FERMÁTA - "HUASCARAN" (1978)

Fermáta are a rock band from Bratislava and their first four albums are all highly regarded by prog nerds. 
Entirely instrumental, "Huascaran" is their third studio work and it stands out for its dedication to the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Peru in 1970. In a nation such as Slovakia, where rock music had been put in chains, naming an album to the brothers of a distant country could be considered a political act. 

This line-up of Fermáta was composed by four fantastic musicians, able to merge the angular jazz-rock of Mahavishnu Orchestra and the jazz fusion smoothness of the Weather Report. Guitarist František Griglák dominates the former side, whilst keyboard player Tomáš Berka stands out on the latter. Some parts are closer to symphonic prog, submerged by layers of futuristic string synthesizers.

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DEŽO URSINY - "PEVNINA DETSTVA" (1978)

Dežo Ursiny was one of the most consistent Slovak musicians, both artistically and from a human character perspective. In the mid Sixties he refused to leave his country to seek success in Germany, and during the communist normalization he had the courage to sing in English, condemning his music to be boycotted by the authority. 
He decided to sing in Slovak only in 1978, convinced by the lyrics his friend and poet, Ivan Štrpka, offered him. The result was this cult album, perhaps too complex to win over mainstream audiences. 

Symphonic prog, jazz fusion, and baroque pop are mixed in five tracks which combine the staple instruments of rock music with chamber strings, harpsichord, brass and wood instruments (including an unusual English horn). Keyboards are played by Jaro Filip, another legend of Slovak music.

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COLLEGIUM MUSICUM - "KONVERGENCIE" (1971)

Collegium Musicum were founded by Slovak composer and keyboard player Marián Varga in 1969. 
The band was entirely built around his virtuoso style, influenced by classical composers (especially from the baroque era and Eastern Europe) and coeval rock musicians such as Keith Emerson. 
That said, the Emerson comparision, although quite fair, is often exaggerated, since Varga had a very original style and a "Slavonic sense of timing, coming in that millisecond early or late, similarly to traditional folk music" (this is a definition given by a ProgArchives user, which I endorse).

"Konvergencie" is the second album of the band, and it is composed by four long suites, with lots of Hammond organ fugues, piano and pseudo-harpsichord parts, intricate rhythms, and guitars with folk and blues influences.
"Piesne z kolovrátku" is the only track actually sung by members of the band, whilst "Suita po tisíc a jednej noci" and "Eufónia" are both instrumental, and "P. F. 1972" contains two short parts with a children choir.
Most of the music has no lyrics, since the band was trying to find a way around the strict censorship.

Collegium Musicum:
Fedor Frešo - bass guitar, mandobass
František Griglák - guitars, mandolin
Dušan Hájek - drums

Marián Varga - organ, piano, synth, bells

Vocals on "Piesne z kolovrátku": Fedor Frešo, František Griglák, Pavol Hammel

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BEZ LADU A SKLADU - "BEZ LADU A SKLADU [aka XMETOV]" (1990)

Bez ladu a skladu (also known as BLAS) is a cult post-punk band from Trenčín (Slovakia), founded in 1985 and lead by singer Michal Kaščák, who was 13 years old at the time. They were able to release an album only in 1990, because in the Eighties the most experimental forms of rock music were banned all across Czechoslovakia.

From 1985 to 1989 the band was forced to the underground, playing some gigs (mainly in jazz festivals, which were less monitored by the Soviet authorities) and recording some songs and videos, without having the chance to distribute them.

After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, rock music was liberalized and the band finally realized a full album with a professional equipment. The result was this exciting debut effort, recorded in 1989 and released one year later: fourteen songs and fragments where post-punk meets funk and jazz, distorted guitars collide against a powerful saxophone, and every kind of dissonance, crazy evolution or funny sound is involved. 

Kaščák was still only 17 at the time of these sessions but his mix of declamations and histrionic singing is really impressive.

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