### Jelonek: Jelonek

#### 29/03/10 || Smalley

Wow, consider me pleasantly surprised; when I signed up to review “Jelonek”, I was expecting just another worthless, crappy metalcore/deathcore label-sent record, so imagine my delight when the first track began with two classy, melodic, Oldboy-ish (watch it, it’s a good movie!) violins, soon joined by steady back-up riffage that definitely had a hint of Apocalyptica about it. Classical music metal! What a nice little treat…

Frontman Michal Jelonek provides us with beautiful, virtuoso violin-playing all throught this one, sometimes getting so frantic, it’s basically thrash on a violin! However, he always remembers to keep all of his melodies catchy, as well as gives us plenty of variety in the songwriting, since you get spirited, high-energy cuts here, as well as plenty of softer, soothing numbers. “Jelonek” just doesn’t try to coast by on the novelty of the violins, the songwriting’s actually quite good here.

And, while the guitar riffs backing up the strings are ultimately too low in the mix, and are very much over-shadowed by the violin action, they do ultimately contribute to the energy of the songs here- I just wish I could hear ‘em better. Despite that, and the fact that this is a pretty long record (14 tracks in all), it’s all worth it to hear some very enjoyable, unconventional metal, and find out why Jelonek earned the egotistical right to name the band after himself.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Mystic Production
- Website: www.jelonek.art
- Band
- Michal Jelonek: violin
- Leszek Kowalik: guitar
- Mariusz Andraszek: bass
- Krzysztof Osiak: keyboards
- Paweł Chojnacki: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. BaRock
- 02. B.East
- 03. Vendome 1212
- 04. Akka
- 05. Steppe
- 06. A Funeral Of A Provincial Vampire
- 07. Lorr
- 08. Beech Forest
- 09. War In The Kid’s Room
- 10. Miserere Mei Deus
- 11. Mosquito Flight
- 12. Machinehat
- 13. Elephant’s Ballet
- 14. Pizzicato- Asceticism