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Monah, a contemporary progressive band from Serbia
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Monah View Drop Down
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    Posted: June 09 2023 at 01:53
Serbian rock band Monah (transl. "Monk") was brought together by guitarist Lazar Jovanović. Officially formed at the end of 2020 in the Serbian town of Niš, Monah was awarded at the RTS BUNT Rock Festival, where it won first place. They already have other awards at the festivals in the Region, and they released their first self-released album called Utopija (transl."Utopia"), which is created in a "progressive", though contemporary style. The album is available on Bandcamp.
Regarding the band's recorded material, Monah actually started with the single called Iza ogledala (transl."Behind the Mirror") for which they released an excellent video (see below), and then released two more singles & official videos: Obećana zemlja (transl."The Promised Land") and Kraj (transl."The End"). These songs are a part of their concept album debut, which depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is on the verge of wiping out the planet but, according to the band, also ushering in new prospects; do we have faith in them?
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Lumenko View Drop Down
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Points: 1191 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Lumenko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 02 2023 at 06:09
This new band is actually fantastic. The videos they have are very interesting! The YouTube algorithm then started playing Monah's "Iza ogledala," the live version at the BUNT Festival in Serbia, after I had done watching those. An impressive performance indeed!
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Points: 360 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Lesanderd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2023 at 04:54
In my opinion, this great band deserves to be part of this forum. Musically, they cover perhaps a larger scope than progressive itself, there are noticeable influences coming from post rock, classics and other genres. The album has a very good concept and lyrics. The musicianship is obviously superb. This area does not have many bands of this genre, and this is certainly one of the best and represents a real refreshment for the local scene. Time will tell if they are ready for the next big step.
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yam yam View Drop Down
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Points: 6353 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (3) Thanks(3)   Quote yam yam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 03 2023 at 16:04
^ & ^^ I agree.

Listened to this EP three times via YouTube, and really enjoyed it - despite not being able to follow the lyrics due to not knowing a single word of Serbian. I can see no reason at all why the band couldn't be evaluated for inclusion in Crossover Prog to be honest, and have been tempted to suggest them myself, but several of my recent suggestions have been overlooked by the sub genre teams for whatever reason, so if I were to do it myself it would probably be the kiss of death for the band lol!

The new artist suggestions guidance here says: "Please suggest only bands / artists which have a signed status. This means either a physical item like full-length (about 30 minute or more) CD / DVD / Vinyl for sale on demand must be available and / or complete albums for download are offered via services like iTunes and similar (Artists only via Bandcamp / Soundcloud / other digital streaming websites etc. cannot usually be accepted)".

Well, this band isn't signed, but their EP is available on all the major streaming platforms, several excellent videos have been produced for the singles, and the members are all accomplished musicians who put on a great live performance, and have won contests as a result of their performances. This isn't a solo effort put together by someone in a bedroom using a DAW - it's the real deal! The EP is 33 minutes long, and back in the days of vinyl a good many full albums were not much longer than that.

The band is already on AwesomeProg ready to be added to the evaluation chart, so I reckon there's nothing to lose by giving it a shot in the new suggestions forum.

There currently are only 33 Serbian artists on the site, and only one in Crossover Prog, so there's plenty of room here for these guys! LOL
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Lumenko View Drop Down
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Points: 1191 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lumenko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2023 at 06:48
^^ You said "their EP", but isn't their record duration is sufficient for a full-length album?
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Points: 6353 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote yam yam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2023 at 08:53
^ It's open to personal interpretation I guess (though the release is certainly described as an album rather than an EP on Bandcamp). Back in the days of vinyl, 12" LPs of comparable length (circa 33:47) weren't unusual, though most tended to be closer to the 40 minute mark. These days however, many artists tend to refer to releases of this length as EPs. The important thing is, irrespective of whether it's generally considered to be an EP or an LP, the release contains sufficient material for the band to be eligible for evaluation here, and I think they would stand a pretty decent chance of being accepted in Crossover Prog.
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Lumenko View Drop Down
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Points: 1191 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lumenko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 04 2023 at 22:31
Originally posted by yam yam yam yam wrote:

^ It's open to personal interpretation I guess (though the release is certainly described as an album rather than an EP on Bandcamp). Back in the days of vinyl, 12" LPs of comparable length (circa 33:47) weren't unusual, though most tended to be closer to the 40 minute mark. These days however, many artists tend to refer to releases of this length as EPs. The important thing is, irrespective of whether it's generally considered to be an EP or an LP, the release contains sufficient material for the band to be eligible for evaluation here, and I think they would stand a pretty decent chance of being accepted in Crossover Prog.
"Utopija" lasts 33 minutes. Because of this, I hope the album is full-length by Progarchives criteria if the band is to receive an evaluation for adding to the database.
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Cristi View Drop Down
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Points: 43600 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Cristi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 05 2023 at 00:18
Originally posted by yam yam yam yam wrote:

^ It's open to personal interpretation I guess (though the release is certainly described as an album rather than an EP on Bandcamp). Back in the days of vinyl, 12" LPs of comparable length (circa 33:47) weren't unusual, though most tended to be closer to the 40 minute mark. These days however, many artists tend to refer to releases of this length as EPs. The important thing is, irrespective of whether it's generally considered to be an EP or an LP, the release contains sufficient material for the band to be eligible for evaluation here, and I think they would stand a pretty decent chance of being accepted in Crossover Prog.

If the band/label classifies it an a full-length, then that's it, if they say it's an EP, then that's that. 
I've seen bands classify a 70 something minutes as an EP, there were 2or 3 very long songs. LOL Slayer's most famous album is 29 minutes long. LOL 

So if that 33 minutes release is classified as an album, that's it. 
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Points: 6353 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote yam yam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 05 2023 at 06:16
^ Point taken. Full length LP it is. Embarrassed

So, with that now firmly established, do you feel that they merit an evaluation in Crossover Prog?

I can't see the point in putting another thread about them in new suggestions section of the forum, since everything needed for an evaluation to be started is already here in this one.

Besides, my own suggestions don't tend to get noticed very often these days - four unanswered topics in the last six months, with three of them being for Crossover Prog. Ouch

https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=131139 Exit Stage Left (Maybe a borderline case this one, since there is also an AOR/Hard Rock aspect to their music. Suggested for Crossover, though Heavy Prog might be a better fit).
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Cristi View Drop Down
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Points: 43600 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Cristi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 05 2023 at 07:11
Originally posted by yam yam yam yam wrote:

^ Point taken. Full length LP it is. Embarrassed

So, with that now firmly established, do you feel that they merit an evaluation in Crossover Prog?

I can't see the point in putting another thread about them in new suggestions section of the forum, since everything needed for an evaluation to be started is already here in this one.

Besides, my own suggestions don't tend to get noticed very often these days - four unanswered topics in the last six months, with three of them being for Crossover Prog. Ouch

https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=131139 Exit Stage Left (Maybe a borderline case this one, since there is also an AOR/Hard Rock aspect to their music. Suggested for Crossover, though Heavy Prog might be a better fit).

Give me a little time and i'll take the two suggestions for crossover to the team, we are rather slow these days, real life, you know... Smile
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Cristi View Drop Down
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Points: 43600 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cristi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 05 2023 at 07:22
Originally posted by Cristi Cristi wrote:

Originally posted by yam yam yam yam wrote:

^ Point taken. Full length LP it is. Embarrassed

So, with that now firmly established, do you feel that they merit an evaluation in Crossover Prog?

I can't see the point in putting another thread about them in new suggestions section of the forum, since everything needed for an evaluation to be started is already here in this one.

Besides, my own suggestions don't tend to get noticed very often these days - four unanswered topics in the last six months, with three of them being for Crossover Prog. Ouch

https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=131139 Exit Stage Left (Maybe a borderline case this one, since there is also an AOR/Hard Rock aspect to their music. Suggested for Crossover, though Heavy Prog might be a better fit).

Give me a little time and i'll take the suggestions for crossover to the team, we are rather slow these days, real life, you know... Smile
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yam yam View Drop Down
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Points: 6353 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote yam yam Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 05 2023 at 14:33
^ Fully understood re real life getting in the way, so as long as the suggestions have been noted and added to the chart (if deemed worthy of an evaluation) then the rest of the process can take as long as it takes.

Thanks for looking at the three Crossover suggestions. The Endroom suggestion was initially posted by the leader of that band Roger Lindhjem (RogerL) in the A-Z (Alder-Zonder) thread, and I just transferred what he had written there to the new suggestions forum, and expanded on it to create a separate topic. We're still waiting on a proper band biography from him, so no real sweat on that one I guess.

As for the Wizrd suggestion in JR/F, I'll bump the topic shortly. That post also contains everything in it that would be necessary to add another Norwegian JR/F band Soft Ffog, who share some musicians with Wizrd, and were cleared by the JRFC team a couple of months ago, but haven't been added as yet. If someone from the JRFC team with the necessary site permissions looks at my post, they could add Soft Ffog in a jiffy if they really wanted to (assuming the recent problems with the admin panel and the uploading of album covers have been fixed).
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