Millenium - Reincarnations (2002) - 2010
... eight years after the first edition of Millenium’s “Reincarnations” it is time for the special re-edition ...
intro
Ryszard Kramarski on the topic:
... apart from new graphic design and digipack version there are also a few musical changes. In 2002 while mixing the material I had an idea of combining three independent songs into one part, making the suite “The Casino Of Love”. Later it turned out that it was not the correct thing to do. Having the re-edition in mind I decided to come back to the original version and the old sequence of songs presenting the 12 theories of reincarnation. The suite was however added as a bonus. Moreover, there is also another version of “Hundreds Of Falling Rivers” (not published so far) as well as the alternative version of “My Life Domino” (published on the album “7 Years”) In 2002 at the end of mixes I could not decide which version should appear on the album. Now it is time to present the other choice. I think that this album in the new shape will uncover to the listeners the theories of reincarnations, both in the musical and literary sense ...
line-up
Ryszard Kramarski - keyboards, Piotr Plonka - guitars; Tomasz Pasko - drums; Piotr Mazurkiewicz - bass; Lukasz Gall - vocals
review
In fact this re-edition from 2010 is the third version of the album. In the year 2006 the band released a double CD version which included not only the English version with an extra track “He's Hearing Me”, but also a version of the album with Polish lyrics. On this new 2010 edition you can find besides the extra track “He's Hearing Me” also the tracks “Eternal Tale”, “The Casino Of Love” and “My Life Domino”. These three songs originally formed “The Casino O Love - Suite” which is added as a bonus track (see also the remarks of Ryszard Kramarski above).
The concept of “Reincarnations” is about the 12 theories of reincarnation. The album is presented here with the old sequence of songs. The album opens with the song “Light Your Cigar”, a slow song with a delicious relaxed character. The vocal lines and melodic guitar parts are lying on a bed of beautiful keyboard strings. This nice opener is now followed by the first highlight “Reincarnation part II & III”. The basis of this instrumental song is a beautiful melodic guitar solo. Neo-prog in his finest form. In part III you can hear beside the melodic guitar parts also a synth solo played by Ryszard Kramarski. The extra song is a ballad entitled “Eternal Tale”. Accompanied by delicate piano singer Lukasz Gall sings the first vocal lines. The melodies of the intermezzo's of acoustic guitar and synth strings are very beautiful. “Higher Than Me” is the first up-tempo song with catchy vocal refrains. But the music of Millenium always maintain a somewhat mellow character. In the second part of the song you can find a nice guitar solo. The next highlight of the album is the song “Hundreds Of Falling Rivers” which has a nice Mellotron intro/outro. You can find here again those delicious melodic guitar parts and delicate and tasteful keyboard work ... the trademark of Millenium was already present at this early album. In “The Casino Of Love” the tasteful fretless bass parts are nicely integrated into the song. “Reincarnation part I” is a short but very beautiful melodic guitar part with keyboard strings which seamless flows into the track “Gold Is In Your Mind”. A calm song with nice vocal melodies. More interesting is the next ballad “He’s hearing Me”. We hear atmospheric keyboards, a nice fretless bass and a melodic guitar solo in this beautiful song. “The King Of Broken Glass” opens with a vocal line accompanied by a delicate piano part. In the middle section of the song swelling keys, acoustic guitar and bass are setting the atmosphere. The album closes with another highlight. “My Life Domino” has some great keyboard melodies.
As a bonus you will get the suite version of “The Casino Of Love”. A combination of the songs “Eternal Tale”, “The Casino Of Love” and “My Life Domino”.
conclusion
“Reincarnation” is considered to be the second album of the band. The first real Millenium album is “Vocanda”. The untitled “Millenium” album (reviewed on progVisions), its predecessor, is actually made by the previous band (Framauro) of Ryszard Kramarski. “Reincarnation” is a good Neo-prog album full of melodic music with a mellow character. The new sequence of the songs is an improvement. It makes the album more stable and consistent. It looks like, that the album only now reveals it's real (hidden) beauty.