LUNATIC SOUL

Lunatic Soul is a Polish musical project that features two Riverside members: singer/bass player Mariusz Duda and keyboardplayer Michal Lapaj (he plays in two songs with his Hammond organ). Because of Mariusz his melancholical moods and fascination for madness I didn't expect 'In Dulci Jubilo-like songs'. Especially not because he is the only one who plays in all songs, he has written all lyrics and he turns out to be a multi-instrumentalist with a very important role on this album. After this debut CD Lunatic Soul released another five studio-albums, their latest effort is from this year (2018) and entitled Under the Fragmented Sky.

The music on this debut CD is not similar to Riverside, that's a plus for Lunatic Soul. Only a few songs are in the vein of the typical Heavy Prog Riverside sound like the titletrack, Where The Darkness Is Deeper (hypnotising with orcehstral keyboards) and Drift (dreamy with warm vocals and sensitive electric guitar). But in general Lunatic Soul sounds more subdued and more atmospheric, from sultry and dreamy to hypnotizing. I would like to describe Mariusz his vocals as 'impressionistic' the way he colours the compositions (pretty dark in my opinion). His strongest contributions are in the second, very compelling part of the titletrack (expressive with lush Hammond support) and the strongly build-up The Final Truth (from a dreamy first part to a bombastic finale with emotional vocals). In a few songs you can enjoy ethnic instruments like the kalimba ('thumb-piano') in the titletrack and the 'quzheng' (Koto) in the Far Eastern sounding Waiting For The Dawn.

I am sure the fans of Mariusz his distinctive vocals will be pleased with the album but you have to be up to the more subdued and atmospheric sound. But I love the way Lunatic Soul use a wide range of interesting instruments, and succeeds to put emotion in their music.

My rating: 3,5 star.