CELELALTE CUVINTE

3.5 stars. CELELALTE CUVINTE are a 5 piece band from Romania who have released eight studio albums including this the debut from 1987. I was surprised to see that they just released a new album in 2023 with the one before that coming in 2008. Three guitarists but the one adds vocals and flute and the other violin while the third is maybe the most used playing his 12-string. No keyboards here but they would add them to the followup to this. These guys changed styles a lot going from the proggy first two to Thrash, then Doom followed by Alternative Metal and so on.

Romania like most East Bloc countries was not the best place to demonstrate your artistic freedom. What freedom? Even this debut was released on the state label allowing the government some control I suppose. They lived in a city near the Hungary border and no doubt were influenced by what they heard on Hungarian radio. I know PHOENIX, SFINX and THE STEPAN PROJECT and that's about it. This self titled debut is interesting the way we get so many contrasts between the acoustic 12-string led sections and the heavy electric guitar passages. They form a nice contrast and these guys can certainly play. Vocals don't do much for me at all, higher pitched and there's that one moment when I'm asking why? That would be on that second track.

A balanced recording overall and there's two tracks I really like and that's about it but this is a good record. The opener "Beloved Letters" is such a beautiful, folky piece with vocals, flute and 12-string. Under 2 minutes but what a gorgeous track. Then "Late Hour" where they go darker and heavier much to my appreciation. Almost galloping at one point too and the bass is the best here.

Not a lot to chose from when we're talking 1987 but this is one of the better ones for sure. A talented band. I might check out their new one for fun.

Armaghedon was released in 1994 as forth album of this great band , to me is their best. After the revolution from 1989 they change the direction, musicaly speaking optaining for a technical progressive metal, very well done and performed, this is a perfect example of sheer brilliancy. Here on this release thay have some outstanding pieces, like title track, nearly 10 min of greatness, great guitar chops, very solid voice and good druming, another worthy ones are Lumea de apoi and the beautiful mellow ending track Nu-i vina mea whwere Calin Pop really shine, he has such a great voice. So, one of the best albums Romania ever had, and one of the best in this field from a band from ex Soviet block. Recommended, those into prog metal easely can have this one, worth every tune and one of my fav albums ever. 4 stars easy.

Celelalte Cuvinte meaning The other words is one of the living legends from my country with 30 years career and some excellent albums released across the years. The were loved by anybody intrested in more then mainstream music from that period being influenced by bands as Rush or even Led Zeppelin but with a typical romanian feel to it added. Those were really hard for bands here in Romania included them, but with all that they manage to release some great albums. The second album from them named simply II from 1989 is a great sincere album with clear direction towards Rush music. Very good is the voice of Calin Pop, very meaningful and with heart and soul. The guitar parts are aswell great, the druming is consstent and very busy and here and there some sporadicaly keyboards added in the mix to give a certain elaborated atmosphere. All pieces stands as good, not a weak moment here like forte onesNu-mi da tot într-o zi, Piriul or Iarna from bonus track make from this album a worthy affair. 3.5 stars, solid yet unoticed outside my country.

Well,being a Romanian it's impossible for me to sat bad words about this band,au contraire I say with hand on heart that I am extremelly happy and honoured thet I can express my sincere apreciation and admiration for this sensational band from my country!CELELELTE CUVINTE is already some kind of cult Romanian band,they have started to work hard in rock music since the comunist period!They made in that period of time full sport halls and they were supposed to be considered the followers of another Romanian cult band PHOENIX!They made this album with the help of some people thet really believed in their potential and had a huge success beause the quality of their music was undoubtedly!Some serious RUSH influences ,combined with folkloric ones -style JETHRO TULL-but in the Romanian way and with serious progressive elements and rock attitude!The guys in the band were-at that period of time-heavily influenced by RUSH-GENTLE GIANT-KANSAS and other great prog rock bands! The particularity of the band is the high vocal register of CALIN POP, a very talented and charismatic musician-that's why the comparisons with the Canadians icons RUSH is coming automatically in my mind!The texts are extremelly important too-very poetic and feeling,something superbe indeed!This album is an important part of my youth,at that times I was a true CELELELTE CUVINTE-THE OTHER WORDS-in English translation die hard fan!!!.I knew by heart all their texts and I saw them many times playing LIVE!The feeling was unique! They are still active,but have lost a little their identity-anyway CELELTE CUVINTE still has many fans and atre permanently trying to be in musical actuality with good quality albums!5 STARS because I love them and their music is BRILLIANT!

Indeed, the perfect landscape of what this band from Romania meant in it's most important period!!! From the beginning, Celelalte Cuvinte had shown another face of rock music in a country where this kind of music had been very poor, referring here to the communist period. High lyrics, a music including various instruments like blockflote and a unique voice in romanian rock music from that time. Definitely,the music can be described as very progressive and very emotional, following somehow their masters Phoenix. We have here the most important songs of their entire first period of the band (1984-1990): Iarba prin par, Daca vrei..., Comoara, and some others very, very special like Fara cuvinte -excellent instrumental track with a reciting voice of the romanian actor Florian Pittis -and Gong (almost unknown-previously unreleased on any album) a.s.o. songs that bring a highest emotional state among the audience, something unique in romanian rock universe and this thing remains the same in live appearances, as myself I've been experienced at their shows. A compilation of what romanian progressive rock music meant in the mid 80's. Highly recommended!

Very cool album, they show again they incontestable value in a heavier manner. Touching songs with lot of feeling. Although inspired here by the rhythms of the great Rush band, they come with their own personality and give us excellent songs. Thank you.

There's more of a rock orientation to Celelalte Cuvinte's second album than there was to their debut. The array of acoustic instruments that gave a folky feel to some of the tracks on their first CD are not so much in evidence and the band is expanded to include a keyboard player this time around with the overall sound consequently becoming somewhat denser and hinting more towards symphonic rather than folk. The playing is as punchy and energetic as on their first outing, Marcel Breazu and Leontin Iovan remain a formidable rhythm section. Well worth investigating.

4.5 Stars A great progressive rock album!

A great Romanian band. Pristine production and the use of a variety of acoustic instruments give this CD a great dynamic range presenting music that ranges from folk inspired melodies and vocal arrangements to frenzied electric rock workouts with some very tasteful guitar soloing over a superb rhythmn section. Definitely a band worth investigating for anyone who likes a 'classic rock' sound mixing strong melodies with accomplished playing and imaginatve compositions.

A fantastic album from Romania!

This is my first review and my native language isn't English so it might seem awkward when reading.

Like a lot of albums in this category, this is a blend of hard rock and prog, with a bit more empahsis on the hard side. The music has clear influences from hard rock bands of the 80's, such as Led Zeppelin or Rush, but also some influences from Romanian bands, most notably Phoenix. Usually there are heavy parts combined with some mellow acoustic ones, and also some riffs and fast playing. The combination works extremely well and even though one might say that they've heard a particular part of a song somewhere else it doesen't sound like the band has blatantly copied bits of music from other bands. I would like now to describe a bit of each track without trying to review music for deaf people. I'll try to translate the track names as best as I can.

Scrisori Iubite (Loved Letters) - A short acoustic intro song with nice flute parts aswell. Here on the first track you will first hear how the singer is: he has a high pitched voice not unlike Geddy Lee or, to a shorter extent, Jon Anderson. If you like the aforementioned singers, you will like his voice aswell.

Un Sfarsit E Un Inceput (An End Is A Beggining) - This song basically summarizes the general mood of this album: mellow parts followed by heavy parts, and a bit of country too. It's a very good song, and one of the highlights of the album. The ending is a killer.

Daca Vrei (If You Want) - A slower and much more sentimental song; you won't find any riffs or headbanging moments hear. However it's a very pleasent song with nice lyrics. This one grabs the listeners attention without being bombastic and is memorable I think; I am saying this because usually light songs by other just drift away without leaving much of an impression on me, or forgetting them all toghether. This one is differen though.

La Ceas Tarziu (At Late Hour) - Ah, a contrast to the previous track. It starts with a slow tempo and then continues with atmospheric and almost electric playing. The band is very tight here and awards us with some very nice grooves as it starts getting heavier and heavier, the bass is terrific in places. The track is dynamic and is a proggers heaven with lots of tempo and rythm changes (at least I think so, I am not musically trained). Anyway it's almost an instrumental with only a bit of singing in the middle. The only problem I have with it is that it's so good it feels like only 3 minutes instead of 7. My favorite of the album and I like to blast the speakers all the way too the max when listening to it.

In Zori De Zi (Morning) - ....and... a filler. Yeah, there's not much to say about this one. Heavy and short and not very memorable. I'm not sure what the band's reason was to add it to the album. Oh well...

Fantana Suspinelor (Well Of Sighs) - you can listen to it here so you can make you own opinion about it yourself, but I'm gonna say a few words about it anyway. Remember when I said that Celelalte Cuvinte draws in influences from bands like Phoenix and Led Zeppelin? Well it's here that they are most present. It starts with a beautiful poem about a well with bad and warm water from which weary travellers want to drink from it but can't. I think it's a metaphor about life, but I can't tell for sure. The music is medieval sonding and reminds me of the northern part of my country where a lot of beautiful monasteries ar ebuilt. Anyway, this a method used by Phoenix too using poetic verses in their songs. The song goes from mellow to dynamic playing and it all sounds verry proggish. Oh, and some nice flute playing at the end too, reminding us of the begining of the track, thus bringing it to full circle. Another clear highlight.

Despartire (Parting Ways) - A fitting name for an end track I think. Here is where we say goodbye (for the moment ;) ) to Celalate Cuvinte. A very good ending song. Kind of sums up the album.

In conclusion I'd like to say that this is a work which can be enjoyed by a broader audience of people, namley those who aren't necessarily into prog rock, but like hard rock or classic rock or just good music in general. The songs have plenty of variety in them so proggers are sure to enjoy it. I *think* I'm being a bit too generous with the rating, maybe 5 stars is too much, but 4 stars seems too little. I'd give it 4,5 if I could, but since I can't, 5 will have to do :)

The history of the Romanian rock bands that were active before 1989 is a very interesting one and worth being told:how they managed to avoid the anti-cultural institutions, censorship and even appear on the national television channel. Celelalte Cuvinte is one of those musical groups that, along with Iris, focused on hard rock and heavy metal typical for the '80s. After the fall of the communist regime, in December 1989, a series of historical events and the fact that Romania wasn't used to the capitalist economical system led to strange musical trends, one of them being heavy metal, conditions in which Madonna's record sales were overtaken by the ones belonging to Obituary. It was this musical background in which Celelalte Cuvinte emerged with their best records that would be consider as priceless music in various metal sub genres that were sang in the Balkans and Romania.

1995 marked the release of "Armaghedon", Celelalte Cuvinte's third studio album. "Armaghedon" features a doom metal style, which is not as slow as doom metal generally is, but even goes as far as playing a thrash rhythm.

The opening track is entitled "Asa e viata mea" (That's how my life is), a classical heavy metal track very similar to Black Sabbath's style and at some points, to Candlemass's. It has a emphatic rhythm strongly marked by the bass, covered by thrashy guitars and epic vocals. This song is substantial for the entire record as it incorporates most of the musical ideas explored by the musicians. The lyrics reflect life's lack of sense by using inspiring metaphors.

The second track, "Lupii" (The Wolves), begins with a dark atmosphere created by Gothic keys. The depressive state of the song is subdued to thrash metal guitars used by bands such as Pantera. The excellence of this track is the way it it simultaneously dark and aggressive.

In my opinion, "Neam blestemat" (Damned Nation), is mostly a tribute to Candlemass's "Nightfall" due to it's intro, epic vocals and guitar solos. I'm not saying that Catalin Pop is as good as Leif Edling at playing the guitar, but the quality of the song is without doubt high. I find notable the keyboard solo similar to Dream Theater's style.

"Lumea de apoi" (The World Beyond) was, probably, composed as a harsh power metal song that was supposed to "thrash it all". Unfortunately, the production didn't help at all. It generally sounds good, but it could have been better. Anyway, the ending, called "Cor de copii" (Children Choir) is somehow funny although the text is as depressive at it gets.

The grand masterpiece of this record is the song "Armaghedon" (Armageddon) in which every instrument explodes in creativity, including the vocals in the ballad part. The Gothic keys create a apprehensive background that is spontaneously broken by a dirty bass solo, very similar to the ones played by Alex Webster (I am purely subjective so don't judge me at this point). The guitar solo is one of the best Romanian metal has to offer and the acoustic guitar that forms the ending of the song is very melancholic and meditative. Also, in the end, special effects are used in order to put a last depressive mark on the listener's ears.

Unlike "Armaghedon", "Balanta" is a fast played track, similar to "Lumea de apoi" only this time it is succeeded. There are no slow parts in this song only pure rough metal. The production is, once again, wrong: the bass is way louder than needed.

"Cel din Rasarit" (The One from the East) is, surprisingly, a fun track with intelligible rhythm and some nice guitar riffs. It has a remarkable refrain, as it is quite bombastic. A good song, but nothing special about it except the refrain.

The album ends with "Nu-i vina mea" (It's not my Fault) that is generally a rock ballad that features a strong background and candid vocals in the middle of which a guitar solo takes the listener into a ever relaxing musical journey. The final moments of the record contain one last very silent solo that leaves a great final artistic impression.

In conclusion, "Armaghedon" is a great album with many progressive rock influences and certainly original judging by the musical context of Romania in 1995. It is the first Romanian doom metal album, the next one would be released in 1998, by the band Gothic (I may be wrong but most likely I am not). I am very unsatisfied by the production, but sound engineers familiar to metal were very hard to find back then.