Album Review: Low Value – “The Language of Stolen Music”

**The Album Reviews published on Dying Scene are written and submitted by regular users of the site. These users are not professional music critics nor are they paid for what they write.  If you disagree with an album’s rating, feel free to voice your opinion and give it your own rating in the comments. If you’d like to submit your own review do it here.

The first time I had a chance to listen to Low Value I was amazed by the band’s song structure, including Matej’s vocals. These guys were my first taste of the ever so dominant European technical punk rock scene.  The Slovenian punk scene is not the biggest by any means but in the last couple years it has seen a lot of killer releases from bands such as Golliwog, Leaf-Fat, In-Sane, and of course Low Value’s “The Language Of Stolen Music”.

The production of this album has a raw feel so don’t expect that polished Fat Wreck sound. To be honest, I really have come to appreciate the D.I.Y. feel instead. Intros, intros, intros…these guys seem to come up with the best! That’s one of the first elements I found very gratifying. “Feces” or “Digging” are great examples. It’s pure progressiveness at its best so you just have to enjoy the ride. Matej, as indicated before, has a clean/ straight up punk rock voice. You won’t see any screamo or shouting from his part. Obviously there is that European accent but you still get that Californian skate punk feel with Swedish tendencies. (Speaking of Sweden, the music can be compared to the Swedish scene of the 90’s with L.V.’s all around influences. I like to think of Bowser especially and Venerea.) Lyrically, Matej talks about personal life issues and one thing is for sure, Low Value are not a political band. As you’ll see with some songs, some topics can get personal (“Found My Way”).

All the songs of this release bring out something special so I’ll take a look at a couple. First, the single of the album, properly entitled “Low Value” is a really upbeat song all through, much different then the others of the album. Live it must be amazing! You can see a video of this song on the band’s myspace so make sure to check that out. “Take Control”, again bringing a kick ass intro, has pure speed and tempo changes with many little guitar tricks. The production adds more elements on the guitars as well, and all throughout the album you hear these wicked guitar elements. “Found My Way” not only brings speed but also has a reggae element further in the song. Splendid! Low Value’s release even comes with a Slovenian sung track (Tragicno Mrtvi ) which brings a more personal aspect to home. In the end this band/release holds a special place for me. I’d like to give Low Value a big thumbs up for this release.