Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Smak - Smak CD (album) cover

SMAK

Smak

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

3.48 | 43 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Orpheus-keys
3 stars Smak's s/t debut encompasses a wide range of variety. It is thoroughly ambitious in nature and it seethes with youthful enthuasism; - notably the track 'Perle' which kickstarts the album with a driving guitar theme led by Radomir Mihajlović "Točak", until the rest of the group join in and it becomes a mini-anthem with flashes of r'n'r ambience. Boris Aranđelović's style of singing is quite rowdy and extroverted; especially during brief outbreaks of falsetto which are a little bit too predominant in the mix, - allowing himself to become a little too exposed. Thankfully most of the record's shortcomings are somewhat endearing and it IS a stellar example of a record that gets better with every track. It has to be said from an objective direction that the group are stronger during the fusion- based moments, particularly the 19-minute closing track 'Put od Balona' which undergoes several exciting melodic themes, eccentric chord changes and soothing tempo changes whilst near-perpetually showcasing the remarkable talent of keyboardist Laza Ristovski and his lightning-speed organ chops, making it undoubtably the strongest track on the record and a must-listen for fans of ELP's 'Tarkus' and Focus's 'Eruption', - the latter being a stronger candidate in terms of structure-comparison. 'Biska 2' is the other instrumental track on the album, a four-minute hard-rocker which captures the musicians at their most organized and melodically accessible which should be instantly appealing for fans of guitar / synth interplay. In fact, the whole record should be very enthralling for guitar enthuaists; - Radomir Mihajlović in his heydey was regularly cited as 'The Yugoslavian Hendrix', but as a modern observer it's fair to say he was perhaps more versatile as he's prone to switch from psychedelic riffage to extended Hendrix-esque blues solos whilst still retaining a degree of acoustic sensitivity when necessary. 'Blues u Parku' is a fine example of his ability as a guitarist but the overall structure of the song isn't very captivating in comparison to the others.
Orpheus-keys | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this SMAK review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.