SMAK

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.