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This is a Polish musical project that features two
Riverside members: singer/bass player Mariusz Duda and keyboardplayer
Michal Lapaj (he plays in two songs with his Hammond organ).
Because of Mariusz his melancholical moods and fascination
for madness I didn’t expect "In Dulci Jubilo-like songs",
especially not because he is the only one who plays in all
songs, he has written all lyrics and he turns out to be
a multi-instrumentalist with a very important role on this
album.
The music on this debut CD is not similar to Riverside,
that’s a plus for Lunatic Soul. Only a few songs are in
the vein of the typical Heavy Prog Riverside sound like
the titletrack, Where The Darkness Is Deeper (hypnotising
with orcehstral keyboards) and Drift (dreamy with warm vocals
and sensitive electric guitar). But in general Lunatic Soul
sounds more subdued and more atmospheric, from sultry and
dreamy to hypnotizing. I would like to describe Mariusz
his vocals as ‘impressionistic’ the way he colours the compositions
(pretty dark in my opinion). His strongest contributions
are in the second, very compelling part of the titletrack
(expressive with lush Hammond support) and the strongly
build-up The Final Truth (from a dreamy first part to a
bombastic finale with emotional vocals). In a few songs
you can enjoy ethnic instruments like the kalimba (‘thumb-piano’)
in the titletrack and the ‘quzheng’ (Koto) in the Far Eastern
sounding Waiting For The Dawn.
I am sure the fans of Mariusz his distinctive vocals
will be pleased with this album but you have to be up to
the more subdued and atmospheric sound. Personally I love
the way Lunatic Soul uses a wide range of instruments and
succeeds to put emotion into her music although Mariusz
“seems to live on the dark side of the moon”.
www.progwalhalla.com
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