review by thomas

Nova Synteza 2 came out when Modry Efekt (now just calling themselves M. Efekt) was still in their jazz-influenced phase and it really shows on this album. Every song has major jazz moments on them, which the band mix with progressive rock and sounds inspired by their native folk music treasure. They sing in their native tongue, a perfectly alright singing language. Not up there with English, Hungarian or Italian but quite alright. The four tracks on the album features – besides guitar, drums, vocals, bass and keyboards – heavy brass arrangements that adds mostly to the jazzy sound; though sometimes the brass playing goes beyond the jazz sound. What one really remembers the most from this record is the guitar playing from Radim Hladik, which is just stunning. He masters all kinds of playing: slow blues, soloing, hard, emotional, you name it. You really don’t have to be a jazz fan to appreciate this record, to fully appreciate it yes, but not to like and enjoy the album. Because the album is also symphonic, but as stated before – always with undertones of jazz. From time to time they can give you echoes of the Polish band SBB and Pink Floyd (some moments in the title-track “Nova Synteza 2” reminds me of Floyd’s song “Atom Heart Mother”).