There's a French proverb that reads: "Il faut reculer pour mieux sauter!", which translates as: "Sometimes you need to take a step back to return even stronger!". And that's exactly what Stefaan Colman, better known as Collieman, has done. His more than four year absence from the music scene certainly hasn't done the Gentian singer any harm that much is for sure. On the contrary, with drummer Martijn Van den Broek (Iron Ites, Bottle Of Moonshine), bassist Dennis Nicles Cobas (Internationals), keyboard player Wim 'Appleton' (Iron Ites, Asham Band), guitarist Kim 'Gorgonzilla' (Maanzaad, Dub Town Band), saxophonist Mathijs Duyck (Asham Band, Bottle Of Moonshine), trumpet player Kris Van Hees (Bottle Of Moonshine, Asham Band), backing vocalists Kimberly Dhondt and Astrid d'Hoore, and soundman Christopher Lonneville (Pura Vida), Collieman has surrounded himself with an excellent new band, and on 'Jungle Code' clearly sounds a lot more mature. The novice from long player debut 'The Same Blood' (Majestic/Munich Records, 2012) has matured into an experienced artist, knowing exactly the direction he wants to head in, or as he summarizes in 'Still Standing': "I'm still standing, Babylon can't hold me down. I'm still standing, them can't control me now. I'm still standing, Rasta no bending, I'm independent!". For the excellent 'Political Syndrome', an indictment of the current political caste, promising heaps but changing little, Collieman already shot a successful clip, but our personal favorite on 'Jungle Code' is 'The Show Must Go On', if only because of the use of the talk box that reminded us of 1970s P-funk and 1990s G-funk (remember 'California Love' by 2Pac feat. Dr. Dre), and according to Collieman was recently revived by Bruno Mars in '24k Magic'. 'Keep The Vibes Alive' is an enjoyable tribute to some of Collie's reggae-idols, including Bob Marley, Burning Spear, The Itals, The Congos, Abyssinians, Israel Vibration, Gentleman, Bushman and many others. If in the first part of the album (sleeve design by Juli Jupter and Missing Link), Collieman still resolutely opts for reality tunes, then in the second half the singer shows his softer side with sweet love songs like 'Lovelight', 'Vanilla Ice' (the way to a man's heart apparently goes through his ital stomach), 'Gimme Lovin', and our personal favorite, the UK lovers rock flavored 'Honey Bunny'. Top album with international potential!