Hitman - Stories We Tell (Music Studio Mašina 23) Review by Miloš Šebalj Believe it or not, I was a kid once too. I know, I have a hard �me believing it too. But I was. And I knew next to nothing about music. It was right around the �me that I got to discover the myth and magic of distorted electric guitar. I could barely name five bands on a global level. For me, Metallica was a band with four albums. The four that I could find in my local music shop. At that �me they already had seven. I didn’t get Iron Maiden at all. Their “Virtual XI” created a mystery in my mind. Why were they so popular with albums like that? Anything they recorded prior to it was non-existent for me. Guns ‘n’ Roses were demigods. Pantera was the epitome of extreme metal and definitely too loud and aggressive for my taste. Li�le did I know… By the way, all the releases I could get my hands on were bootleg tapes sold in selected music shops and on the public market. Obviously, I needed a tutor. Now, for the next part of the story, you need to know it was the very end of the previous century. Also, I was in the elementary school. In my class there was only a couple of metalheads. And there was this one kid who was into hardcore punk. Their tastes intersected a bit, but the new guy was an en�cing prize for the members of both teams. Thus began something which could be described as a fight between angels and demons for a fresh soul. Mine, of course. Hold on, let me flip the record… Dropping of countless names I could hardly remember, mix tapes, posters, rare music magazines… To make ma�ers even more complicated, my English teacher stepped into the game. I was literally bombarded from all sides. Young and naïve as I was, and immensely curious, I took the middle stream, looking at all sides at the same �me. All the �me. But the hardcore kid had an ace up his sleeve. He took me to a punk dedicated store called “Chandoo”. Aside of the two 7 Seconds CDs (also bootlegged), recommended by the guy at the store, my friend men�oned a local band. It was probably the first �me I even thought about somebody in my country making music I was just ge�ng into. The band’s name was Hitman and they had just released their first full album on tape. As my allowance was spent, I got back to the store later that month to pick up the tape. Recommenda�on was a big thing before internet came into play. Not something one could so easily ignore.
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