Label: ZKP RTV Slovenija
Release date: November 26, 2021
Production: Toni Jurij (2021 remaster: Jadran Ogrin)
Reissue length: 54.04 min
Genre: Heavy Metal / Glam Metal
Rating: 9.5/10
Buy:
“Rocks Off” – order (CD)
“Rocks Off” – order (vinyl)
The reissue of “Rocks Off”, the debut from Postojna heavy metal, glam metal and hard rock outfit Mary Rose, can be counted as a milestone in how the home country treats the achievements and legacy of eighties Slovenian hard rock and heavy metal. Especially considering that it was none other than ZKP RTV Slovenija that decided to put it out again. In the eighties, Slovenia had a heap of massively talented and promising musicians, and bands trying to keep pace with the then-current pulse of the rapidly developing, fast-growing heavy metal scene, as well as with the gains of hard rock. And when it comes to “Rocks Off”, we’re talking about one of the foundational achievements of eighties heavy metal and hard rock in Slovenia. Just how good a debut it is was confirmed by the fact that Mary Rose sold over 12,000 copies when it first came out. And now, after 30 years, it’s finally back. Among us. On CD and vinyl. With updated cover art and remastered sound.
“Rocks Off”, released in 1990, can be seen as the culmination of that liveliness, topped off by the band’s decision, bold, daring and gutsy for the time, to use English lyrics exclusively. Mary Rose, or rather its very first lineup, the one that’s legendary today, was made up of five self-taught guys backed by real musical talent, a sharp awareness and, of course, the thing that matters most and comes from character on the individual level. Being unshakable in chasing a goal, while also a little crazy and a little reckless, with untamed enthusiasm as the main generator of that creativity, driving the whole thing.
It’s precisely that audacity that made Mary Rose one of the few bands hungry enough to pull off a studio debut in their chosen genre, with its sky-high standards of perfection, as the former common state was going under. On cassette, even though they dreamed of vinyl (CD was just starting to knock on the market’s door). As the saying goes, the bravely mad are always accompanied by luck. On top of that, Mary Rose always had most of the info on what was going on in world rock ‘n’ roll right within arm’s reach. They were up to date, and that was one of their key advantages. They knew very well who Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Autograph, Loverboy, Winger, Def Leppard, Skid Row, Poison and Giant were, and Andy Taylor had just put out his excellent “Thunder” album too, etc… all while keeping in mind that the band members grew up on the sounds of old seventies rock, such as Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Rainbow and UFO, among others.
“Rocks Off” is a debut that at times radiates an outrageous ‘party time’ vibe. Across the full 39 minutes of the original album’s running time, it’s there the whole way. Perfectly internalized. Sometimes in full excess, sometimes a bit more toned down, but it follows the album’s character throughout. And it’s hard to pick the spot where it’s most convincing. The focal points are Action (a tune the band rearranged many years later on their comeback album “Feniks”, 2006), plus Fever, Rocking Pneumonia and Let’s Go Out Tonight.
One of the boldest and most standout creations on the album is Dead Dog Blues, which spotlights the rhythmic clatter of Mitja Šabec’s red-hot double bass drum pedal pounding. As a composition it counts as one of the most interesting moments on the album, where the band tested its creative sharpness and, as a result, especially successfully radiates the songwriting power of the band’s first lineup. The pairing of bassist Jure Škodič and Mitja Šabec laid down a solid, expressive rhythmic framework, and on the back of that exceptional rhythmic kinetics, the band could all the more easily develop its irresistibly attractive rock-metal charm and sonic bombast.
“Rocks Off” is the work of a quintet. All five pieces of the puzzle were focused on the same goal. That’s why the songs are so convincing. Tominšek’s vocal character doesn’t just radiate the required punch and a feel for effectively developing the music; alongside a cheeky rebel streak, it has an element of rascally, swaggering vanity, which was exactly what was being sought at the time, especially in hot glam metal production. The character of Ogrizek’s synths is the perfect embodiment of eighties rock music. Especially astonishing is Primož’s incredible sense for adding synth arrangements to Eki Alilovski’s lead phrases, which pretty much sets up the bulk of the band’s musical-metal vocabulary. Those synth sounds are very specific for 1990 and could be slotted into various genre trends of the eighties, but Mary Rose used them the way Van Halen, among others, were doing at the time. What distinguishes the individual arrangements is that the keyboards carry their own independent melody, yet mesh compatibly with the lead guitar phrasing, as the opening Action already shows.
The use of vocal harmony arrangements deserves a mention too. Multi-part singing wrapped around lead vocalist Franc Tominšek. This extremely effective integration of the element radiates the band’s great drive in chasing perfection, which on the Slovenian rock scene, where the players all too often and all too quickly settled for their level of songwriting (let’s not forget that punk was swarming everywhere, along with ‘whiny’ singer-songwriters), was more the exception than the rule.
But as the history of rock ‘n’ roll teaches us, regardless of genre, in bands it generally all rises and falls with the guitarists. Enter Eki Alilovski. A phenomenon. Not only did he go through plenty of lessons in the school of Črna gradnja before Mary Rose, he’s also a musician of exceptionally alert refinement. Considering he’s self-taught and that Eddie Van Halen is his more-than-obvious inspiration, Eki managed to develop his own individual guitar character out of that story, one that puts him in a special place in Slovenian rock ‘n’ roll, and beyond. It’s only with such breadth, insight and wit, such a unique voice on guitar, that Mary Rose can really claim a special place in world rock and metal. In that sense, “Rocks Off” can perhaps even be called a historic example of a Slovenian rock and metal album that stands up quality-wise to what was coming out abroad, and that conclusion is easy to draw even 30 years after its original release. That’s a big triumph, and few albums released here can say the same, especially when you apply the key criterion of using English. In that sense, “Rocks Off” is quite probably a unique case in the history of the Slovenian rock and metal scene, one that can credibly, at any moment, take on its generational peers on the international stage.
In the music you hear all kinds of influences. Moments on the album bring this and that to mind, yet not for a second do you sense borrowing or (heaven forbid) copying; the music on “Rocks Off” expresses 100% creative authenticity and is therefore a homegrown original. It’s downright incredible what level of playing Eki was reaching for 1990. The solos, always subordinate to keeping the musicality high, are seasoned with a whole host of ultra-fast escapes in which the guitarist shows off astonishing control over his instrument. His soloing is extremely fast, and at the same time crystal clear and fluid. But that wouldn’t even matter so much if everything on “Rocks Off” didn’t click into place all the way through. Really. From the added ornaments and razor-sharp solos to the lead phrases themselves! Everything is exactly where it needs to be. It’s hard to pick out the peaks of Eki’s soloing on “Rocks Off”, but suffice it to say that with his work on this album the man earned himself an honorable place among the most insightful Slovenian rock and metal guitarists of all time.
There wasn’t much of a refresh to the sound compared to the original. In fact, only the contrasts between the instruments have been intensified, which gave the sound even more fullness in using the available space within the songs’ soundscapes and underlined the feeling of three-dimensional liveliness. It grabs you instantly, just like it did 30 years ago, because in 1990 it managed to plug into the trends of the day with incredible success. The only track that deviates a little from the rest of the material is the ballad Rainy Day. It carries a pronounced melancholic and gloomy sentiment, as its title already hints. In this otherwise bold and ambitious closer to the album, there’s still some untapped songwriting potential; with a bit more stubborn persistence, the band could perhaps have squeezed a dramatic closing epic out of it and put a final full stop on their triumphant studio debut. As it is, though, the track comes across as somewhat average, without the real payoff that would carry the album to its closing peak. There’s also a jarring moment at 4 minutes and 13 seconds (the line: …before it’s too late…), where the vocal tone and the guitar tone harmonically ‘drift apart a little painfully for the ear’. It’s a passing remark, though, and compared to the rest of the album it’s honestly not bothersome and barely worth mentioning.
It’s great that the band added three more tracks to the CD reissue: Video Man, Love’s In Vain and Get Out Of This Way. All of them exceptionally good compositions that the band had to give up in 1990 because of space limitations. It’s also welcome that right after Rainy Day, Video Man lifts the album back up to the level of the other seven tracks. Video Man carries more of the finer touches of AOR, thanks to Ogrizek’s rustling ‘eighties’ synth sounds, while the following Love’s In Vain is a particularly metal-pouting, possessed love drama. Judging by the lead guitar phrase and the speed it builds up, it counts as one of the band’s most wound-up songs for its time. In this (bonus) track, one of the guitar solos shows an undeniable neo-classical moment. As if the musical insight of Michael Schenker had been merged into one person with the baroque ‘arrogance’ of Yngwie J. Malmsteen. Enjoying Eki Alilovski’s guitar shenanigans is a chapter of its own when listening to “Rocks Off”. It stays that way with the reissue. 30 years later. And it will stay that way. Forever.
“Rocks Off” is one of the foundational heavy/glam metal and hard rock achievements of eighties Slovenian rock, and more. Of Slovenian rock and metal in general. In terms of sheer historical value. The ‘evergreen’ quality this album sports is especially noticeable when you listen to it 30 years later. In 1990 it caught the fashionable trends of glam metal at the time with striking force, which the arrangements and production lavishly show off, and last but not least so does the band’s bold, daring decision to stick with English, which they also resolved superbly in the meter of the verses. That’s why the songs on “Rocks Off” go straight to your ear, build and sustain exceptional dynamics, and carry a strongly internalized sense, throughout, of how to effectively build up moods that culminate in ultra-musical, easy-to-listen-to chorus melodies. A true lover of heavy rock’s sweet sounds simply can’t ask for more. “Rocks Off” holds the listener in its grip at every moment of its running time and works as a timeless piece of rock and metal art.
After all of the above, one thing remains. The ‘forever evergreen’ “Rocks Off” belongs in the inventory of every Slovenian household that puts even a little bet on real rock and metal, while rock and metal fans abroad, especially the die-hard collectors, will literally snatch up this reissue.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list (CD):
1. Action (4:48)
2. Hold On Baby (5:14)
3. She’s Run Away (5:35)
4. Fever (3:45)
5. Rocking Pneumonia (4:44)
6. Dead Dog Blues (4:00)
7. Let’s Go Out Tonight (4:18)
8. Rainy Day (5:21)
9. Video Man (4:12)
10. Love’s In Vain (5:43)
11. Get Out Of This Way (6:07)
Lineup:
Franc Tominšek ‘Frenk’ – vocals
Eki Alilovski – guitar
Primož Ogrizek – keyboards
Jure Škodič – bass
Mitja Šabec – drums
