RINGASD EL MAGAD

On their second album "Ringasd el magad", Presser and co. start adding prog influences to their hard rock formula. A casual listen will reveal influences from ELP, King Crimson and even Gentle Giant, yet the album retains compact song structures, and half of the tracks still are in the blues rock style of their self-titled debut.

We have a totally animated opening track "Cirkusz" driven by percussion work, and lightning fast guitar and organs trading licks. There is even a doomy repetitive section in the middle with falsetto vocals that resemble Magma! Another highlight is "A semmi kertje" which totally resembles early raw Gentle Giant what with the high vocals, rhodes piano, and vibraphone. It sound like Presser Gabor gave a listen to "Peel the Paint" when he wrote this. "Kakukkos karora" is also certainly interesting if for the wrong reasons - being a unserious bluegrass tune complete with banjo picking. The acoustic guitar solo shows though that Barta Tamas could have play note-for-note with Steve Howe in this chicken-picking style. Finally, "Kotta nelkül" sounds strongly inspired by ELP with its lengthy organ jam. The other tracks are quite plain, driven by simple blues-based riffs, but this does not make them subpar. As a whole, the album sounds very well balanced between their more progressive endeavors and their raw blues-rock sound!