Back in 1993 four guys from Finland that play the cello, made an (at that point) cover band. They played Metal songs with cello. Their name: APOCALYPTICA. From then on, metallers started to open their ears and being more open-minded. After the success of this enterprise, many bands/musicians followed this path.

JELONEK, the project of the Polish musician Michal "Jelonek" Jelonek, is a band that, in a way, is walking on the footsteps of APOCALYPTICA. Born in Poland, Michal got his diploma in 1989 in violin. During his career, he played with many bands from different music genres, from Metal to r'n'b and of course folk. From what I read, he has been featured on over 30 albums with those bands and orchestras. So it was time, in 2007, to release his first solo album, "Jelokek". It may took more than two years for this album to reach our headquarters, but better late than ever!

As I wrote earlier, JELONEK is with one leg on the road that APOCALYPTICA started, but with one difference: "Jelonek" is a more Metal album, since he is using the violin only as the lead organ and the album is full of "traditional" Metal musical organs. Most of the compositions have a Metal structure, with the violin as the leading instrument, and others a more folk orientation. In this instrumental album you will find many different genres of music, like, of course Metal, jazz, funk, orchestral music, even waltz (!) and an Eastern European vibe throughout the whole album. The music in "Jelonek" is strong, but I could say that there are some moments that it should have been simpler and let the power of the violin stand out.

Overall "Jelonek" is an album with its ups and downs but in the end I think that as a sum it has a positive mark. There are some tracks that stand out, at least for me, like "B.East", "A Funeral Of A Provincial Vampire" and "Elephant's Ballet". An album that real music fans, open-minded metalheads and fans of APOCALIPTICA will probably like.