BIELA PLANÉTA

So far, each one Fermáta's first four albums had something new to offer, new styles, new concepts and sounds for us to hear. And not surprisingly, the lineup for each album was slightly different. So this is a first for Fermáta in that the lineup stays exactly the same for a second album. But unfortunately it just sounds like a weaker version of "Dunajská legenda", retaining some of the melodic sound from that superior album, mixing it with a laid back funky sound that lacks as much in passion as it lacks in inspiration. Where the concept for "Dunajská legenda" was the legend of medieval slavic rulers, here they take on great world explorers such as Magellan, Marco Polo and Columbus. These people discovered new waters, new continents, new peoples. Ironically the band doesn't cover any new ground here, the music is a mere shadow of their past excellence.

Best moments? Hmm...it's hard to come up with any. I've listened to this album a few times and never remembered much. "Polo" is definitely nice, a short compact latinesque polyrhythmic composition, with Fre?o playing a similar bass style as Tony Levin in 80's King Crimson. Yes, this level of polyrhythm was never explored by on the previous albums, I'll give them that. Otherwise, the songs just kinda fade into each other, nothing really memorable here.

"The White Planet" is not bad. It's competently played with a few pretty good melodic ideas, that are simply drowned in the more dominant sea of banal pseudo-funk mediocrity. For this reason I only recommend it to real fans of the band or collectors.

Highlights: "Polo" maybe?