Music Reviews
Album Review: Alogia - The Secret Spheres of Art
By Jeff Metcalf
Jul 30, 2005, 14:16 GMT

'Alogia' are a progressive power heavy metal band from Smederevo. Brothers Miroslav (guitar) and Srdjan (guitar) Brankovic established ‘Alogia' in 2000, and with the rest of the crew – Damir Adzic (drums), Ivan Vasic (bass) and Branislav Dabic (keyboards) began the realization of their first album, 'Price o Vremenu'.

After the 'NATO war' (1999) the band took had taken a break from their death metal band "Psychoparadox" and during that break saw Nikola Mijic singing 'Child in Time', Toto's 'Hold the Line' and Led Zep's 'Immigrant Song'. The band realized they had found the vocalist they had been looking for to create the kind of music they wanted! They contacted Nikola and he was equally impressed with their music and joined them to form 'Alogia'. The band's music is influenced by great metal bands such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Helloween.

Their album, 'Secret Spheres Of Art', is the first album they have created for Europe and the rest of the world and introduces the Balcanian metal / hard rock scene to western culture of Metal Heads.

Alogia has released Secret Spheres of Art internationally through Locomotive Music.

The songs are the same on both albums('Price o Vremenu' and 'Secret Spheres Of Art') the only difference is the vocals have been re-recorded from Serbian to English. The band decided to do this after how well received Alogia's music was. At the time, it was the only progressive/power metal album available in their country.

Secret Spheres of Art is Alogia's first international release and hopes to introduce Balcan metal to the hard rock scene in the Western world.

Alogia has established themselves as a top Serbian metal band and is a mixture of 70s hard rock, 80s heavy metal, and 90s progressive rock. To add to their complexity, they have admitted influences ranging from classical to ethnic music from Serbia, Arabia, Egypt, Ireland, and Scotland. 'Alogia' have also had the pleasure of sharing the stage with major metal acts such as 'Motorhead', 'Paul DiAnno & Killers'and the legendary 'Savatage'. The band apparently (or obviously) also has the title of being the most famous metal band in Serbia for the last ten years! In addition, 'Alogia' holds the record for the most number of concerts in Serbia.
Between many other shows all-across Serbia.

You'll forgive me if, when I think of the great metal countries, Serbia isn't among the first that come to mind.Considering their origins, combined with the fact that their music is very keyboard and synth-heavy, I was very impressed.

So what is it that makes me want to continue listening to this band? Suffice it to say that when I heard the opening strains of the first song "Secret Spheres," I was intrigued. Yes, the music is a bit rough around the edges. I can't be sure, having never been there, but I can't imagine there was a great deal of exposure to good metal bands in Serbia. So, in truth, they're a little behind some of the more metal-rich parts of the world. But based on this album, they're well on their way.

On Secret Spheres of Art , Alogia takes a little bit of psychedelia, a little of the 1970s prog movement and a liberal dose of classic 1980s metal and blends it together into a prog-metal stew that sounds like a much rawer and less refined version of early Dream Theater. The album is loaded with sweeping keyboard runs, some nice atmospheric synth work and some thrashing guitar riffs.

The band also blends in a number of other musical elements. They throw in plenty of classical influence and even a touch of Spanish guitar, but they seem to have a fixation with Egyptian sounds. It's that penchant that provides some of the most memorable moments on the album, like the exotic instrumental "Mystica Aegyptiorum" and the power metal anthem "Amon," which is reminiscent of "Mercyful Fate's Time" .

Lyrically, the album is less than stellar, and yet vocalist Nikola Mijic does well especially with the higher pitched vocal parts. Musically, there are
some very nice atmospheric pieces on here, no too disimilar to the band "Sonata Arctica"

Interestingly enough, Alogia keeps most of their songs short and sweet. While prog rockers tend toward long, drawn-out compositions, "Secret Spheres," which checks in at 6:08, is by far the longest song on the album. Most of them fall between the three- and four-minute mark. That's a good thing, and more prog bands should follow suit.

Again, The album is a little rough, and the production is not extremely polished which enhances the overall feel of the album. But it's to be expected since this is pretty much a self-produced and recorded affair. It was done completely in the studio(Paradox) of brothers and guitarists Miroslav and Srdjan Brankovic.

Since the recording of this album they've had a few years to hone their sound, and it would be very interesting to hear their next album which they plan to release with english lyrics sometime this year.

Based on this release, I don't think Alogia has reached their prime yet, but this album shows a great deal of potential. I'd say they're a band to watch for the future.

You can view a full track listing in our database.