DUNAJSKÁ LEGENDA

After a short hiatus, Fermáta comes back with Fedor Fre?o on bass, a veteran of Collegium Musicum and Modrý Efekt, to bring us this wonderful album about historic Slavonic rulers with weird names like Wlkina and Unzat. And this album is once again different from the previous ones. Continuing the trend that "Huascaran" started, the sound moves closer to symphonic rock, sometimes sounding close to Camel. At the same time, the jazz-rock elements are still present, but there is much less space for improvisation, and the themes are more immaculately composed and arranged.

The first track "Wlkina" is a pretty straightforward fusion number, with compact soloing duels between Berka and Griglák. The second number "Chotemir" is definitely a highlight, opening with a vaguely medieval sounding acoustic guitar intro. Then the piece develops into a very melodic ballad, with Griglák sounding quite like Andy Latimer, but in the middle it becomes a hot latin fusion jam, reminding us of the band's earlier works. Then it flows effortlessly into "Witemir", a chill acoustic jazzy number with wordless vocals. The rest of the album continues to move between the new melodic ideas and the old typical jazz-rock passages, striking a good balance between exploration and tradition.

Overall, "Dunajská legenda" is a solid effort, having nary a weak track, but lacking the fire of their earlier albums.

Highlights: "Chotemir", "Witemir", "?ilič".