The Polish band Thesis was founded in 2007 as a result of an encounter of former members of - for me - unknown bands as April Ethereal, Licorea and Homicide. After many rehearsals and shows and after some line-up changes, the band decided to play their own musical style namely psychedelic progressive post rock. The band now consists of Lukasz Krajewski (vocals), Jerzy Rajkow-Krzywicki (guitars), Jan Rajkow-Krzywicki (guitars), Jan Kaliszewski (bass) and Pawet Stanikowski (drums) and in September 2009, they released their debut album Channel 1. Persephona, the heavy opener of the album, is a pleasant surprise. It starts slowly but soon the heavy guitar riffs dominate this song interrupted by an acoustic guitar solo in the middle-section. This piece has obviously been influenced by the nu-metal band Rage Against The Machine. However, the lyrics are easy to sing or shout along with. The next song Alice is much quieter in the beginning, but ends with heavy guitar solos. The loud and quite parts are very varied. Like A Child is the first ballad which resembles an old Anathema- song with a great guitar solo at the end. The lyrics are dark and ominous. Leaving Physical is heavy, but it's no hard rock or heavy metal. It's more a modern prog song in the vein of Porcupine Tree. It has some menacing parts and heavy grunts as well. As in the earlier songs, the voice and English pronunciation of Lukasz Krajewski sound quite well. The metal song Not A Pean is rather controversial; the spoken and shouted words with many four letter words are quite desperate. This is certainly not my favourite one. The next piece Self Seduced has the same dark and pessimistic mood with even more f...words that I don't like. The short acoustic song Hidden Plastic Earrings is much better. The final song is Nourisher with heavy guitars, grunts and shouts. It's neither an easy song to play, nor to listen to. However, the alternation between the acoustic and electric guitar solos kept my attention. The end of the song is the most difficult part of the entire album. This debut album contains five additional unplugged songs with only one new studio song called Alright. The others are played with an audience, so you'll get a mini concert for free when you buy this album. Listen to the excellent, expressive voice of Krajewski while the other band members show their musical skills on their instruments. Some acoustic live songs are even better than the electric studio versions. Thesis certainly is a talented band, but they need more experience in song writing. Too much tracks on Channel 1 have the same structure, and please stop using the f...words. You don't need that to write a good rock song. *** Cor Smeets (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
