PALE

Location: Split, Croatia

Year active: 2000 - 2002/2014 - 2015

Members: Karmelo Marin (bass, backing vocals), Luka Krstulović (guitar), Mišo Popović (drums), Petar Jurić (vocals)

Related bands: Anita, BIZON, Breed, Crvi, Dispro, Essence, Giht Shasie, Kadet, Kastritis, Leut Magnetik, No Comment, Tihi Sadist, TO, Wizard of Stone Mountain

FFO: Kwisatz Haderach, early Converge, Lady in the Radiator, Essence, A New Kind of American Saint, Inkwell

Pale was among the earliest obscure screamo acts to emerge from Split’s local hardcore scene in the early 2000s. Active initially between 2000 and 2002, the band recorded several untitled session tracks and a full-length simply titled LoFi 2001. Their material also surfaced on the 2003 split between Anita and Breed (released by CarpeDiem Records), where Pale’s recordings appeared as bonus tracks packaged as a CD inside a DVD case - originally tied to plans for a split that never fully materialized.

After more than a decade of silence, Pale regrouped in 2014 and released the EP Rejoice The Event Of Witnessing Your Illusions Meltdown, issued through Guranje S Litice, before once again fading out the following year.

Musically, Pale blended screamo with post-hardcore and early metalcore, drawing comparisons to the raw chaos of Converge’s debut Halo for a Haystack and, at moments, the emotional edge of Inkwell. The early recordings are distinctly lo-fi - muddy, cassette-like, and rough around the edges, but that very texture reinforces their DIY authenticity. By contrast, Rejoice… presents a tighter, more forceful sound, revealing a band that had matured without losing its intensity.

In retrospect, Pale remains one of the more overlooked and elusive screamo acts to surface from the early 2000s ex-Yugoslav underground - brief, scattered, but historically significant within Split’s hardcore lineage.

----------------

Pale je bio jedan od najranijih opskurnih screamo bendova koji su se pojavili iz splitske hardcore scene početkom 2000-ih. Prvobitno aktivni između 2000. i 2002. godine, snimili su nekoliko neimenovanih session pesama i dugosvirajući materijal pod jednostavnim nazivom LoFi 2001. Njihove pesme su se kasnije pojavile i na split izdanju bendova Anita i Breed iz 2003. godine (u izdanju CarpeDiem Records), gde su Pale snimci uključeni kao bonus trake na CD-u upakovanom unutar DVD omota - prvobitno vezano za planirani split koji nikada nije u potpunosti realizovan.

Nakon više od decenije tišine, Pale su se ponovo okupili 2014. godine i objavili EP Rejoice The Event Of Witnessing Your Illusions Meltdown za Guranje S Litice, da bi se već naredne godine ponovo povukli.

Muzički, Pale su spajali screamo sa post-hardcoreom i ranim metalcore elementima, često poređeni sa sirovim haosom debitantskog albuma Halo for a Haystack benda Converge, a povremeno i sa emotivnijim izrazom Inkwell-a. Rani snimci su izrazito lo-fi - mutni, kasetnog karaktera i grubi - ali upravo ta tekstura pojačava njihovu DIY autentičnost. Nasuprot tome, Rejoice… donosi zategnutiji i snažniji zvuk, otkrivajući bend koji je sazreo bez gubitka intenziteta.

Posmatrano unazad, Pale ostaje jedan od zapostavljenijih i teže dostupnih screamo bendova koji su se pojavili na ex-YU underground sceni ranih 2000-ih - kratkog daha i fragmentarne diskografije, ali relevantan u kontekstu splitske hardcore linije.

SUPLEXX

Location: Belgrade, Serbia

Year active: 2024 - Current

Members: Nemanja Ciric, Pavle Trifunovic, Dimitrije Djuric, Marko Rakic

Related bands: Eaglehaslanded, New Church, New Way Kids, Radost-Stradanje, Sv. Pseta

FFO: Mohinder, Embrace, Unwound, Glassjaw, The Jonbenet, Antioch Arrow, Unsane

Early October, a friend of mine - Nugazing - sent me a IG teaser for their Changeover's 2024 Festival, the one which i was invited to perform at the time. While i wanted to attend to their gig, i was unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Then during mid-late October, i finally got the chance to see them as one of the openers for the stoner rock band Constellation in SKC, and let me tell you: their performance is one i would consider the wildest i've ever seen and that is enough to compel me into writing about them. What surprises me more is that Nemanja (of Sv. Pseta and Eaglehaslanded) is the vocalist of the band, further his pivotal role in the Belgrade punk scene.

Suplexx (named after an offensive move used in wrestling sports) is a newly formed 4-piece post-hardcore/emo band hailing from Belgrade, Serbia, straight out of 2024. When describing their music, they claim themselves to be 'inappropriate violent act' due to their wild, often unpredictable nature of their stage presence and their - at times - experimental songwritings. To this day, they've released two EP's: 'SWEET CHIN MUSIC' and 'RUDE AWAKENING'.

Starting with their debut EP 'SWEET CHIN MUSIC', Suplexx kicks off with their two old-school sounding emo/post-hardcore tracks, spiced up with math rock and borders on metalcore a bit. Dissonant, punky riffs, groovy bass line, desperate yelps all held together with steady, balanced drums. These two tracks help sandwich 'intermezzore', an experimental electro-acoustic track clocking around 6 minutes.

Following next with the latest one, 'RUDE AWAKENING' follows the similar formula, except the intermezzo 'Pillow666talk' is kept hidden from streaming, which adds a layer of mystery in their discography. While the punk tracks maintain the raw energy of their debut, the EP feels like an extension rather than a departure, possibly a deliberate strategy to build anticipation through smaller, punchier releases.

Their songwriting is dark, reflective and poetic, but also encourages its listeners to explore deep into their vulnerabilities. They tackle the themes of introspection, identity and struggles between isolation and connection, as well as existential questioning, blending emotional vulnerability with an underlying sense of resistance and defiance. It's honest and goes straight at you. Tracks like MILLION DOLLAR DREAM and RAZOR'S EDGE feel less like passive listening experiences and more like a call to delve deep into one’s psyche.

In 2026, Suplexx hit the road in support of their debut LP FUCK LIFE, a short, under-20-minute burst of metallic post-hardcore. The record runs through nine tracks, broken up by three noisy industrial interludes from Monosiped, and rarely slows down. There’s a clear lineage here, something in the vein of Unsane or Antioch Arrow, but it leans more into chaos than weight. What really carries it is the vocal delivery, which stays locked into this constant state of self-hatred and internal tension, barely letting up until a brief, almost out-of-nowhere thrash-style flourish at the very end.