Kpax! – Bolesno dru
Brutally honest and unapologetic, Kpax!'s second album brilliantly blends visceral post-punk with personal and social themes.
In 2024, we covered Serbian bands like Neven and Peripetija.
Now it’s time to show some love for Kpax!
It’s been over a month since I attended AKAB Okretnica’s farewell party—a painful goodbye to a beloved squat forced to close under the relentless pressure of capitalist authorities and landlords. The event was a stark reminder of how capitalism devours what communities hold dear. Despite its closure, the spirit of AKAB Okretnica will endure in the hearts of those who shared its walls, especially through the bands it fostered, like Kpax!
Straight out of the Belgrade hardcore scene, Kpax! is a four-piece band with a post-punk leaning in their sound. The band formed in 2019 and consists of folks from the beloved AKAB Okretnica squat. They dropped their demo EP shortly after their formation, and self-titled debut in 2022, which was released by Doomtown Records. Last summer, the band delivered their latest album, Bolesno društvo (which means “Sick Society” in Serbian), with gorgeous apocalyptic artwork by Caro Yagjian and Scott Flavin. They supported the album with a tour and a self-released cassette.
The album opens with brooding post-punk, intensified by its dark and introspective lyrics. The opener, “Dekadencija” (Decadence), explores a descent into self-destruction—a surrender to moral decay and existential exhaustion. “Vrlet” (Wilderness) feels like a call to escape social constraints and emotional suffocation. The titular track takes a sharp, sarcastic jab at societal norms, challenging hypocritical double standards while acknowledging complicity in them.
“Jeza” (Chills) uses the biting wind and the sharpness of winter as metaphors for enduring pain, emphasizing the inevitability of suffering. “Gubestra” (Vanishing) is stark and minimalist, repeating a single line to underscore the loss of identity—or perhaps, death. With more aggression, “Izolacija” (Isolation) grapples with the anger and despair of ostracization, lamenting how “this isolation leads to frustration.” “Glas” (Voice) mourns the loss of identity and connection, reducing individuals to numbers or statistics.
“Beskraj” (Infinity) is another existentialist track that reflects on a purposeless, aimless journey, daring listeners to “find them in the void if they dare.” And “Visoko prizemlje” (Ground Floor Heights) serves as a wake-up call, urging self-confrontation and a search for inner peace. The album concludes with “Pegla” (Iron), symbolizing the aftermath of overwhelming events. Here, the title alludes to “throwing up” (bacati peglu), used metaphorically as a purging of something overpowering. It’s a brutally honest reflection on confronting one’s limits and failures without any pretense of glamour or redemption.
I like how deep and personal all of these lyrics are, because they manage to hit a raw nerve with me. “Beskraj” and “Izolacija” stood out most to me, tied closely to my own life experiences. The existential aimlessness of “Beskraj” feels like a haunting mirror of those moments where I’ve grappled with the void, while “Izolacija” seizes the suffocating frustration of alienation in a way that feels achingly familiar.
Kpax!’s Bolesno društvo is brilliant in merging that timeless post-punk sound with deeply personal and societal themes. It’s brutally honest, unapologetic, and void of pretense—an album that captures both the darkness of the world and the resilience to navigate it. I cannot recommend this album enough to anybody into good punk/post-punk.
