Frustration - Relax (2008)

   Even though there were tryings to bring back many already nearly forgotten music genres into popularity, still some ideas might sound surprising in the modern scene. Some tryings working out so well, that they're resulting a renaissanse for the exact style, while others are staying as genuine experiments, like Frustration was.
   The band brought back the long time gone post punk/alternative rock feeling of the early '80s, and they did that with such ease that probably nobody could tell the age difference. With very basic, but catchy themes they've recalled the mix of melancholy and intensity with the touch of suspected inner struggles partly based on self-destruction. That might be a quite complex thing to describe, but post punk expressed that with the toolbar of simplicity, a way like no other style was able to repeat. Their simple themes, lyrics, self-expression grabbing the listener to the core and planting there bittersweet feelings. This was the most advantageus feature of the style, and nothing similar effective enough was heard for a long time until Frustration showed up. Some songs are like arsing around, some are depressing, some are gentle and introverted, others are sounding pretty joyful, but even in that case the lyrics are not in balance with the music, so it's almost ending up sarcastic. All sounds all-round nostalgic and in high quality, so the question may stand why that didn't lead to a wider post-punk resurrection? The anwser is simple: the main scene was going into a completely different direction that lacked deep impression, and not many of the old audience of the style kept their interests active enough to keep paying attention and to become the supporting part of a new small movement. However "Relax" is an excellent album that filled an empty space that was left behind since the late '80s.