(ex-Yugoslavian = up to '92, now bands listed as from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Montenegro)

Well... I guess this site should be informative and useful for history of this scene, but unfortunately it's a bit strange and there is a bit of incoherency and mess in how old ex-YU heavy metal scene is presented on metal-archives right now. Not only smaller bands but also lots of key names are missing, some bands are featured while other similar are rejected.

The problems with these old heavy metal bands and that scene in general are these:
- localism (harder to be understood by foreigners)
- kind of "outdated" sound as compared to usual scenes in the West and even other Eastern European countries at the time: it's mostly heavy metal with strong roots in hard rock or progressive rock, rather than more developed (or "updated") sound towards power or speed metal.

The circumstances why most of such bands were like that:
- obviously, they lived in communist country
- independent labels who did private vinyl pressings didn't existed here before '88, when laws for that matter finally changed.
- to get released on vinyl a band always needed a deal with one of the domestic "major" (read: state owned).
- recording studios were rare, and most were owned by these labels anyway.
- so, for a heavy metal bands, in order to get released on vinyl or at least to record something more than just badly recorded home or rehearsal demo, it usually meant to compromise with label politics (like mellowing or slowing down the sound a little, making more ballads on the record etc.)
- these domestic labels from Yugoslavia were way more conservative when it comes to heavy metal, than the ones from some other communist countries like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and perhaps even USSR. (that's the main reason why most Yugoslavian heavy metal doesn't sound that coherent or heavy as bands from these countries)

It's a bit specific and difficult scene because of these reasons above. The unfortunate here is that it cannot be seen only in a simple "add/remove" light, it just requiers more closer listening and discussion to be understood as most of it is nothing but a heavy metal/hard rock combo. Removing more such bands would be the easiest task to do, but it wouldn't solve the problem and it would make MA less informative and relevant about ex-YU HM. There might not be many, but there are certainly a people who are interested in this old scene and need MA as a source of information.

Anyway, hard rock was huge in Yugoslavia and there are many of such bands. Heavy metal was way smaller scene (strange enough, but read the explanation above again). Both hard rock and heavy metal scenes were related, but however, there was a certain distinction between these two. The bands who were just hard rock were FORMULA 4, early RIBLJA ČORBA, TEŠKA INDUSTRIJA, YU GRUPA, MAGIČNO OKO, KERBER, BALKAN, ATOMSKO SKLONIŠTE etc. and these bands shouldn't be here.

As for glam, it wasn't big in Yugoslavia (the labels here were keeping on classic hard rock during whole '80s), there are only a few bands that appeared in late '80s. Glam from ex-YU is REGATA, KARIZMA, GROF and ŠANK ROCK and these bands don't need to be listed here. Also, some later albums by GRIVA, DIVLJE JAGODE and OSMI PUTNIK fall well into that category and that's pretty much all when it comes to ex-YU glam.

- DIVLJE JAGODE are heavy metal and all OK, while VATRENI POLJUBAC is not and got deleted?!
So far, this really doesn't make any sense. Vatreni Poljubac is the first band ever to be described as heavy metal in ex-YU and that description is rightful - their debut LP really is a straight-forward heavy metal and very intense at the time ('78). It's just that they perhaps sound less heavier on next releases and are more closer to usual hard rock than HM (I even disagree on that, imo), while for Divlje Jagode it's way different. Divlje Jagode started at the same time (late '70s), but as balladic, only borderline hard rock band (singles and debut LP), then made one coherent hard rock LP ('81), then played heavy metal on two LPs ('83-'84), then Dokken "Under Lock And Key" type of glam (Vatra LP) and became totally incoherent on all later releases to this day. Whatever anyone may think, but that debut LP of Vatreni Poljubac is important piece of history of YUHM. Really, something is just wrong if a band who played like this back in '78 is rejected, while the one who was playing like this or at hardest as this at that time is all OK.

- OSVAJAČI are heavy metal, while REZERVNI TOČAK is rejected as "melodic rock"?
Doesn't seem there's much of a common sense here. Osvajači belong to a grey area more than Rezervni Točak. They are not just "heavy metal" as they are simply described. Keep 'em in the archives, but tag 'em as "Melodic heavy metal, hard rock" which is way more accurate description for 'em. Yes, I suggest adding Rezervni Točak as "heavy metal/hard rock", and come on, at least their first LP is heavier, more coherent and more metal than Osvajači.

- Bands like FAUST, III KANAL, APARTMAN 69, METRO...
...are rightfully included and described as "heavy metal/hard rock", but where are bands like TARANTULA, SVEŽA KRV, OKTOPUS, BAŠ ČELIK, VALTER, OGNJENI VUK, ŽUTA MINUTA etc? These bands are as equally heavy as these and some of 'em are more heavy and coherent heavy metal/hard rock than these included.

Please use this thread for questions about rejected bands:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=64985

I will note one thing, though. The site really doesn't care about "scenes." What matters for us is the sound of the bands; whether the music of at least one of their albums is dominantly metal. For our sake, the site defines metal as a basis in metal riffs. From your own opinion, you admit that many of the bands in the Yugoslav scene rely more on a hard rock sound than a metal sound. Given that we care about what music a band plays, and not where they or others might see themselves in the music scene... you have your answer there.