Retrospective - RE:SEARCH - 2017
“... the successor of Lost In Perception ...”
intro
Retrospective is a Polish band that won the award for Best Polish Progressive Album of 2012 for their album “Lost In Perception”. That was the first release on their new label Progressive Promotion Records. That same label has released now their third studio album “RE: SEARCH”. The music of the band could described as a melting pot of the musical styles Art Rock and Progressive Metal. A few years back the band said they are influenced by the music of bands like Dream Theater, Rush, King Crimson, Pink Floyd en Symphony X and that it was their goal to develop an own style. But if you listen to their new album RE: SEARCH the names of bands like Riverside and Porcupine Tree will pop up in your mind. But because of their male and female singers the band is indeed developing their own musical style.
line-up
Jakob Roszak - vocals; Beata Łagoda - keyboards, vocals; Maciej Klimek - guitars; Łukasz Marszalek - bass; Robert Kusik - drums; Alan Szczepaniak - guitars
review
The album opens with the song “Rest Another Time”. Jakob Roszak has a powerful voice and is bringing the lyrics with a lot of passion and Beata is adding some vocal harmonies to this song. The driving character of the rhythm section and especially the bass are giving this piece a Riverside feel. In the song “Right Way” the male and female vocals complement each other very well. You can find some nice vocal melodies in this track. A very interesting piece of music with more melody than the opener.
In “The End Of Their World” the atmospheres of the previous two tracks are combined. Catchy vocal refrains, a driving rhythm section, delicate keyboards and powerful guitar riffs are making this song very strong. The female vocals have a bigger role in the song “Roller Coaster”. Halfway the song the powerful male vocals take over and the heavy guitar riffs reminds me of the music of Porcupine Tree.
The band slows down a bit in “Heaven Is Here” with beautiful melodies and delicate keyboard orchestrations. Halfway the song you can enjoy some melodic guitar parts. The slow “Look In The Mirror” is also a song that is more in a somewhat Art Rock vein. The vocal parts on this album are very strong. As I said before the male and female vocals complements each other very well. In the song “Last Breath” the thunderous and metallic riffs return. It is an up tempo track with a heavy character.
“Standby” with it's catchy vocal refrains and beautiful piano playing is one of my favorite songs. In this song you can hear that the special combination of a male and female works out very fine. In the last part of the song the tension of the music is building up towards a climax with nice guitar work. The album closes with another highlight and the longest track of the album “The Wisest Man On Earth”. Again we hear some influences of the also Polish band Riverside. It is a brooding song with aggressive male vocals and heavy guitar riffs.
conclusion
The Polish band Retrospective made with “RE: SEARCH” a good album that could by categorized under the spectrum of the musical genres Art Rock and Progressive Metal. The music of the band stands out among their contemporaries because of the combination of a male and female singer. This works out very well. The band is developing their own style but I would advise fans of the also Polish band Riverside to check this album out. You won't be disappointed.