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Review:
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Last year we could enjoy Polish formation Moonrise
its debut CD entitled The Lights Of A Distant Bay, led by
multi-instrumentalist Kamil Konieczniak with a contribution
of Lukasz Gall (from other Polish band Millenium) on vocals.
About their music I wrote: “he sound of Moonrise is firmly
rooted into the neo-prog tradition in the vein of IQ and
Pendragon, the 8 compositions are very tastefully arranged
with some strong breaks, lots of flowing shifting moods,
a pleasant variety, a beautiful and modern keyboard sound
and splendid guitarwork, from sensitive, fiery and howling
runs to propulsive riffs.” After their acclaimed debut Kamil
decided to found an own group and go into the studio to
record a successor, it was released late 2009.
The sound on Soul’s Inner Pendulum is in the vein of
The Lights Of A Distant Bay but due to Dariusz Rybka his
saxophone play and especially Marcin Kruczek his guitar
work, often Pink Floyd comes to my mind. Most of the 8 compositions
start mellow and then turn into a slow rhythm with a compelling
atmosphere, embellished with wonderful solo’s on guitar
and sometimes keyboards. A good example is the opener Awakened:
a dreamy start with soaring keyboards, acoustic rhythm guitar
and melancholical vocals, gradually the sound becomes more
lush and with first violin-Mellotron waves and then a spectacular
synthesizer solo with propulsive guitar riffs and a fiery
Gilmourian guitar solo, what a start! In Angels Hidden Plan
we hear soaring violin-Mellotron with tender piano and then
sensitive guitar runs with twanging acoustic guitar, followed
by intense saxophone play and again soaring violin-Mellotron,
simply beautiful. More heavy and dynamic is Icarus (Full
Moon 2) with a mid-tempo featuring tight drums and a powerful
wah-wah drenched guitar solo. In Feeling Like I Lost My
Mind the focus is also on the guitar, we can enjoy a strongly
build-up guitar solo that takes us to Prog Heaven. Being
there our joy continues with the epic final composition
The Greatest Miracle (more than 13 minutes): a mellow first
part with saxophone, a howling, Gilmourian guitar solo and
a fluent synthesizer solo, then the climate turns into more
bombastic with pleasant vocals and powerful work on saxophone
and guitar, finally a very compelling part with a guitar
solo in the vein of Camel’s Andy Latimer (Nude-era), goose
bumps!
I am sure the neo-progheads, fans of modern progrock
and guitar freaks who love Latimer, Barrett and Gilmour
will be delighted about this wonderful new Moonrise album!
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!]
Erik
Neuteboom
Progwalhalla.nl
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