band quietly disbanded. Guitarist Mihajlo Đorović later formed the project Summer Deaths and became involved with the rap collective Zicer Inc.

Their debut EP, Eclectic Youth, leans toward a more radio-friendly alternative rock and emo-pop framework, built on familiar pop-rock structures with occasional bursts of screamed vocals reminiscent of bands like Refused. Lyrically, it revolves around emotional displacement, fading youth, and post-utopian disillusionment, often framed through grand imagery - collapsed cities, dead suns, false gods - to express deeply personal feelings of isolation and exhaustion. While accessible on the surface, the EP carries a persistent sense of emptiness and unrealized promise beneath its melodic exterior.

With Wasted/Years/Broken/Words, the band noticeably hardens both its sound and tone. Screamed vocals move to the forefront, the songwriting becomes more confrontational, and the emotional focus shifts from abstract loss to accumulated damage - burnt relationships, hypocrisy, exhaustion, and self-blame. The production is more rigid and at times monotonous, which arguably mirrors the record’s themes of stagnation and burnout. While less immediate than its predecessor, the EP feels more inward-looking and abrasive, documenting the aftermath of disillusion rather than its onset.

The standalone singles (Air Max, Dementia & Daddy) released afterward sit somewhere between these two approaches, often sounding more balanced and focused, as if attempting to reconcile melody with the harsher emotional register the band had grown into.

In contrast to their relatively modest discography, Technicolor Lies were most memorable as a live band - energetic, emotionally charged, and the kind of act people would return to see multiple times. Their songs may have evolved unevenly, but their live presence consistently carried a sense of urgency that made their shows feel immediate and worth revisiting.

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Technicolor Lies je bio alt-rock / post-hardcore / emo-pop bend iz Beograda, osnovan 2011. godine. Tokom aktivnih godina objavili su dva EP-ja i nekoliko samostalnih singlova. Delili su bine sa domaćim bendovima poput Sv. Pseta, Reflection, Young Husbands i Incomplete, kao i na balkanskim turnejama, naročito u Rumuniji i Bugarskoj. Nakon objavljivanja nekoliko singlova, bend se tiho razišao. Gitarista Mihajlo Đorović kasnije je osnovao projekat Summer Deaths i uključio se u rap kolektiv Zicer Inc.

Njihov debitantski EP Eclectic Youth naginje pristupačnijem, radiofoničnom okviru alternativnog roka i emo-popa, oslanjajući se na poznate pop-rok strukture uz povremene izlive vrištavih vokala, koji podsećaju na bendove poput Refused. Tematski, tekstovi se bave emocionalnim izmeštanjem, nestajanjem mladosti i postutopijskim razočaranjem, često oblikovanim kroz grandiozne slike - srušeni gradovi, mrtva sunca, lažni bogovi - kako bi izrazili duboko lične osećaje izolacije i iscrpljenosti. Iako na površini pitom, EP ispod melodične spoljašnjosti nosi uporan osećaj praznine i neispunjenog potencijala.

Sa izdanjem Wasted/Years/Broken/Words bend primetno zaoštrava i zvuk i ton. Vrištavi vokali izlaze u prvi plan, pisanje postaje konfrontacionije, a emocionalni fokus se pomera sa apstraktnog gubitka na nagomilanu štetu - sagorele odnose, licemerje, umor i samookrivljavanje. Produkcija je rigidnija i povremeno monotona, što se može tumačiti kao odraz tema stagnacije i sagorevanja koje EP obrađuje. Iako manje neposredno od prethodnika, ovo izdanje deluje introspektivnije i abrazivnije, beležeći posledice razočaranja, a ne njegov početak.

Samostalni singlovi (Air Max, Dementia & Daddy) objavljeni nakon toga nalaze se negde između ova dva pristupa, često zvučeći izbalansiranije i fokusiranije, kao pokušaj pomirenja melodije sa grubljim emotivnim registrom u koji je bend vremenom ušao.

Uprkos relativno skromnoj diskografiji, Technicolor Lies su ostali najupamćeniji kao live bend - energični, emotivno nabijeni i onaj tip izvođača kome se publika rado vraćala. Iako se njihove pesme nisu uvek ravnomerno razvijale, nastupi uživo su dosledno nosili osećaj hitnosti koji je koncerte činio neposrednim i vrednim ponovnog gledanja.

Žudnja

Location: Novi Sad, Serbia

Year active: 2015 - 2018

Members: Marko (bass, vocals), Mladen (drums), Vuk (guitar, vocals)

Related bands: ????

FFO: Amanda Woodward, Belle Epoque, Mihai Edrische, Raein, With Engine Heart

Žudnja was a short-lived trio from Novi Sad. Somewhere in early 2015 they started performing, sharing stages with Eaglehaslanded, Muerto Rico and others. Months later they self-released their debut EP "Nervoza // Nekroza". They released a two-track EP 'Svemora' in 2018. There was no activity of the band afterwards.

Their music can be somewhat aligned with the European post-rock/screamo, especially French screamo. Their tracks are slightly lengthy (clocking around 4 minutes), progressive and flowing with emotion. The production of 'Nekroza//Nervoza' is lo-fi, raw and demo-like in design, while 'Svemora' is a lot more fresh and tighter.

Žudnja’s two EPs, Nervoza // Nekroza and Svemora, read like fragments of the same unease. Rather than direct statements, the band relies on metaphor and repetition to describe life under constant pressure... authority that feels arbitrary, work that leads nowhere, fear that slowly becomes routine. The lyrics circle around exhaustion, confusion, and the feeling of being shaped by forces that remain unnamed but ever-present.

While Nervoza // Nekroza leans toward inner collapse and psychological tension, Svemora shifts into stagnation and cyclical existence, movement without progress, history repeating itself without resolution. Taken together, these releases document a quiet but persistent anxiety, where understanding comes slowly, if at all, and silence sometimes feels like the only remaining form of control.

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Žudnja je bio kratkotrajan trio iz Novog Sada. Početkom 2015. godine započinju sa nastupima, deleći bine sa bendovima poput Eaglehaslanded, Muerto Rico i drugima. Nekoliko meseci kasnije samostalno objavljuju debitantski EP Nervoza // Nekroza. Godine 2018. izlazi još jedan EP sa dve pesme, Svemora. Nakon toga, bend više nije bio aktivan.

Njihova muzika može se svrstati u okvir evropskog post-hardcore/screamo zvuka, sa izraženim uticajem francuskog screama. Pesme su nešto duže (u proseku oko četiri minuta), progresivne i emotivno protočne. Produkcija Nervoza // Nekroza je lo-fi, sirova i demo-orijentisana, dok Svemora zvuči znatno svežije i zategnutije.

Dva EP-ja benda Žudnja, Nervoza // Nekroza i Svemora, deluju kao fragmenti iste nelagode. Umesto direktnih poruka, bend se oslanja na metaforu i ponavljanje kako bi opisao život pod konstantnim pritiskom... autoritet koji deluje proizvoljno, rad koji ne vodi nikuda, strah koji vremenom postaje rutina. Tekstovi kruže oko iscrpljenosti, konfuzije i osećaja da čoveka oblikuju sile koje ostaju neimenovane, ali stalno prisutne.

Dok se Nervoza // Nekroza više naginje unutrašnjem raspadu i psihološkoj tenziji, Svemora se pomera ka stagnaciji i cikličnom postojanju, kretanju bez napretka, istoriji koja se ponavlja bez razrešenja. Posmatrani zajedno, ovi radovi dokumentuju tihu, ali upornu anksioznost, u kojoj razumevanje dolazi sporo, ako uopšte dolazi, a tišina ponekad deluje kao jedini preostali oblik kontrole.