• Atmospheric Metal
• Doom Metal
• Montenegro
• Placid Art
• Rock

Published on 15/03/2022 11:00 am

Today, there will be guitars galore. Courtesy of Placid Art, an atmospheric doom metal band from Montenegrin capital Podgorica. Now, doom metal is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Montenegro. And yet, here we are.

Placid Art suffer this world since 2010. And in case you didn’t yet get it, the name of the band is an ironic metaphor. They are anything but placid. Whether they are artful, is, of course in the ear of the beholder. But if you are into death/doom/atmospheric metal, then they are definitely worth your consideration

To date, Placid Art have released one album. Rainbow Destruction Process was released by Detroit-based TPG Records in 2012. The album expresses the band’s beliefs, thoughts and struggles. Apparently the lyrics and the, well, musical aggression represent the Placid Art’s criticism  of the direction in which the world we live in is going. Or so they say.

Placid Art began as a two-member set up. Nikola Radović and Sonja Miličević authored the band’s sole album. But the combination of guitars, classical instruments, synth and vocals was, well, screaming for extending the lineup. Today, Placid Art is a five-member band. Sonja and Nikola were joined by Nikola Kraljević on bass guitar, Marko Kraljević on drums and Nataša Miličević on keyboards.

If you thought band member’s surnames sound very similar, you’re not really wrong. It could be some of them are related. But then again, Montenegro is a small country, both in size and in terms of population. So it could be all just a coincidence. Point here being, that doom metal doesn’t really have a large following in Montenegro. And yet, Placid Art did manage to catch the eye (or ear, as it were) of international connoisseurs.

To be fair, Placid Art have not been all that active in the last couple of years. One would presume that life gets at you fast. Still, Montenegrin doom metal bands are about as rare as rainbow farting unicorns. Which what makes Placid Art a worthy addition to the Balkan Express collection

That’s all the time we have for today. Check out Placid Art on Youtube, Bandcamp, and wherever you get your music from. Balkan Express will be back next week.

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Balkan Express takes weekly trips into contemporary musical production of, you guessed it, the Balkans. Forget gusle and tamburice, this show is about rock, pop and a sense of humour. Well, at least there’s guitars. On air most Tuesdays in a new-and-improved time-slot at 1100 hrs. Usually. Your train conductor is Aljaž (aka @pengovsky) who once did the world a solid and decided never to sing again in public. Which is why he ended up doing radio.