Recenzija

"So what we have here is an exceptionally strong act, firmly rooted in alternative rock (all the way to metal), whose presence gratefully enriches an otherwise perpetually undernourished Slovenian rock scene."

"'Duša' is a really lovely, polished pop and rock album. In a way it reflects a distant, yet (in terms of Slovenian musical heritage) deeply internalized, 1980s pop-song sentiment, judging by its structure and emotional vibe. A personal,…

!The band rules the revival of that original school of guitar phrasing, walking the path of the legacy it wrote, together with a few elemental bands of the first American wave of heavy metal, back in the eighties."

Right out of the gate with debut "Persona", Imset have absorbed the fashionable aesthetic of Slovenian alt pop-rock culture remarkably well. This is the real launchpad for a band that's now got the doors open to growing their popularity on…

"The biggest strength of “Somewhere to Elsewhere” is that the compositions lodge themselves in your ear incredibly well, and the album as a whole flies by in a blink. There are no potentially boring moments on it, although no composition…

"»Got Rhythm?« reflects the layered musical polish and sharp instincts of musicians who, in the distinctly stimulating language of string chamber music, deftly trade and wheel and deal across different genres as well as rhythmic textures."

"Outrage of Modesty" brings a whole fistful of dynamite sticks, perfect for giving your scalp a proper combing and cleaning out your ear canals. "

"An album that will make even those music lovers who normally run a mile from the word jazz fall for the genre. An album whose perfection lets it go toe to toe with its contemporaries on the international stage without breaking a sweat.…

"Katalena needed an artistic about-face after their previous album, and with that move they've once again delivered a one-of-a-kind record that is, head to toe, 100% Katalena"

"The album has a dash of eclecticism, and that's exactly what we've been missing for the last four years. Grega Habič Band from head to toe. A brilliant piece of work in every respect, one of the highlights of Slovenian music for 2018."

"Every time you spin it in the CD player, Lanzon's perfectionism and his layered musical polish will keep you busy, gratefully, and suck you right back in."

Label: Sony MusicRelease date: 12.01.2018Production: Mike FraserAlbum length: 51.16 minGenre: Instrumental Rock / Art RockRating: 8.5 / 10 Joe Satriani is a legend of the genre-coined "instrumental guitar rock" variety. The man who…

"Everything on "Reforged - Riding On Fire" is exactly where it should be, and at times even better than on the originals. Piet Sielck knows, can, understands and, of course, delivers."

"With the EP »Gotcha!«, Jernej now steps onto the international music scene under the moniker Ivansson. He picked six instrumental tracks, tweaked their titles a bit, packaged them up skillfully and offered them to the music crowd, and the…

"Anyone who swears by epic, manly and smart power metal will be more than thrilled with »The Deviant Chord«. It's a thoroughly classic album with just the right dose of modern songwriting and production touches, which means it's exactly…

"Cabaret chanson with a female voice front and center, where different genres deftly pass the baton to one another, ends up as a blend of them all and a real eclecticism. That was also the core aim of the album 'Nemi film'."

"There's no shortage of authenticity in everything that went down in Brno, and this document proves it. The concert energy and atmosphere are superbly captured and transferred to both audio and visual media."

Label: High Roller RecordsRelease date: 28.04.2017Production: Cloven HoofAlbum length: 44.43 minGenre: Heavy Metal (N.W.O.B.H.M.)Rating: 9.0 / 10 These days Cloven Hoof are considered heavy metal legends. They emerged during the…

"With their new album, All Strings Detached stay firmly in the saddle of authorial, creative artistry, a space they handle with serious skill and where they feel most at home."

Label: ZKP RTV SlovenijaRelease date: July 1, 2016Production: Igor MatkovičGenre: JazzRating: 10/10 Composer, producer, pianist, but first and foremost the established Slovenian jazz trumpeter Igor Matkovič is back with a new album,…

"After Drevored's album "Na zahod," Jernej Zoran's new album is another exceptionally strong original achievement on the Slovenian rock'n'roll front, and both came out at the very dawn of 2017."

Label: Sony MusicRelease date: February 3, 2017Produced by: Tom AllomAlbum length: 40.58 minBonus live (2CD) album length: 101.45 minGenre: Heavy MetalRating: 9.5/10 At the end of last year, thirty years after its original release,…

"»Lykaia« is yet another gorgeous album, full of polished melodies that are ambitiously, experimentally loosened up with the exploratory value of progressively and technically complex musical figures. "

Album length: 38:33 Production: Maras Tomaž Mot & Mike Poole Release date: 2017 Label: Nika Records Click to buyRating: 9.0/10 Drevored are a rock band from the Dolenjska region, based in Novo mesto. Seven years after their…

"The duo's new studio album, “Španabije,” keeps that vision alive from start to finish. But with one important difference. Bakalina have been hit by the “composer's rays” of layered musical arranging. In that sense, the album title…

" So Up N'Downs have dropped their studio debut, which counts as one of the nicest rock surprises ever to come out of Slovenia, and we can safely call it one of the best rock albums to hit the Slovenian music scene this year."

"“Stoletni ples” is a magnificent album from a mature band. It took a good while to make, but the payoff is an exceptional level of polish and refinement. In these songs you can feel the band's real power and their by now “folk-classic”,…

Label: AFM RecordsRelease date: 11/18/2016Production: Charlie BauerfiendAlbum length: 52.05 minGenre: Heavy Metal Herman Frank is a renowned and highly respected German guitarist. His name has been written into the book of metal in…

"In many ways it's an even more aggressive and faster version of its excellent predecessor "Dark Roots of Earth", packed with some seriously fun surprises, and it keeps its pissed-off, totally vampiric nature from start to finish, so it's…

"If you haven't caught Dirkschneider on stage yet, this fall is your last chance. Given the huge success that took Udo and the crew completely by surprise, Dirkschneider have extended their stay with one more tour. This one will deliver…

"»Tygers Of Pan Tang« is a record that will go down best with fans of heavy rock heroes like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, yet it also has plenty of moments that bring back the 'good old days' of the…

"When the sounds of »Curious Voiume« kick in, the best part is realizing that the band can still pull off an album with the charisma of thirty years ago. Immodestly put, it's up there with the debut »Rellentless«."

"With »The Prelude Implicit,« Kansas rose from the ashes like the mythological phoenix pictured on the not exactly aesthetically successful cover, and made a much better album than most would have expected, given that Walsh and Livgren,…

"From the first track to the last, the album »Daleč« simply has to be listened to as a whole. It unfolds in the glow of the great artistic brilliance of seasoned, experienced masters."

"The album has just one flaw. It's at least fifteen minutes too long. Still, you can't ignore the delightful fact that (immodestly put) "Nosferatu" has been reborn after 27 years!"

"From mechanical resonance to a mechanical renaissance!"

"Paradox don't surprise anymore with 'Pangea', but it's an immense pleasure to see Steinhauer sticking to the proven artistry of his own metal-craft specifics in his musical vision, exploring, nurturing and deepening them, all while deftly…

Label: CelinkaRelease year: 2016Production: Dejan RadičevićAlbum length: 26.22 minGenre: Rock / Blues El Kachon are a hard-working, enterprising bunch. The dust from their second studio album "Permanently Lubricated Nuts" had barely…

"Throughout the material, the three musicians develop an extraordinary, almost intuitive sense of each other as they come together in this seamless and utterly unique musical picture book."

"»Titancraft« is a somewhat friendlier album on the ears than its predecessors. Even "cheerful" (Freedom Call even come to mind), bright and bubbling with positivity. It sticks to the tried-and-tested formula."

"Kdo bo pil iz bistrega studenca?" is an incredibly bold and brave move and one of the most beautiful documents out there, one that will irreversibly seduce and enchant even the true folk purist, in a free-spirited reworking of folk music's…

Label: Roadrunnner RecordsRelease date: 01/29/2016Producer: John PetrucciAlbum length: 130.23 minGenre: Progressive Metal The double concept album »The Astonishing« is the most ambitious project in the history of American prog-metal…

"The workaholic patron saint of modern prog rock isn't slowing down. With "4 ½", his fans will definitely find it a lot easier to wait for the maestro's next studio album."

Label: RCARelease date: April 13, 1973Production: Ken Scott & David BowieAlbum length: 40.47 minGenre: Glam Rock / Hard RockRating: 9.0/10 After the phenomenal success of the cult concept album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy…

Label: RCARelease date: June 16, 1972Production: Ken Scott & David BowieAlbum length: 38:29Genre: Glam Rock / Hard RockRating: 10/10 In 1972, the single "Starman" hit the music scene like a bolt from the blue, suddenly became a…

Label: RCARelease date: December 17, 1971Production: Ken Scott & David BowieAlbum length: 41.50 minGenre: Art pop / Pop rockRating: 9.0/10 The art-rock gem “Hunky Dory” may well be the most important achievement in the career of…

Label: Mercury RecordsRelease date: November 4, 1970 (US) / April 10, 1971 (UK)Producer: Tony ViscontiAlbum length: 40:29 minGenre: Hard Rock / Folk Rock / Glam RockRating: 8.5/10This review is dedicated to the memory of David Bowie…

Label: PhilipsRelease date: 11/14/1969Production: Tony Visconti & Gus Dudgeon (Space Oddity)Album length: 45.13 minGenre: Psychadelic Rock / Folk RockRating: 8.0/10 Bowie's self-titled second solo album, reissued in 1972 for the…

Label: DeramRelease date: June 1, 1967Production: Mike VernonAlbum length: 37.07 minGenre: Psychadelic Pop / Singer / SongwritterRating: 7.0/10 In 1967, with the British psychedelic scene at its peak, a talented twenty-year-old kid…

"The album 'Punk Enough?' puts its eclecticism front and center, and it's a record that catches the band at an evolutionary moment, right in the middle of a stylistic transition."

"Slapping Jean “Django” Reinhardt's name on any moment of the album would make sense, though Collori deserves congratulations for putting together a record without a single cover, which among similar gypsy swing albums is more the exception…

"»Transcience« is a rare double LP that gathers some of the most vivid moments of Steven's career between 2002 and 2015."

Label: Century Media RecordsProduction: Chris "Zeuss" HarrisRelease date: October 2, 2015Album length: 64.23 minGenre: Art Metal Queensryche are back with their second studio album since the band's shipwreck during the messy split…

"In a healthy musical climate, »Ujemi val« could be a nice addition to the Slovenian middle-of-the-road music scene, though on our turf it unfortunately doesn't yet have a well-defined character of its own."

“Love, Fear And The Time Machine” is a new top-shelf album confirming that Riverside keep reaching, very successfully, for fresh challenges, which they masterfully work, in a melting pot of absorbed big ideas, into a format of absolute…

" 'Live at the Final Frontier' is an excellent live document that fans of this sadly often overlooked but terrific German power metal band will be thrilled with and then some."

"The prog-leaning masterpiece »Seventh Son of a Seventh Son« was the finale of Iron Maiden's epic album trilogy, kicked off by »Powerslave« and »Somewhere in Time«, and it's a worthy successor to both of those triumphant predecessors, with…

"The Eternal Idol" was another major sonic rebirth for Black Sabbath and the start of their next evolutionary phase, with both Tonys in the lead roles.

"The basic premise of the band's calling card hasn't changed. It's a fresh ring match-up of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Queen. Blended, of course, according to The Darkness' one-of-a-kind recipe, which keeps cranking out a brand-new,…

"Waters' personal frustrations, which hit their peak on "The Final Cut", would surely have come across as more credible on a solo debut, instead of being projected through the Pink Floyd frame, with his longtime partners in misery reduced…

"“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,…

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."

"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. "

"“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…

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…

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,…

"In the Bush" is without a doubt a standout for the Slovenian music scene and one of the best records the Slovenian market received in 2013."

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…

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…