Albion has been a neo prog band from Poland since 1992, so you may expect the music of Albion to be close to the melodic, progressive rock of Marillion, IQ, Steve Hackett and Jadis. In The Indefinite State of Matter there are both long and short melodic compositions with a dreamy atmosphere. The band members are currently: Katarzyna Sobkowicz Malec (vocals), Jerzy Antczak (guitars, fx), Krysztof Malec (keyboards). And on this album they got help from Krzysztof Wyrwa (bass), Grzegorz Bauer (drums) and Rhonda Adams (backing vocals). Typical for this album is, that the first and last tracks are both instrumental. Particle Of Soul, the longest track on The Indefinite State Of Matter begins with sounds of a storm and is very varied. In certain parts the electric guitar is dominant, but the synthesizers play a main role in this attractive composition too. From the start of When I See The Light, you hear the pleasant voice of Katarzyna. A nice up-tempo rhythm, interesting, mystical lyrics and a brilliantly playing band. What else can you wish on a sunny morning ... This song reminds me a lot of the English religious band Iona. The most heavy song is Children's Rhyme. It's about children who are afraid of the darkness of the night and fear their creepy nightmares. There are two different but excellently played guitar solos in the vein of David Gilmour and Thin Lizzy! More rest is found in the lazy song Airborne. It could be an Alan Parsons Project song with a female vocalist. What I liked the most is the excellent drumming of Grzegorz and the clearly articulating and sensual voice of Katarzyna. The last song, with interesting lyrics, is Indefinite State; a kind of slow blues with indulgences of synths and guitars. The neo-progressive rock returns halfway through the song. The splashing electric guitar solo at the end of the song made me do some air guitar battles. The start of the last instrumental song Fear is similar to Alan Parsons I Robot and Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe. After two minutes, the bombastic sounds of the drums in combination with an electric guitar riff and floating synth sounds makes it sound like the German prog sound of Eloy. During the last minutes you feel the endless emptiness of an astronaut in a capsule in space. In summary: Albion's The Indefinite State of Matter has six excellent songs and is a good example of Polish neo-prog. ****+ Cor Smeets (edited by Esther Ladiges) Where to buy? |
