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KOPECKY

Heavy Prog • United States


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Kopecky picture
Kopecky biography
Formed in Racine, Wisconsin, USA in 1997 - Disbanded in 2009

Three brothers - Joe, William and Paul - Joe plays guitar and sings, William plays electric bass, keyboards and sitar, and Paul is a drummer. KOPECKY is an American band with a variety of influences. They have elements from the latest era of KING CRIMSON, some prog metal, some ethnic influences and even some more traditional prog influences. Occasionally the approach is similar to Terry Bozzio's Black Light Syndrome. The result is a powerful sound with a variety of approaches and interesting musicianship.The drummer Paul passed away in 2009. The band made a memorial concert in 2011 on his 40ty birthday with many bands participating.

See also:
- Far Corner (William's other band)
- Yeti Rain (another project for William)

Updated by rdtprog

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KOPECKY discography


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KOPECKY top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.82 | 35 ratings
Kopecky
1998
4.04 | 45 ratings
Serpentine Kaleidoscope
2000
3.00 | 9 ratings
Orion
2001
3.84 | 37 ratings
Sunset Gun
2003
2.79 | 25 ratings
Blood
2006

KOPECKY Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

KOPECKY Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

KOPECKY Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

KOPECKY Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

KOPECKY Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Blood by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2006
2.79 | 25 ratings

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Blood
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

3 stars There aren't too many full instrumental trios out there that don't use keyboards, and even fewer where the musicians are all brothers. It is a while since I last heard any music from Kopecky and this album has reinvigorated my interest in them. Now signed to Canadian label Unicorn Records I hope that having been on UK's Cyclops, Italy's Mellow Records and France's Musea they have now found their spiritual home which will allow them to be more prolific, and I believe that they have. Unicorn release a lot of material that is jazz-oriented, and while Kopecky don't fit into that mould they do have the same inventiveness and musical complexity of many of that genre. This is music that is uncompromising, always looking forwards, as the brothers keep bouncing off each other and letting each take the lead as is appropriate.

That this is challenging music is never in doubt, that many people will find it too complex and labyrinth for their understanding is also apparent. Here is a rock band that really are like no other, and five albums in they are still driving forward whatever perceived boundaries there may be. No keyboards, no vocals, and just three guys hitting those strings and drums to make a glorious togetherness that is like no other. It is hard to categorise exactly what style of music they are performing as by its very nature there is so much going on as they ignore genre categorisations altogether. By definition they are 'progressive', but musically this is much more in the hard rock almost shredder arena, but that is also not correct. Think of it as rock music being played by three musicians linked by 'blood' and performing some of the most complex music around.

It will take you a while to get into it, but once you do?.

 Sunset Gun by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.84 | 37 ratings

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Sunset Gun
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

4 stars I want to dedicate this review to Paul Kopecky who just recently passed away because of complications from juvenile diabetes. He was just 37 years of age. I really feel for his family and especially his two brothers who played in this band with him. All three guys are impressive on "Sunset Gun" which for many is their favourite from this band, but I really did feel Paul's drumwork especially stood out. KOPECKY are indeed a trio of bass, guitar and drums, although we do get some keyboards and sitar as well.

"Sunset Gun" opens with this amazing atmosphere before it kicks in after a minute. Some impressive bass here followed by some great sounding guitar, then they're trading solos. Synths roll in later. A very good track. "Ascension" opens with synths and then the heaviness takes over quickly.The drumming sounds so good here. Check out the guitar 4 minutes in and then the bass joins in after 5 minutes. "The Divine Art Of Flying" is really the track that I wish wasn't on this record. Sitar leads the way in this Eastern flavoured soundscape. It just doesn't feel like it belongs. "Selqet's Kiss" is mid-paced with some excellent sounding drumming and guitar.The bass is out front after 6 minutes though. Nice. Synths a minute later then it settles some as we get an experimental section. Heavy drums follow then synths join in.

"Creation's Brief Gift" opens with the sounds of a music box and a baby fussing. It all stops as these three talented brothers start to put on a show. It builds slowly as this chunky soundscape gets louder. A calm with samples 7 1/2 minutes in including the baby and the wind blowing takes us to the end of the song. "Temptation's Screaming-Ground" has the best intro yet ! Fairly heavy with keyboards before it settles right down around 4 minutes. It kicks back in at 6 minutes with some nice bass. It turns rather abrasive before ending heavily. Great track. "Departure" has an outstanding guitar intro and I like the melody that follows.This might be the best tune on here.

6 of the 7 tracks are incredibly done. If you like instrumental albums that are very well played and quite heavy at times check this one out. RIP Paul.

 Sunset Gun by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.84 | 37 ratings

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Sunset Gun
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by Gatot
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars This is the fourth album by Kopecky which is basically three brothers - Joe, William and Paul - from Racine WI. Joe plays guitar and sings, William plays electric bass, keyboards and sitar, and Paul is a drummer. The music is a marriage of Late King Crimson (Discipline onwards era), progressive metal and traditional / ethnic music represented by the use of sitar. All the seven tracks a re instrumental. Unfortunately this is the only album I have from Kopecky so that I cannot make any comparison with previous work. In a way, it reminds me to Sean Malone's Gordian Knot, even though technically the music is different. Throughout the album you will find intense use of dynamic bass guitar work by William.

The album title "Sunset Gun" (8:04) opens the album with the music that is unique as it blends the style of late King Crimson and progressive metal plus orchestration. Bass guitar is the major drive of the music and it reminds me to Sean Malone's Gordian Knot. "Ascension" (5:32) starts off with long sustain, multi-layered, keyboard work followed with a stream of music in dynamic sound blending bass guitar and guitar which makes the music a bit complex. The good thing is on the creation of ambient nuance throughout the song. "The Divine Art of Flying" (5:22) explores William's capability in handling sitar excellently. Yeah, this is a well crafted composition which demonstrates not only William's musicianship but also the songwriting of this track. It embraces ethnic music nicely and the music flows naturally from one segment to another. You will refer this with Ravi Shankar album, obviously. The music style of this track reminds me to Steve Hackett's "The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms" from "Spectral Mornings" album.

"Selqet's Kiss" (10:50) combines symphonic nature of progressive music with prog met rhythm section. Bass guitar sounds like the dominant part of the music, combined with guitar and keyboard work. The music texture is ambient. The next track "Creation's Brief Gift" (10:11) is in similar vein with previous track where bass guitar drives the melody. Guitar provides repeated fills while bass guitar gives the melody. In fact, the combined work of guitar and bass is really nice. "Temptation's Screaming-Ground" (9:49) starts something heavy like a progressive metal song. The most attraction point is the intertwining bass guitar and guitar work - it's really cool!

Overall, I would recommend you to have this album especially if you like prog instrumental like Sean Malone' Gordian Knot. The music is not the same, but both are influenced by late King Crimson. For those who like bass guitar exploration, this is a good choice as well, and it's definitely a prog album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

 Serpentine Kaleidoscope by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2000
4.04 | 45 ratings

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Serpentine Kaleidoscope
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

4 stars It is always gratifying when I rave over an album to discover that I am not the only one with the same views. Having still not yet recovered from the delights of their debut album which I reviewed last issue, I am now listening to the second album for which they have signed to Cyclops in the UK. Of course, this means that it is readily available so you should all rush out and buy it immediately, if not sooner!

Kopecky are still the brothers Joe, Paul and William although they do have a couple of guest vocalists. Still, that is not to say that this is a songs-based album as such, it is still mostly instrumental. And what compositions these are. William manages to produce some very strange sounds and textures from his fretless bass, while Joe either leads the melody or pins the sound together on guitar while drummer Paul refuses to be left behind in the skill stakes.

This is not background prog, it is music that can never be classified as neo-prog and will appeal to all those who like their music extremely complex, diverse, yet never too challenging. It may be hard work, but it is always a pleasure. Surely this has to be one of the best albums ever to come out of Tolworth, anyone who enjoys prog is missing out if this is not in their collection.

Feedback #59, July 2000

 Kopecky by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 1998
3.82 | 35 ratings

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Kopecky
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

4 stars I hear a great deal of progressive rock, much more than the normal punter, and while I may get excited from time to time it is rare that anything new, or 'progressive', ever reaches my ears. So when I first started listening to this instrumental CD, which had arrived from the States, I found that I was intrigued, which in turn made way for me to being totally focussed on what I was hearing. Kopecky are a trio of brothers with Joe on guitar/tambourine, Paul on percussion and William on bass, sitar and keyboards. Any of these instruments can take on the lead role, with the fretless bass being especially effective.

But while on some numbers they are almost traditional, with rock themes being the basis for the melody (which moves and melds in glorious ways), on others they sound as if they have come straight out of the East. The use of sitar, combined with complementary percussion gives the music an otherworldly exotic feel. Apparently William's teacher, Veena Chandra, is a grand- disciple of Ravi Shankar. But, the sitar is an integral part of a rock band, not Indian-style music in its' own right. On "Sukha", while William plays a melody Joe is hard at work either emulating it or taking the music in a different direction altogether.

For an instrumental album to fully hold the attention of the listener throughout its' length it must be something special indeed, and I for one feel that my musical experience has been broadened by listening to this album.

Feedback #58, May 2000

 Sunset Gun by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2003
3.84 | 37 ratings

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Sunset Gun
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by WOJTEKK

4 stars My opinion about prog-metal is quite similiar to Thom’s (Boss of www.artrock.pl) opinion about present, Polish idea of progressive music. Mentioning it makes me shiver, but I’m trying to listen to it, and then I shiver again, because once again I had to revise this rubbish. Maybe it’s because I’ve always liked heavy-metal, hard-rock and progressive rock and connecting it all should be attractive for me. But a presumption is a presumption and reality is different. Fortunately brothers Kopecky are happening.

I hit on them a few years ago, indirectly because of Marishka, in occasion of their previous record “Serpentine Caleidoscope”. I don’t know why, but it seemed to me that it will be perfect for the evening to bed, before sleeping. They took a ride upon me very professionally, like a road roller with trubo charger and there was no chance to sleep. Mixture of prog-metal and jazz was as loud as attractive. There are a lot of bands serving twisted rhythms and crazy riffs, but Kopecky’s are outstanding, because they know WHY they are doing it. Brothers have precise vision of music, which they are making. Additionally they are great instrumentalists.

In comparison with “Serpentine Caleidoscope”, “Sunset Gun” is calmer and gentler album. Except the title track there’s no typical solo ride on it. Instrumental ornaments are tangled very often, but Kopecky’s have never been doing it to pride themselves with their skills. To uninitiated – it is called usable technique and it’s not the point in itself.

This is a beautiful, but not an easy music. Melodic and sound variety of this album is great. Dynamic, typical for the genre “Sunset Sun”, sublime, touching some typical progressive issue “Ascension” and three, longer and more complicated compositions – “Selquet’s Kiss” (fine bass in here), “Creation’s Brief Gift” and “Temptation’s Screaming-Ground”. There are even some oriental elements – “The Divine Art Of Flying” (that’s why there is sitar). Virtuosity subordinated to music. To be honest, I need to have day to feel this. Because sometimes I am resistant to the charm of this music. I’m not saying that I stopped liking this disc and it’s not fulfilling my demands. Vice versa - I’m not fulfilling demands of this record.

Stylistically “Sunset Gun” is located between two formations of Tony Levin – Liquid Tension Experiment and Bozzio Levin Stevens – less jazzy and more rocky than BLS, but more jazzy than LTE. That’s for enlightening those who don’t know it yet.

 Blood by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2006
2.79 | 25 ratings

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Blood
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars Great moods, too bad about the songs.

Blood is the first album I've heard by the Kopecky brothers. And the dark, sinister and eerie moods and atmospheres they create are really interesting and likeable.

But the songs as such doesn't work though. Themes are repeated to death with too little variation, the songs hardly move forward at all, and there's a distinct lack of nerve and tension in the songs here as well.

Give these guys some good songs and they'll make killer versions with the moods they are creating. But as songwriters themselves they are found lacking, at least on this release.

 Orion by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2001
3.00 | 9 ratings

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Orion
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by Sean Trane
Special Collaborator Prog Folk

3 stars 3.5 stars really!!!

Live album from this Baltimore group and a fairly good recap of their career until now. This Czech-sounding group is one of those many instrumental groups flooding the prog markets since the prog revival, and these guys sure do know how to play their instruments. This trio is so good that they often sound like they are a few more, even if a lot of it is due to Joe, the guitarist that often strays into semi-metal territories. Yes the music is rather complex, often changing tempo and the time sigs are anything but complacent for any of the three musos. While their music is rather impressive, it is also true that halfway into the album, I have saturated already. Musically not far from later Djam Karet or Nebelnest, but also Colosseum II mating with Wetton-era Crimson (Asbury Park improv), the music is often impressive, but rarely interesting, because these tracks have been heard many times before them and many times since them.

While there are many excellent moments (the start of Heaven's Black Amnesia for example), the virtuosity of the trio is always on the verge of being indulgent but somehow always stops before crossing the line. One of the thing that I find lacking to make their music more interesting is a singer, because let's face it, outside the odd track that has its own distinguishable feel, it is rather hard to know exactly where you are in terms of songs. But the overall feel of jazz rock (almost jazz-metal if you can picture that >> check out Autumn Swirl or the start of Sky-Blue Hair) is not unwelcome either, even if this is only one of the many facets that keeps you interested long enough until the laser reaches the outside of the Cd.

Nothing really groundbreaking (well they are a bit uncommon, though) or fascinating (too repetitive in the long run), but I much prefer this type of group to others like the Tangent where everything smells calculated. On the strength of this album, Kopecky could easily be on the great Cuneiform label, and believe, from this proghead, this is a compliment.

 Serpentine Kaleidoscope by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2000
4.04 | 45 ratings

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Serpentine Kaleidoscope
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by frouse

5 stars Hold on a bit, Buddy, take it easy! I don't have to go and buy it because... ...I already did it! Great album, although Tonny's comparison to ELP is, I hope, only in terms of the number of players in the combo. Gripping both with regard to the nature of compositions and "workmanship". A must-have!
 Blood by KOPECKY album cover Studio Album, 2006
2.79 | 25 ratings

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Blood
Kopecky Heavy Prog

Review by hdfisch
Prog Reviewer

3 stars I listened to this latest CD by Kopecky brothers a couple of times and it took quite a while until I finally was able to make up my mind about it. After comparing it again and again with their debut and "Sunset Gun" honestly I've to say that "Blood" sounds quite disappointing to me and I prefer much those ones. The kind of stuff we get presented on this disc sounds to my ears predominantly like a powerful demonstration of technical skills and reveals the type of indulgent up-and-down-scaling that I usually like to put my critics on when it comes to tech metal. I really don't have problems enjoying tough and angular sounding music but what I desperately miss on this record is the kind of diversity in their music which appealed much to me on their previous one. This music here is an extremely heavy industrial type one and to me it appears rather as a cold fabrication of sounds, heartless, pointless and uninspired. Where have the sonic landscapes from their previous work gone? I've read comments from some reviewers on the net comparing this record with KC's more recent work or even calling it a less jazzy version of some of the work by Hellborg/Lane. Frankly spoken I completely fail to confirm this view since I enjoy listening to especially the latter one. From the point of musicianship there isn't anything to complaint about, it's brilliant as usual and the complexity of the compositions is still very high as well. Nevertheless this ain't be the kind of stuff I'll listen to regularly but most of tech/industrial metal fans will probably be fascinated by this album. Just with a lot of goodwill and to give this band credit for the effort and skills I still can rate this work with 3 stars.
Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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