Orest – “Iza Ogledala” – by Alek

Orest – “Iza Ogledala” – by Alek

I don’t know if Belgrade if fruitful for this kind of bands but the first moments of the album sent me back to the legendary album “Dalje neces moci...” from SMF. I simply love that vibe and it’s a great, great deal. (Note: I am mentioning that as a compliment!) You never know when Orest are serious or joking, but anyway, the jokes are serious, believe me. It’s a great way to describe the society we live in. Orest are comfortable in the region of thrash/groove metal, thats for sure. The sound is freaking great. You know when you try to connect the whole concept of the band’s album with their sound? Yeah, that’s a dream of many, many bands. Although this is their debut album, Orest stands firmly on the ground. I would like to point to their guitar players... Man, solos are on their fucking place!!! I think it should also be underlined to mention that the lyrics are on serbian language and that is a step that not many bands decide to do (not speaking just for the serbian bands, but in general). I guess the nature and the approach of the lyrics dictates it, but hey, we are not searching for excuses. Great and brave step guys!

Let’s start, the album starts with “Alkohol”, song which brings a story that most of us (if not everybody) went through. Getting drunk... Then... Somehow I think that “Organe mi daj” will be the highlight of this album for me. Let’s gamble and go on. This song has all the great ingredients of a very, very good thrashing song and starts with a solo! Ok, let’s move on and scratch the surface of the other songs. I am not a great fan of clean vocals, especially when they come in some metalcore way. The song “Moj zivot je mala greska” is fulfilled with that, but what hit me is the greatest guitar solo on the album that is, hmmm, exactly on this song. “Heroin” is the song that I am sure will bang your head off. This is the sharp thrashing spirit of the album and it just drives and drives. The title song of the album “Iza Ogledala/Ogledalo” come with a great naration, especially: “You are not lost, you know exactly where you are... Behind the mirror...!” Another great song, another great solos... The lyrics? Well, you should guess that the song does not carry the title of the album for nothing. Please, read the lyrics. “Vernik” and “Kap sa neba” represent, for my ear, the most alternative/progressive aspect of the band and if I am right there are even some stoner parts there.

I noticed another thing of the album, but on the lyrical side of it. I feel that this album has four parts that make a story. The first part are the songs “Alkohol”, “Organe mi daj” and “Srce”, the second “Moj zivot je mala greska”, “Strah” and “Heroin”, the third “Iza ogledala” i “Ogledalo” and the fourth “Vernik” and “Kap sa neba”. All these songs in these parts are kind of connected, both in lyrical and musical way.

All in all this is a band that we should wacth carefully and closley. They made a hell of an impression in me and I will surely wait for the next album. I don’t know if they have recorded a video, but if not I hope they’ll do it soon. This is a release that should fulfill many many personal collections!

9/10

Enemy Inside – “One More Time” – by Alek

Enemy Inside – “One More Time” – by Alek

Enemy Inside – One More Time

Label: Miner Recordings

Year: 16.10.2015

Format: CD (Jewelcase)

Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Genre: Rock

Still: Speed/Thrash

Old school thrash metal comes in many forms and Enemy Inside are one of the arguments. The album “One More Time” was self recorded, mixed and mastered by the band, to be precise, by Zlatko Slatinac, their guitar player and a guitarist of a historical metal act from Belgrade, Bombarder. Enemy Inside also entered in the Miner’s net. So let’s go to the point. This album is a comeback of a musician that was “somewhere in time” for about 28 yeras (after his guitaring in Bombarder) and that can be felt in the band’s lyrics and in the riffs also, who explode in old schoolering.

Anyway and anyhow I separate this album in parts and I guess those indicators of the “parts” come as a certain point(s) that the band makes. The first three songs come in one sound with great riffs that in those 10-12 minutes travelled in my head and came to some old school Pro Pain sound. A sound that reminds me of the older Pro Pain. To be clear, I’m not talking about stealing or copying riffs but the general vibe of the songs. And that’s pretty cool. Suddenly, there is the song “Thrashing Way” that comes packed in a totally different sound and I guess it was made that way to underline the heavy side of the song, the vocal is different, the guitars are thinner and sharper. Also, I cannot hold myself not to mention that this song pulled me back to 1992’s “Church of the Trully Warped” album from G.B.H. A punk band that metalized themselves with that album...

“Machine of Hate” returns the previous sound and takes the third part of the album (for my ears). Even the band is thrash metal oriented, this song has a great old school death metal riffs (such you can hear in Six Feet Under’s “Warpath” for example). It is one of my favourite songs! And then, again we enter in the fourth part of the album, “Brothers in Arms” and “Enemy Inside” who are also sounding different but in some way are complementary. 

The last two songs (the fifth part) “Horde” i “Metalni Bog” are not in english and have a heavy metal vibe.

Having in mind Zlatko’s comeback on the scene after so many years some of us can understand why there are different (in sound and in genre and composing) songs (I as call them parts). I guess those are songs from different period of time in Zlatko’s life. Some may say it’s not professional, but who knows, and who says that it shoud be “that way”. I take this album as a compilation of life and time events, nothing more, nothing less.

I reckon the overall sound could’ve been way way better. A little bit more mixing here and there to get a better balance. If we take those things as positives than they surely should represent a positive critic for Enemy Inside to make a compact sounding album next time. Overall this is a good metal release!

7.5/10