Reviews

...It almost seems to be a trademark for bands signed to Prog Rock Records to release very well-produced records, and Contra-Mantra in definitely not an exception. Especially taken into consideration that this is a self-financed release, this album offers a rich sound that at times does get a bit rough, be it on purpose or not, it does fit the music well, especially in those more straight forward tracks in the style of Yes, Toto and Kansas. Heavily inspired by prog from 70’s and early 80’s, this album might not be offering much of the new, but then again, if done properly these kinds of flashback albums can be very interesting listening, especially if the creators dare to update the sound and add some new aspects to the music. And Jaugernaut do exactly this by adding some aspects of electronic ambient music and some tribal inspired rhythms. The passages are good, but it is the interaction of these parts with the rest of the music that sometimes fails to flow naturally. Johnston knows what he is doing in all the roles he has taken on this album, and with the help of Jim Brammer on some guitar work this album feels like an entity throughout most of all seven songs. Sometimes the focus shifts, but never enough for the listener to lose interest...
www.metal-revolution.com/plugins/content/content.php?content.1667

...The opening number, Anthem, may well be the most progressive creation on this production, following an atmospheric intro containing church bells and carnival sounding organ followed by percussion and some contemporary sounding electronic beats. We are treated to an epic pomp rock composition containing multiple breaks, mellow atmospheric segments mixed with majestic sounding parts constructed by guitars and organ, intense emotional lead vocals and harmonic layered ones, and what sounds pretty much like vintage ‘70s keyboards in flamboyant action. All the bells and whistles you'd want in this style of music and a pretty fascinating composition to boot. The Damage Is Done and Better Living thru Anarchy follow next, both of them less adventurous creations with more of a clear cut AOR approach, the first of these with some Rush-tinged guitar work and the second with an elaborate chorus as the main attractions, and they are both well made, planned and executed: ‘70s hard rock with nice keyboard touches. The Hard Way is the second, and last, epic composition on this album and although not the most progressive by any means, it's probably the most experimental creation here. The opening 5 minutes explore a partially ambient electronic landscape with the sound of rain falling as a constant feature, upon which several brief melodic segments are added, tribal electronic beats first, a synth bass and percussion based theme next and a 2 minute long acoustic guitar exploration as the last one...
www.progressor.net/review/jaugernaut_2005.html#p2

..It's some kind of melodic/progressive hard rock, and sometimes they're "normal" and really good, like in the second song "The Damage Is Done" for exemple, but sometimes they're too weird for me and not good at all. Fortunately the bad moments are less than the good moments, and that's good! Well, you should know by now that I'm not the typical prog rocker, but I think I actually can recomend you to check this out after all.
www.hardrockinfo.com/reviews/showreviews.asp?id=697

...The style being 70´ties prog/pomp rock, I kid you not !! So dear reader, if you absolute dislike that style and /or period of music, then go read another review!! Me, I just love said period and style!! Think Uriah Heep, think Styx (without the sugarcoat), think Kansas, think...well you get the picture, this is a superb album with the abowe mentioned features and inspiration sources! You get good old keybord rushes, power guitars and superb soaring guitar soli plus some excellent vocals (sometimes not unlike the great Coverdale!) from Jim Johnston & cohorts!! Special mention to the 2 excellent lead guitar players: Jim Brammer & Marty prue !! I love this album, it gets better with every spin and believe you me, there have been many in the last few days...
www.progplanet.com/index.php?categoryid=36&p2_articleid=704

German review
www.progressive-newsletter.de/cd53_39.htm

Germany review
www.heavyhardes.de/review-4142.html

French review
www.magicfiremusic.net/chronique.php?id=2157

...absolutely love the track “Vanity” with the use of pop funk and African instruments making it the stand out track for me on this album. If you are a Rick Wakeman, Fish/Marillion or Porcupine Tree fan, I think this may end up being your favourite CD on the shelf for 2008...
www.hotdigits.co.uk/cgi-bin/diary2/journal?user=jason

...To be fair, the epic called "Doing It The Hard Way" is the exception - as it uses many innovative tricks. Due to the length of this track and the fact they leave some bits of this CD-ROM unburned, the album only has seven songs in total. For this reason, there may not be enough presents to judge it from tip to toe. Likewise, this is the resurrection of a band that's been dormant for over twenty years so it's hard to compare it to relative antecedents. Not to mention, there are noted deficiencies in this second-hand material. As Jim Johnston writes, "The album before you is a reunion album of sorts... There is Me, Myself and I." The potential is obviously there and it's an honorable un-retirement and debut for a single artist who is missing three-fourths of his quartet. If there is no more Jaugernaut, it suffices for last rites. However, if Johnston continues to mature and evolves the reanimated project to a fuller crew, it would be worthwhile to keep this as backup or used in fair trade for an upgrade...
www.progressiveworld.net/html/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=3660

Spanish review
www.hallofmetal.com/ver_disco.php?id=953

...One of Contra-Mantra's strongest points is Johnson's singing. So many one-man-bands are severely lacking in this area, but Johnson's delivery is in a strong, upper-range with very good pitch control and excellent range. This guy could successfully audition for almost any metal band, yet in the lower ranges his vocal timbre is very nicely suited to '70s-influenced prog. The occasional addition of multi-part backing vocals works remarkably well too. Listen to the excellent, introspective "All I See Is Gray," in which the earlier parts are an appealing ballad, yet the energy builds up, and Johnson effortlessly ratchets up his delivery to match. Sort of Billy Joel morphs into Geddy Lee. An interesting note: Some writers have called Contra-Mantra metal. With respect - they are wrong, and they're probably being misled by that singing style. There are some hard-rock / hard Kansas-like AOR tendencies, but make no error - this is rock-solid, old fashioned progressive music - and not prog-metal...
www.progressiveworld.net/jaugernaut.html

...This album is absolutely worth a ride in your CD player. Apart from the fact that almost every song could have been cut down a few minutes, because of unnecessarily long parts and intros that seem like they’re there because one should have some strange parts as well, it is a great album. The production is clear, nothing to put a finger on actually, check it out for yourself! Jaugernaut – Contra Mantra should be among your first priorities of buying...
www.metalexpressradio.com/menu.php?main=reviews&id=2716

Interview
www.magicfiremusic.net/itw.php?cat=itw&id=139

Hungarian interview
zenemagazin.com/index.php/2008/08/31/jaugernaut-–-filozofia-a-gonosz-es-anton-az-alattomos/#more-2149

German review
squealer-rocks.de.dd16706.kasserver.com/cdreview.php?var=1581

Italian review
www.shapelesszine.com/recealbum/jaugernaut(a.d.)-contra-mantra.htm

Italian review
www.hardsounds.it/PUBLIC/recensione.php?id=4444

German review
allover-ffm-rock.de/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3494&Itemid=91

...If you enjoy the music of the bands such as Styx, Journey, Magnum, Angel and others in that style Jaugernaut will certainly be welcome in your CD collection. I have to say I was surprisingly pleased at the sounds I heard and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Contra-Mantra to fans of prog that is influenced by the eighties arena pomp rock style. This is a thoroughly enjoyable listen with tremendous musical variety; I look forward to hearing more from Jaugernaut in the future.
www.jerrylucky.com/reviews%20f-j_010.htm

...The CD starts with Anthem, a long 12 minute track with many moods. It has a long instrumental start before the spacey vocal section (cool and powerful vocals). This is followed by some nice lead guitar playing and the keyboard driven part. The Damage is Done follows and this is a more straightforward poppy 70’s rock song. Better Living through Anarchy is a bit darker to start but then it becomes also a bit too mainstream rock music for me. The Hard Way starts with an electronic sort of funky beat and some nice guitar as the 15 min track begins to evolve...
www.lowcut.dk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=382:jaugernaut-contra-mantra&catid=29:album-reviews&Itemid=54

German review
www.rocktimes.de/gesamt/j/jaugernaut/contra_mantra.html

...No special effects, no downtuned Nu Metal guitars; just plain old progressive rock, with a dated keyboard sound, mellotron and highly Hard Rockish melodic vocals. There is a lot of music to digest here, so this is not for the young, sugar-coated pop consumer of this world. This album will appeal to any progressive rock fans that want to relive the glory of the past, of old GENESIS and YES era. You think RUSH hasn’t release a good album since a long time. Well, “Contra-Mantra” may suits your needs full. The band really knows how to write strong melodies, that will stick in your head for hours...
www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=6&id=9450

German review
www.obliveon.de/pn-om/modules.php?op=modload&name=cdreviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=11904

German review
www.metal-inside.de/frame.php?url=www.metal-inside.de/review.php?id=9955

Italian review
www.babylonmagazine.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3329&Itemid=0

...Now I'm coming to the point. If you want your music pomp and progressive, then certainly "Contra-Mantra" will suit you just fine. The feeling differs from totally 70s in the prog sector and pomp AOR in the rest of the track list. Melody is in the foremost rank, plus a deluge of 80s synths, fine-crafted arrangements and some hard rocking guitar lines as well. Hmm… that's all? No indeed. These are just the core components...
www.metalperspective.com/reviews/jaugernaut.php