Block Out
Block Out were formed in Belgrade, Serbia at the end of 1990 by singer Milutin Jovančić - Mita. The band originally started as Ad Hoc, but due to the existence of another band under the same name, they were forced to change their name. The band chose the name from a very popular computer game at that time, Block Out.
During 1991 some members left Block Out and moved to live in Holland. Nikola Vranjković joined as a new guitarist, and soon became the central creative core of the band. Before his return to Belgrade he lived for a few years in Russia and worked as a studio musician. Before he joined Block Out he was also an occasional member of controversial punk band Satan Panonski.
At the beginning of the crisis and war in the former Yugoslavia, the band moved to London and did a few gigs where they performed their songs in English. In England they achieved the opportunity to release a single, but it never happened and the band were forced to return to Yugoslavia.
With their return to Belgrade, Block Out released their first recordings on the tape-only release Live KST, Akademija (1992) which consisted of live material performed in the Belgrade rock clubs KST and Akademija. In 1993 Block Out released their debut album Crno, belo i srebrno ("Black, White and Silver"). The first half of the album consisted of Block Out's earliest hard-rock oriented tracks, and the second part of darker songs written by Vranjković. In songs like the ironically titled "Rođendanska pesma" ("Birthday Song"), Vranjković's quite poetic but very reality-based lyrics deal with depression, hopelessness and misery caused by the crisis, war and total degradation of society in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia. At that time, inspired by various diverse bands such as Soundgarden, Pink Floyd, Slayer, Discharge and some older Serbian bands as Ekatarina Velika and Luna, the early hard rock concept of Block Out started to move towards a darker, heavier atmosphere and sound under Vranjković's songwriting. The band started to go further in this direction on the following more mature releases.
Their second album Godina sirotinjske zabave ("A Year of Powerty Amusement") was released in 1996. As the members of the band said, the main themes on this album were closely related to the end of socialism.
With their third album San koji srećan sanjaš sam ("A Dream You Happily Dream Alone"), Block Out established a unique version of artistic rock. On this album the band captured a quite depressing picture of the reality of life in Serbia. This album was proclaimed as the best Serbian rock album of 1998 by the critics, but also as one of the all-time best albums in Serbian rock. Many of Block Out's fans also consider this album their best release. Meanwhile, video clips for Block Out's songs created by singer Milutin Jovančić started to became one more symbol of Block Out's originality.
In 2001 their double live album titled Između dva zla ("Between Two Evils") was released, as well as a book by Nikola Vranjković, Zaovdeizaponeti. This book included his poems as well as all his lyrics written for Block Out. In addition to the book came his solo CD, characterised by calmer, minimalistic and acoustic music, but still in the vein of Block Out's unique melancholic atmosphere.
After 5 years, in 2003 the band released their long-awaited fourth album titled Ako imaš s kim i gde ("If You Have With Whom And Where"). With modern production, a bit heavier sound and even with a higher artistic level, this release again achieved a very good response from fans and critics. Many of them are claiming this album as even better than San koji srećan sanjaš sam. For sure, it's one more Block Out release that will leave a great influence on the future of the Serbian rock scene. This band doesn't exist anymore. They stopped playing in september 2013. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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