SVIJET PO KOJEM GAZIM

Post DRUGI NACIN yugo-prog band who deliver an awesome hard progressive sound meshing dual guitars, keyboards, flute, acoustic guitar with dark yet dramatic vocals. Ismet Kurtovic (flute, guitars) and Ualil Mekik (guitars, vocals) once again team up combining their love of complex yet harder rock influenced music. NEPOCIN actually reminds me quite a bit of the 70's Italian prog scene with the dual electric guitars frenzied yet beautiful styled flute, heavier vocals and loads of symphonic keyboards. To my amazement this band actually remind me of a mashination of JETHRO TULL and Italy's SEMIRAMIS. Overall songs are quite melodic offering some excellent musicianship and tempo/mood swings.

I hesitate to give this album 3 stars for several reasons: it is not much different in sound from DRUGI NACIN, the band the two guitarists came from, but is less engaging and lacking strong compositions; Kurtovic's vocals are too often forced to the high registers, trying to emulate David Byron's, but as a result are irritating and out of place; the only standout track is "Novi dan", while the rest are mediocre hard rock-acoustic-prog combination sounding somewhere between CAMEL and JETHRO TULL. On the other hand, this was issued in Yugoslavia 1977, a time when there were only a few LP records, not to mention the prog scene. Therefore this album gives an important contribution to the rare prog discography of ex-Yugoslavia, being of interest for prog fans who are willing to explore the non-English progressive music.

For Drugi Nacin and Yugoslavian rock fans

Nepocin were a Yugo-rock side project that grew out of a break in the career of Drugi Nacin, of which two members Kurtovic and Mekic hail. The album was released in '77 a couple years after the Drugi Nacin debut and you can hear a subtle difference. Nepocin is a bit more varied and ambitious in composition while still maintaining a bit of the Drugi sound. I miss Mikulcic's stellar bass playing from Drugi but what is gained helps to offset the loss. The drumming and keyboards are both better on Nepocin, the percussion fills more nimble and the keys more spacious and interesting. The vocals have been toned down a bit too which is a nice change for those not fans of the dish-breaking falsettos. There are some here but not as annoyingly warbly or frequent. The material and performances are both a marginal improvement as they seem intent on taking more chances here. The long piece in the set is "Cekati Moj Hit" at 7 minutes. It begins with acoustic guitar, flute, and soft vocals before the organ and vocal explode. In comes some spacey synths and then some good trippy electric leads. There is a long drawn out flute section that is pretty nice, backed by a plodding rhythm giving the impression of a journey taking place. I still can't recommend this much beyond fans of 70s hard rock and rate it about the same as Drugi Nacin. Though I prefer this album just a little over Drugi it is still pretty one dimensional and average. I would agree with others that if you enjoy Purple, Heep, and New Trolls, there is a fair chance you will appreciate this. And the album cover is really fantastic when you fold out the whole thing. Almost 3 stars but not quite.

Nepocin was a Croatian band, formed out of the ashes of the Hard Rock act Drugi Nacin, when the later disbanded briefly, when Branko Pozgajec left for the army.Guitarists of Drugi Nacin Ismet Kurtovic and Halil Mekic teamed up with bassist Bozo Ilic-Dugi, drummer Branko Knezevic-Kneza and keyboardist Damir Sebetic and formed a five-piece line-up, which recorded one album for the RTB label in 1977, ''Svijet po kojem gazim'', captured at Studio Akademik in Ljubljana.

The style is very close to the Hard Rock style of Drugi Nacin, featuring exactly the same instrumentation, it sounds just a bit more progressive at moments due to the more active role of keyboardist Damir Sebetic.Of course the album was entirely composed by Kurtovic and Mekic, so the music is fairly guitar-driven with many twin guitar leads and extended angular riffs with background keyboards and occasional flute drives in the vein of JETHRO TULL.Very energetic stuff with plenty of energy and accesible tunes in a Classic Rock vein with a hard edge.But there are certain tracks, which flirt intensely with Prog Rock, for example ''Stopa za stopom'' sounds like a cross between TAKO, DEEP PURPLE and FOCUS, containing big symphonic organs and synths next to a tiny flute theme, as the guitar work has a JAN AKKERMAN-like vibe and the track is flavored by even some screaming vocals.Or you should listen to the very poetic ''Cekati moj hit'' with its strong Classical content, the spacey synths and the almost GENESIS-like flute parts over a soft lyrical atmosphere.''Beskrajna tama noci'' is yet another winner, this time somewhere in the middle between Psych Rock and Fusion with electric piano, melodic vocals, ambiental flute lines and mellow electric guitar.

The same year Nepocin disbanded and apparently followed opposite paths to Drugi Nacin, which were reformed upon the arrival of Branko Pozgajec.Ironically Ilic became a member of the band some 15 years later, while drummer Branko Knezevic-Kneza became a member of Aerodrom.

Twin-guitar Hard Rock/Prog with touches of symphonic, psychedelic and Jazz Music.Dynamic and competent material, which comes warmly recommended.