Latest Reviews

"“AkordeON” is an extremely ambitious album that puts accordion playing in a special corner of the musical universe, a far cry from the one we usually get in everyday encounters with the instrument, which in Slovenia has always come with a…

" An outstanding album that, alongside Feedback from Tolmin, delivers a badly needed progressive rock link on the Slovenian scene between the new generation and the look and spirit of the seventies bands (Izvir, Predmestje, September,…

"'Concrete Gardens' is the album true Tony MacAlpine fans can only wish for. It's a fresh wet dream for everyone who loves boundless guitar slicing and top-shelf virtuosity, dosed with a hefty helping of musicality that binds the album's…

Label: PivecRelease year: 2015Production: Blaž Celarec & Marko TurelAlbum length: 35.24 minGenre: Folk / Rock Time flies! Four years have gone by since the album Noč čarovnic came out.. It feels like it was yesterday. And now…

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 26.04.2015Album length: 54.01 minProduction: Piet SielckGenre: Heavy Metal / Power Metal The Lord works in mysterious ways, doesn't he? You produce your own studio album, and a few years later you…

"An exceptionally beautiful and, for a debut, remarkably mature piece of songwriting: full-blooded indie rock that promises great things for the future."

"A masterpiece and surely a contender for one of the best rock albums to come out (and still to come out) on the Slovenian music scene in 2015!"

"Steven Wilson remains the guiding light of modern progressive rock even after the excellent »Hand. Cannot. Erase«, where, while blending a whole range of musical influences, he uses a moving concept to deliver some very welcome and…

"Just like with the album »Stratosfera«, the new album »Romeo, Julija in tatovi sonca« is another document in Jernej Zoran's discography that doesn't have a single track you could call filler to pad out the running time"

"So that's what it looks like? Slovenian "morbidity" in 2015! And Natriletno kolobarjenje s praho is its supremely authentic imprint. A gutsy experiment that is provocative throughout, hits straight and head-on, and is unbridled in its…

"The album 'Severnica – Zgodbe o odhajanju' is an exceptionally polished piece of work artistically, and one of the best albums on the Slovenian scene in 2014. "

"Čedahuči carry that timely pulse of baking folk melos with rock, and in the glow of its picturesque stringing together of natural sonic pastels, it could at any moment be a darling of radio frequencies. The EP »Čedahuči« is a work of…

"A four-piece outfit with, as of today (and I hope I'm counting right), two studio albums under their belt played a show on March 22, 2014, at Rimska ulica 2 in Ljubljana, in the Salon za Eno glasbo. At the end of this November, that show…

The album “džeZZva” is a one-of-a-kind, endlessly fascinating piece of work where everything clicks in a beautiful symbiotic relationship of big musical tolerance, fueled by the layered (you could even say complex) musical sensibility,…

"“Tellurian” is basically a jazzed-up, metalized upgrade of the artistry on the band's debut. Soen build on their recognizable stylistic sound, which can be traced back to the final era of Lopez's time in Opeth. "

"The songs Keeping Me Alive, She, One of a King and These Eyes are the real workhorses that keep Tygers of Pan Tang tightly bound to the first half of the eighties, which makes this album well worth your time."

"Into The Electric Castle" was the defining work of the one and only Arjen Anthony Lucassen, setting brand-new standards for the modern rock/metal opera and helping revive interest in a concept-album genre that was all but buried.

Label: Elektra RecordsRelease date: 23.09.1997Producer: Kevin ShirleyAlbum length: 78.12 minGenre: Progressive Metal "Falling into Infinity" was a troubled fourth album that nearly tore apart one of the key and most exciting rock…

"Unvarnished, sincere and heartfelt. A rich, deeply moving and confessional “gift” of art in the truest sense of the word, one that wears a metaphorical mask of mocking jabs, while underneath it hides a message so powerful it will shake you…

Label: Parlophone Records Release date: 16.09.1988 Production: Tim Friese-Greene Album length: 41.30 min Genre: Post Rock / Art Rock "Spirit of Eden" was one of the best albums of the 1980s. It unwittingly laid the groundwork for a new…

"Let's just hope that creative spark doesn't die out, and that the band puts out the next album within three years of "Resist Or Serve.""

"Mr. Hackett has no intention whatsoever of stopping spoiling his followers. "Live At The Royal Albert Hall" is already the second superb official live album from the 'Genesis Revisited' tour."

"“Heavy Rain” is a definite oddball in the Slovenian alternative rock underground."

"Chasing analog rawness, a beautiful, stripped-down and honest hard rock effort that is anything but what the title promises."

"Kill the Engine" is a new masterpiece of unconventional art-rock freshness, embodied by the fiercely penetrating charisma of this generous Slovenian artist's musical vision. With his new album, Grega Habič stays true to his one-of-a-kind…

"'Dub Naturalis' is an album you'll be digging into for a long time. In its cerebral hypnosis it grabs you instantly, but in the composing, its complexity demands a lot more listening."

Label: CelinkaRelease date: 2014Production: Janez DovčGenre: Folk/World Music/Pop/Art Rock/Jazz FusionRating: 9.0/10 Yep. Slovenes can be team players too. Janez Dovč, the lead protagonist and visionary behind the "Sounds Of…

“Ni dovolj!” is an album of tight, concise exposition. The band has clearly poured most of its creative energy into conquering the Slovenian musical “mainstream.” In terms of songwriting insight, “Ni dovolj!” no longer thrills as catchily…

"'Zajeban dan' is an album that the mass of die-hard rockers will take to in no time, and so will every fan of this band, who after 14 years of relentless thirst can finally, at long last, drink deep from the musical well of this record's…

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 02/19/2014Production: Piet SielckAlbum length: 55.06 minGenre: Heavy Metal / Power Metal What should you expect from the eighth studio album from German power metallers Iron Savior, led since 1996 by…

"If you're into the progressive rock that flourished across the former shared republic in the seventies, or the pioneering British hard rock outfits like Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep and Procol Harum, then what the album "Nebo od skaja"…

Label: EMI Records Release year: 1986 Production: Tim Friese-Greene Album length: 45.40 min Genre: Art Pop / Post Rock By the time the cult British new wave/art rock outfit Talk Talk were recording their third album, »The Colour of…

Label: EMI Records Year of release: 1984 Production: Tim Friese-Greene Album length: 43.16 min Genre: Synth Pop / New Wave British new wave greats Talk Talk released their second album, "It's My Life", right after original keyboardist…

"The point of fusing accordion, tuba and percussion into one unconventional, out-of-the-ordinary musical body hits its mark with sheer audacity. It serves up a completely autonomous musical experience that's hard to pin down with any real…

Label: EMI Records Year of release: 1982 Production: Colin Thurston Album length: 36.47 min Genre: New Wave / Synth Pop "The Party's Over" was the debut from the cult British outfit Talk Talk, a band whose character and body of work…

"The quality of the recording differs from the first release by the Ajdovščina band mainly in its dynamics and in the development of their own sound. The consistency of the sound across the record (roomy, present drums, a fat bass guitar,…

Label: Roadrunner RecordsRelease date: 09/23/2013Produced by: John PetrucciAlbum length: 69:05 minGenre: Progressive Metal Dream Theater, the prog titans whose shockingly original sound at the turn of the '80s into the '90s threw…

Label: Self-released Release year: 2013 Production: Peter Ošlaj & Ethnotrip Album length: 46.32 Ethnotrip is a quartet that plays folk standards. They only formed in 2009 and they're young going by the birth years on their ID cards,…

Label: Century Media RecordsRelease date: 24.06.2013Production: James "Jimbo" Barton Album length: 35.15 minGenre: Art Metal Queensrÿche without Geoff Tate. Queensrÿche with Geoff Tate. I just mentioned two bands. Two Queensrÿche…

"On '13', Black Sabbath sound like they just crawled out of the grave, invented a time machine and rode it back to the seventies, when their final resting place had only just been dug."

Label: Epic RecordsRelease date: 07.05.2013Production: Mike Fraser & Joe SatrianiAlbum length: 45.03 minGenre: Instrumental Rock / Art RockRating: 9.0 / 10 In the new millennium, Joe Satriani has found remarkable consistency in his…

"On the impressively solid 'God Is Dead?', Black Sabbath sound like they just climbed out of the tomb, invented a time machine and zipped back to the seventies, when their final resting place was still freshly dug."

Label: CelinkaRelease year: 2013Production: Blaž Celarec & Tibor Mihelič SyedAlbum length: 55.51 minGenre: Alternative Rock / Fusion / Experimental / Folk Members of Katalena, Kombo Zlatka Kaučiča, Trus!, Miusow Quartet,…

Label: K-Scope Records Year of release: 2013 Production: Steven Wilson and Alan Parsons Album length: 53.03 Genre: Progressive Rock / Art Rock Steven Wilson, the ultimate workaholic of the progressive rock scene and, when he's not busy…

"With this album Riverside have once again outdone their predecessor, reached a new point in their artistic evolution, masterfully risen to the challenge of a fresh artistic temptation, and come out of it as artists who, together with a…

"»Drenov Grič« hasn't just held onto the musical identity Nula Kelvina laid out on their debut, it digs deeper into that story and stretches it wider."

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 14. 12. 2012Production: V. SanturaAlbum length: 54.58 minGenre: Thrash MetalRating: 9.0/10 Charly Steinhauer is without a doubt one of the most tenacious figures on the German metal scene. In 1986…

Label: CelinkaRelease year: 2012Production: Aldo IvančičAlbum length: 38.32 minGenre: tango A little late to the party, but here we go anyway. This record deserves your full attention, no question. It's a head-on collision of tango…

Label: ZKP RTV SlovenijaRelease year: 2008Production: AvtomobiliAlbum length: 68.35 minGenre: Art Rock / Pop Studio 14 rarely lets a Slovenian act slip by, as long as they've brushed up against the airwaves even a little in their…

Label: CelinkaRelease date: April 11, 2012Producer: Igor MatkovićGenre: JazzRating: 9.0/10 A familiar face at the Ljubljana music conservatory, a trumpet professor, composer, arranger, pianist and above all trumpeter, Igor…

"True desperados, Stara šula deliver a debut album that belongs on the front doors of biker-culture shrines and nightspots! "

"The album grabs you by the ears right away and, in its highly durable erectile stance, doesn't let up until the end. "

"This band is unbelievable! It started out as a parody, taking folk songs mostly from the Tolmin area and turning them upside down in a cheeky way, true to the authentic Tolmin folk tradition."

"You can feel that this lineup can reach even higher and even further in artistry."

"»Mesta železniških postaj« ranks among the finest creations of the band's long-running career, and among the finest moments in the history of Slovenian rock."

"»Perfect Strangers« was a triumphant return for hard rock legends everyone had already written off. They found their feet brilliantly in the radically changed technological and production landscape of the eighties and delivered one of the…

"The often-overlooked classic »Come Taste the Band« is a worthy farewell to Deep Purple's seventies and an immensely valuable testament to Bolin's unique guitar talent, one that makes you forget Blackmore's absence altogether."

Label: EMI RecordsRelease date: November 16, 1974Production: Deep Purple & Martin BirchAlbum length: 36.31 minGenre: Hard Rock / Heavy RockRating: 10/10 "Stormbringer" was the ninth studio effort from British heavy rock legends…

"»Burn« was the magnum opus of the newborn Mark III lineup, which blazed with incredible fire from its very first post-birth pangs, hell-bent on showing the world a revitalized face of the legendary English heavy rock champions. For the…

" "Who Do We Think We Are" is by far the least inspired album from the Mark II lineup of Deep Purple, a band that fell apart in a gloomy atmosphere, a by-product of management-forced studio slogging and constant Blackmore-Gillan feuding,…

"'Machine Head' is the golden crown atop Deep Purple's finest studio efforts and the peak of the Mark II lineup, which created the band's most beloved classics to this day."

"The experimental masterpiece »Fireball« is in many ways an even more interesting studio record than its famous predecessor, and it would've overshadowed it in every respect if it didn't have just one single flaw, going by the name…

"Deep Purple in Rock" is a timeless heavy rock masterpiece and, without a doubt, the most important studio achievement in the whole Deep Purple story. It's also one of the most important rock albums of all time. With it, Mark II began their…

"Concerto for Group and Orchestra" was an incredibly ambitious project for its time, the late sixties, and it deserves a special place in rock history, because it brought two completely different musical worlds together with real…

"“Deep Purple” was, without a shadow of a doubt, the best record of the Mark I Deep Purple lineup. The legendary band hit its artistic peak here, with one foot already stepping toward the big stylistic shift that came right after Evans and…

"Even though the band was on a rapid creative climb, the album completely bombed commercially on British soil, while the American response was likewise below expectations. Meanwhile, the first irreconcilable differences over the band's…

"Deep Purple's psychedelic-tinged debut is a vivid mirror of the original Mark I lineup, a band that leapt forward with every subsequent release, and today it's especially fascinating for anyone digging into the roots of heavy metal, hard…

"Dark Roots of the Earth is without a doubt one of the strongest contenders for album of the year, and there's no way anything thrash-wise is topping this beast this year. Forget the Big Four (Dave Mustaine can go cry in Lars Ulrich's lap),…

Label: Metal HeavenRelease date: 22.06.2012Production: Herman FrankAlbum length: 53.58 minGenre: Heavy Metal Herman Frank is the legendary German guitarist who's burned into all our memories as one half of the hard-to-separate guitar…

"Fairport Convention's debut was a colorful grab bag of more or less successful folk and folk rock standards with precious few originals, but every take on the American source material was at least solid, and the first signs that a key band…

"Even though nearly every Sabbath traditionalist still turns their back on it today, anyone whose musical horizons stretch beyond strict heavy metal boundaries can appreciate its experimental nature and rare brilliant moments. As a whole…

"'Paranoid' is, in every respect, the most important album by the heavy rock giants from Birmingham and a masterpiece of heavy metal in its embryonic form, the one that finally shot them into the stratosphere of the most exciting bands of…

"»Master of Reality« is still one of the most influential heavy rock albums ever, playing a hugely important role in the development of the heavy metal scene, especially the doom metal and stoner rock/metal subgenres, and with its dark,…

"On their fourth studio outing, Black Sabbath hit a new level of maturity and made yet another classic heavy rock gem that, on top of the usual 'doom & gloom' punch and 'chasing the devil's tail', positively brims with unbridled…

"The adventurous masterpiece »Sabbath Bloody Sabbath« is the most artistically accomplished achievement of the Ozzy era. It finally crowned the legendary heavy metal forefathers from Birmingham as the most important heavy rock band of the…

"»Sabotage« is a heavy rock masterpiece with a strong experimental streak and yet another gorgeous document of the golden era of musical innovation, when Black Sabbath were at the peak of their creative powers."

"The fact that “Technical Ecstasy” is cherished by music gourmets of a very special kind is also underlined by a neat tidbit: one of the levels in the popular 1995 video game 'Rise Of the Triads' carried this album's title, while “Dirty…

"The debut »Poglej« is a collection of easygoing songs with such a clear streak of originality that it'll grab your attention whether you like it or not. "

Label: Pivec Release year: 2012Production: Blaž Celarec & Matevž KolencAlbum length: 44.36 minGenre: Singer / Songwritter Boštjan Narat is definitely a one-of-a-kind figure among Slovenia's singer-songwriters. The guy who once…

Label: PivecYear of release: 2010Production: Blaž CelarecAlbum length: 33.13 minGenre: Singer / Songwritter Boštjan Narat, leader and founder of the tireless Slovenian folk devotees Katalena, joins the ranks of Slovenia's finest…

"»Stratosfera« is an album that knows no filler minutes. 12 tracks with clearly defined character, polished lead vocal melodies, excellent arrangement craft, and a whole load of emotional impressions"

Label: EMI RecordsRelease date: January 29, 1990Production: Jon KellyAlbum length: 50.38 minGenre: Art Rock / Neo-Progressive RockRating: 9.5/10 Scottish vocal oddball Fish (real name Derek William Dick) put out his solo debut not…

"The too-often unfairly overlooked "Seventh Star", the would-be solo debut of a lonely Iommi who got played by a greedy label, still ranks among the brightest gems in the mighty Black Sabbath legacy, and even the most die-hard Ozzy era…

"The debut "Dubzilla" is one of the best albums to come out in Slovenia in 2011."

"A band drops a killer new album at the start of the year, then announces its official retirement in the middle of summer."

""The Landing" is an incredibly mature new studio album from Iron Savior. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the best things this band has ever put out in its career."

"Grace for Drowning" is not a progressive rock album. "Grace for Drowning" isn't even a music album per se. "Grace for Drowning" is simply art. Art of sounds, letters and, last but not least, images.

"The album "Možgani na paši" is a pearl that the label Celinka found at the right moment, in the right place. Check it out, no excuses. The most authentic gist of Slovenianness in poetry and music. Wash at Nula Kelvina, so your brains light…

""Open Heart Surgery" is an album that, with its unshakable and utterly unique message, puts Grega Habič among the world's elite Earthlings, and one that can make even the biggest masterminds in this game prick up their ears at any moment,…

Label: Roadrunner RecordsRelease date: 12.09.2011Producer: John PetrucciAlbum length: 77.05 minGenre: Progressive Metal Dream Theater are the kings of a seriously seductive and technically demanding corner of music. When it comes to…

"This album is a kind of 'half-brother' to the rest of the Fates Warning discography. In terms of exploring and expanding its own artistic character, it brings nothing special at all. But that's hardly important, because both Matheos and…

"Bands with a 40-plus-year career that can still surprise you with an album on par with their best work could be counted on the fingers of both hands. With "Osee Yee", which can rightfully be declared their best effort since "Heads" (1972),…

"An album that clearly hints it'll pass the test of time with ease. We waited 27 years for it. Times have changed, so only listeners who lived out their "teenage" years in the mid-eighties will really cherish it."

"Where the melody and energy of Survivor, Pride Of Lions, and the solo work of Jim Peterik or Jimi Jamison live, the inspiration for "Mercury's Down" lives too. "

Label: Roadrunner RecordsRelease date: 21.06.2011Production: Kelly GrayAlbum length: 70.51Genre: Art Metal What is there even left to say about a band that has sold over 20 million studio albums in its career, cracked the top ten,…

""Twisted Wires And The Acoustic Sessions" is a true godsend for every Tesla fan. It's a manifesto of serene studio ease and of this band's extraordinary expressive power, driven by a primal knack for fascinatingly reshaping electric…

"Despite Waters' grumbling and contempt for the album, it deservedly got a warmer reception and more enthusiasm than "The Final Cut" from both fans and critics at the time, so Gilmour and Mason came out of this battle of egos as the winners…

"Sunshine Trip are a relatively young band from the Gorica area, riding the MTV-track wave of the new-age flood of cliché-sounding post-grunge / indie pop rock acts."

Label: Parlophone RecordsRelease date: November 18, 1985Production: Alex Sadkin & ArcadiaAlbum length: 43.36 minGenre: New Wave / Art RockRating: 10/10 Arcadia was a side project formed in 1985 by three members of the New…

"On this far-too-long-overlooked masterpiece, Black Sabbath finally morphed into a modern metal band that still stayed true to its sinister roots."