Mališa Bahat – Lovers. Loners. Losers. LP (Grazil Records)

This is not background noise, but an absolute, non-negotiable sonic confrontation. Mališa Bahat, the Croatian quartet, has delivered Lovers. Loners. Losers. LP last year, a full-length album that instantly establishes itself as the new standard-bearer for what real screamo music should sound like. In times when  “screamo” is often watered down or merely hybridized, these folks arrive with a terrifying precision, blending the mathcore guitar works with a deeply emotional, almost hysterical core. This album is a full-throttle sprint across ten tracks of progressive, chaotic, in-your-face intensity, yet it manages to retain that essential dosage of emotion that keeps the sound organic and heartbreaking. Mališa Bahat understands that technical chaos is the only viable vessel for genuine feeling. This is an amazing album from scratch to finish, and it demands your complete, undivided attention. The engine driving this sound is a terrifyingly efficient rhythm section that constantly threatens to fall apart, only to snap back into perfect, crushing alignment. The drums on this LP are not only keeping time, they are executing a storm of sonic chaos with an exceptional drumming performance that elevates the entire genre. The drummer is operating in an entirely different orbit, delivering technical, sometimes incredibly precise, sometimes gloriously loose percussive acrobatics, and occasionally, with those almost jazzy beats, breaks, and fills, they push the band to the very edge of rhythmic collapse. This unpredictable dynamism makes this album so alive and so dangerous. It forces the mathcore guitar works to match that volatility, resulting in complex, angular riffing that provides structure only long enough to tear it down again. This controlled aggression, a blend of hyper-specific precision married to uncontrollable chaos, is the blueprint for modern emotional hardcore. It’s the sound of a nervous breakdown translated directly into complex time signatures, proving that technical mastery is the ultimate means of expressing emotional instability.

Crucially, this foundation avoids the clean, cold feeling that often plagues technical screamo, emo, or post-hardcore. This is where the basslines step up to provide essential warmth and grounding. The bass work here is active, serving two primary roles. First, it provides the necessary groove and warmth, a steady, thick rumble that gives the music mass. Second, it adds its own dosage of heaviness and complexity, threading intricate lines that often contrast the guitar work, preventing the entire sonic landscape from becoming homogenous white noise. The bass is the anchor that allows the guitars and drums to launch into their wildest flights of chaotic fancy without flying off the rails entirely. When the album leans into those progressive breaks, the bass holds the melodic center, giving the listener something concrete to hold onto before the next wave of fury hits. It’s a subtle but vital component, making sure that the album maintains its depth and low-end punch through every breakdown and impossibly fast riff. But the emotional core, the beating heart of the Lovers. Loners. Losers. manifesto, is delivered by the vocals. The screaming is emotive, hysterical, and just as they should be, channeling the raw, unprocessed emotion and ecstasy inherent in the screamo style. The vocalist navigates the shifting, turbulent soundscape with a tremendous intensity that makes every single track feel so hysterical, powerful, and fierce. Lovers. Loners. Losers. lays bare the thematic scope. These are ten tracks dedicated to the beautiful, messy failures of human connection. The music mirrors the internal chaos of identity, relationships, and the search for belonging. When the vocals peak in their hysterical intensity, it’s a moment of absolute, fragile surrender to the feeling, proving that Mališa Bahat views screamo not as a genre, but as a necessary form of desperate communication.

Across these ten excellent tracks, Mališa Bahat has achieved a rare feat, they’ve created a flawless, contemporary artifact that honors the aggressive spirit of DIY punk while demanding the technical respect of progressive post-hardcore. They successfully demonstrate how screamo music should really sound in the modern context. It must be fast, complex, but above all, it must be brutally, hysterically honest. This is an essential LP for any music enthusiast who believes that technical ability should always be in service of unbridled emotional output. From beginning to end, Mališa Bahat provides the proof that chaos, when controlled, is the most profound form of expression. Head to Grazil Records for more information about ordering this gem on vinyl.