ZASTO NE VOLIM SNEG

1981 saw the explosion of new wave scene in ex-Yugoslavia, which for that matter was one of the strongest scenes in Europe at that time, so the old prog guys including SMAK were largely forgotten by the media and the public. Following the lack of success of their last album "Rock cirkus", Mihajlovic decided to disband the group. Before doing that, he entered the studio with idea to make a solo album dedicated to his late brother, and for that purpose he gathered SMAK members for studio work. The label company insisted however that the record should be issued under SMAK name. Packed in the black cover sleeve, the album carries a dark, menacing fusion sound with mostly instrumental tracks. The original vocalist Arandjelovic did not rejoin the band so in the title song their old friend Dado Topic jumped in as a singer. This album is a very good swan song to the progressive career of SMAK, Mihajlovic is in top form as guitar soloist, especially in the popular cover of Macedonian traditional "Zajdi, zajdi", Ristovski's organ is back in place, while Milanovic's bass actually carries the music throughout the album. There is practically not a weak moment on the album with overall impecable arrangement and instrumentation, and the whole sound is well balanced from the starting furious tempo rocker "Juzni voz" to the ending ballad "Nebeski splav", both featuring the guest vocalist Z. Zivanovic. This album is a hidden gem in the catalogue of the ex-Yugoslavian progressive music and is highly recommended to prog fans.