Album review: IVAN MIHALJEVIC & SIDE EFFECTS – Counterclockwise

Zeta Factory [Release date 01.04.13]

‘Counterclockwise’ is a concept album of sorts. It’s not an album with a single overbearing theme as such, but more of a cerebral examination of the state of our collective consciousness.

Front man Ivan Mihaljevic pours his heart and soul into songs that remind us of the need for self empowerment, seizing the moment and living life to the full. The 9 tracks explore prog metal, incendiary shredding and bombastic arrangements, and the music for the most part reflects the lyrical intensity.

Ivan Mihaljevic & Side Effects hail from Croatia and ‘Counterclockwise’ is their third album in five years. It’s also their most ambitious effort, expanding the basic power trio format to include an orchestra and choir on their complex magnum opus ‘Eclipse’.

Ivan is a thoughtful song writer and multi-instrumentalist who shares the responsibility for the band’s heartfelt lyrics with drummer Alen Frijak. In fact it is Frijac who pens the lyrics to the epic ‘Gift of Life’ and adds eclecticism to the musically complex ‘Eclipse’.

‘Counterclockwise’ would be familiar prog metal territory, but for the fact that it challenges the listener to empathize emotionally with the lyrics. And while the band’s words sometimes lose something in the translation, their meaning remains clear. The quiet-to- loud dynamics of the self explanatory ‘Build Your Own Destiny’ for example, neatly summarizes the mission statement of the album’: ‘You’re given an empty page, try not to fill it with rage’.

Another Ivan song ‘What Is Underneath’ starts out as a simple melody but adds powerful guitar on the chorus, before building up to a big finish. Ivan’s sense of making the most of our opportunities is also laid bear on the acoustic into metal arrangement of ‘Driving Force’: ‘Always looking for some one to blame, instead of sculpting our progress, why be jealousy fuelled beasts, When we can be believers’. It’s a song with busy staccato guitar lines and a tension resolving uplifting chorus.

‘Gilded Cage’ is one of Ivan’s best songs. It’s predicated on an acoustic guitar with a tic-toc percussion, great harmony singing and acts as a link piece to the edgy metal riffs, subsequent melody and booming chorus of ‘Gift Of Life’.

If most of the album focuses on the concepts, the scintillating instrumental ‘Time Travel’ gives Ivan the space to let his guitar playing do his talking for him. It’s topped and tailed by a complex rhythm that sandwiches startling shreds, lightening time changes and staccato rhythms. It essentially a showcase for his chops and he impresses with his dazzling technique on a rich melody, before the orchestral intro of the mini suite ‘Eclipse’.

‘Eclipse’ features more edgy riffs and Marko Karacic Karo’s bass led rhythms which evoke Rush. Ivan adds a dazzling ascending shred and just when you think its going to be an instrumental, a belated vocal concludes: ‘If You don’t have a goal in front of you, From my humble point of view, You feel depressed ‘cause there’s nothing to do’.

He extends the theme over the muscular riff driven finale of ‘I Am’ which sees a return to the living in the moment theme.

‘Counterclockwise’ might not quite be a fully realized concept album and the songs occasionally lack structure and focus, but there’s no doubting the band’s passion and their inherent musical ability. A couple of more convincing songs with stronger choruses would make the difference. ‘Counterclockwise’ has some exhilarating musical moments, but for now can be filed as a work in progress. ***

Review by Pete Feenstra

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BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
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