Expectations – After Twenty Years
Check out one of Bulgaria's finest hardcore bands and what we have to say about their last record, "After Twenty Years"
Artist: Expectations Title: After Twenty Years
Release: LP / Digital
Year: 2014
Label: Self-Released
Expectations is a hardcore band from Bulgaria that released their first EP in 2012. Since then they’ve toured extensively in Europe and played a lot of local shows. They even played at Bane’s last show in Bulgaria! So of course we have to keep an eye—and both ears—on them. Their latest album, After Twenty Years (produced by Marius Costache at Next Dog Studio), was released in 2014.
The record starts with a nice prelude, an intro for what is to come, for what we are going to experience. Yes, Expectations creates expectations. The sound is clear, very melodic, similar to the modern hardcore sound of the early 2000s. Strong and constant beating from the drums, alongside a fast bass and overdriven guitars. You can hear anger and the urgent need to say something, but you can also hear emotion in tracks like “Draw The Line”. The riffs are mostly quite melodic, creating a contemplative mood, but not without great energy and fast beats.
The voice tends to be the protagonist, but in “Snowblack”, the sixth track, a blues-like guitar shines through almost half of the song. Speaking of the voice, it’s not always screams and anger, there’s singing and a mix of both, changing depending on the mood the band is trying to set and the lyrics the singer, Georgi Dimitrov, is singing. Because, you know, what tends to stand out the most in hardcore is the lyrics. Struggle, passion, conviction; the modern man and society. Personal things, but things that everybody can relate to. Things that relate to the things we do in our daily lives. To our actions. As they say, the personal is political, so never dismiss this kind of lyrics. Talking about emotions, this is punk as fuck. But emotion is not only in the words, it’s also in the instrumentation and that’s what the last track “I Will Always Believe in You” shows us.
A lot of music is mixed media. It can have an aesthetic or it can be based on lyrics. Certainly what I like more about this record is not the instrumentation, but the way the voice is projected through the songs and how direct, natural, personal and sincere the lyrics feel.
