•
Rating: Imagine sitting on the edge of a river, watching the placid succession of dark clouds on the horizon, the slight sound of the water passing in front of you, indifferent to your melancholy. Night is about to fall, and you are alone with your thoughts. Riverside: "Second Life Syndrome".
This is the image evoked by this album and this band in my mind. It's hard not to think of this, I believe, after listening to the music of this Polish band. The album starts with "After" in which the bass player's voice painfully whispers to us: "I can’t take anymore I can’t breathe I’m sick of this goddamn darkness, Sick of sadness and tears I throw it all up every single day...". The protagonist is a man discovering himself, at the same time forced to relive a painful past, trying to shake off an unbearable weight from his shoulders.
The music is heavy, oppressive, tormented but velvety like a breeze. The airy keyboards accompany the singing along with the rhythmic session, releasing the guitar imbued with feeling (with some Floydian reminiscences). The second track is "Volte-Face", where the energy rises without becoming furious or violent. Great space is given to the guitar, and the voice becomes tormented, touching on screaming several times, leading to a pianistic digression, and then leaving space for one last explosion.
The third track, "Conceiving You", where melancholy and nostalgia assault us, brings up the memory of a woman, her sight blurred by time past like Beatrice was for Dante. The piano accompanies Mariusz Duda's warm voice on his journey through memory. A new journey, entering the second life syndrome, the title track. Here the echo of Pink Floyd is present and hangs over the group heavily, pressuring them without crushing them.
There's a desire to turn the page: "...I erase you now with all of my past", but there's also the anger of having lost time (or perhaps this "wasted" time might have enriched us?). We move on to "Artificial smile", one of the most driven pieces from the band's composition, with a reflective insert before the final explosion where Duda bursts out with a visceral and tormented scream.
The atmosphere becomes lighter with the semi-ballad "I Turned You Down", where the usual guitar feeling reappears, accompanying us so far, holding and warming us as it gets very cold outside.
"Reality Dream part III" is a typically prog-metal instrumental track that continues the conversation that started on the band's previous record with the first two episodes. The guys let loose, showcasing good technical skills. "Pull myself together – holding on Standing at the point of no return Keeping on the right side of my heart And the moment of truth is falling on me now" With these words, "Dance with shadow" begins. Once again, emotion takes the lead, accompanying the inner journey of a person seeking freedom from what has affected them irreparably. "..I can almost see the light Feel its warmth And touch the moment I was waiting for so long I carried all before me Now the die is cast With open arms I’m standing out against my past".
When we reach certainty about something, there's the fear of seeing it crumble. It seems we've reached the light, the freedom. But the melancholy of the music doesn't subside; we haven't reached the end. Something is still missing to be free from "ourselves", we've turned the page, but the page in front of us is frightfully blank. We face "Before", the last track of the album. The journey is concluded, and I let what I think guide my fingers.
We are faced with an emotional album, but not an original one. A less straightforward and more personal drumming would have been beneficial, and in some cases, there is a slight heaviness. As their second work, a step forward has been made compared to the past, and I believe the peak to reach is near. Anathema, Pink Floyd, a pinch of Porcupine Tree, a dash of Pain of Salvation, but a vast and immensely deep carpet of emotions to give you an idea of what awaits you. I conclude this review with part of the words from "Before".
"I’ve become resistant to myself To my weaknesses and pain I’ve become the one who wants to live And just feel alive again.... I feel safe Is this What I Really Wanted? "
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Volte-Face (08:40)
I have spent all my previous life
Waiting for something else to start
Now I see that I have felt so numb
To everything that passed me by
Need to go land on my own two feet
Need to change my life this way
Need to free my mind of memories
Watch them how they screw my brain
The time that has come
Convinced what I feel inside
In darkness I float
How far is the light?
Inside – fearland
Don't want you to know
Outside – fearless
I do want you to watch
Do you mind?
Would you step aside
Make way for me
Can't you see I'm dead set on doing this
Enough of dreamless nights
Enough of sleepless nights
I'm the way I am
Get out of my sight
DO YOU MIND?
You can put me in the lion's cage
You can take my soul
Give a second name
But I don't intend to stop my fight
And I'm not afraid
NOT AFRAID
03 Conceiving You (03:40)
I've been watching you
Waiting for the right
Moment to make
The first move
Do you wanna know
Why I keep avoiding your eyes
And why I'm running away
It's crazy, I know
I've been conceiving you for too long
Or maybe I'm
Destined to be alone
Or maybe there's someone who
Will understand
That I'm not able
To share my world
I'm still running away
It's crazy, I know
I've been conceiving you for too long
If only I could change all things around
Still conceiving you all along
Still conceiving you
I've been conceiving you for too long
If only I could change all things around
I've been conceiving you for too long
I've grown used to that
Still conceiving you all along
Still conceiving you ...
05 Artificial Smile (05:27)
Hi my friend
Shake my hand
Tell your lie
With your artificial smile
Don't be mad
I just want to help you
To say these words out loud
I don't like you cause they like you
I hate you cause they love you
I wish you ill cause they wish you well
I'm so happy when they f you
Strike a blow
For my fall
Crush me down
And just say these words out loud
I don't like you cause they like you
I hate you cause they love you
I wish you ill cause they wish you well
I'm so happy when they f you
And this is what we do
And this is who we are
Why don't you want to stop
You always see my life up against your life
I don't like you cause they like you
I hate you cause they love you
I wish you ill cause they wish you well
I'm so happy when they f you
Tell me your lie!!!
06 I Turned You Down (04:34)
I turned you down so hastily
And it's tearing me apart
In my heart of hearts I'm screaming
In my heart of hearts I cry
And it's cold
So cold
I turned you down
Oh, I turned you down so thoughtlessly
And it's tearing me apart
In my heart of hearts I'm screaming
In my heart of hearts I cry
How I wish you told me that
I wish you'd told me that before
I wish you'd told me that before
I wish you'd told me that before
I turned you down
08 Dance With the Shadow (11:38)
Pull myself together – holding on
Standing at the point of no return
Keeping on the right side of my heart
And the moment of truth is falling on me now
I don't care if what I want
Is written in my eyes
You can think of me what you feel
I don't really mind
How about laughing at my habits
At my needs
I'm afraid I'll stay unmoved
Know I have to be
Before you come and tell me who I am
Before you try to make me someone else
Step out of your line, out of line
Step out of your line
I don't care if what I want
Is written in my eyes
You can think of me what you feel
I don't really mind
How about spitting venom in my face again
I'm afraid I'll stay unmoved
You just waste your breath
Before you come and tell me who I am
Before you try to make me someone else
Step out of your line
Step out of line
Shall we dance my friend?
Join in the shadow dance
Join in the shadow dance
Join in the shadow dance
Join in the shadow dance
I'm standing on the edge, about to fall
In the middle of the point of no return
Trying to forget those days I failed to act
I'm not going to back out
I've come too far
I can almost see the light
Feel its warmth
And touch the moment I was waiting for so long
I carried all before me
Now the die is cast
With open arms I'm standing out against my past
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By splinter
An absolute masterpiece! Right from the first track, you’ll realize this band is not just any prog-metal band but one that manages to have an extremely personal and distinctive sound.
An authentic masterpiece, which owes nothing to anyone, which is a debtor to none, but is instead the product of a group that makes personality its trademark!
