SELFISHNESS - SOURCE OF WAR & VIOLENCE

Also I want to give my thanks to PA and Max for allowing me to enjoy this musician (who I would otherwise not intentionally overlook) via Monthly Giveaways (by the way great feature, possibilities of promoting artists are big) and mostly Robert Bériau for making this album and his kind words.

As every multi-instrumentalist, I admire this. Something that not everyone can do. But in case of one project (one man) I've heard few months ago, it can result in something not so good (in this case it was using of electronic drummer, something that I can't stand a lot - fortunately, most of drums here are real people drumming and if electronic is present here [important word - if], then it's rare and not so clear - possible in The Rats Leave the Sinking Ship). Overall feeling about this album is great. I like the sound of 70s here (even it's 2008 release), great nostalgia. I had little problem with vocals, but just from beginning, then I somehow get used to them and now I like singing style quite a lot. Really not singer in classical way, but more like Peter Hammill style - give it some time and you'll be rewarded with unique performance. Very emotional, which brings another dimension to this music. And nope, for me, power metal singers are not emotional, they just shout as much as possible.

So presuming that Robert Beriau's style can be similar to Peter Hammill's one, I can't hold back though that this album is then actually better than "Fool's Mate". What a treasure I won. Maybe bold though, maybe just daring, maybe simply foolish (what a ironic pun to "Fool's Mate"), but for sure, there's some truth in it.

Another great advantage of Selfishness (by the way interesting title, promising concept album, which may be here, but I didn't notice it. I'm not good at these things) is that it's eclectic a lot. Incorporating many different styles, elements and parts (we have a saying from one fairy tale, how doggy and kitty were making big cake made from many different ingredients, but it's fortunately not this case) and it works. Mostly. This would be maybe most prominent flaw of this album, some of them just doesn't fit me. But yeah, that can be just me and my taste. Anyway, most of them makes me feel good (or in other words, I like them), so that's nothing bad. The problem i that I don't find any problem.

as I'll make another bold move with being second rater (and first reviewer) to give this stars. I wanted to be neutral (even the fact that I get this for cheap helped me obtaining it a lot) and rate fairly, but the result looks like this. Masterpiece. Emotional depths without needless emotions (attacking my senses with brutal onslaught, or cheap copying of melodies, nope, none of this is here).

It's not optimistic, shiny happy people album, it's quite dark. But done in good dark light.

EDIT: one half a star lower rating. For now, I wasn't decided whether 4 better, or 5 worse, so I'm now. Mostly because of first two tracks, they're quite ambient and long, filled with just a few things. But 4(+) because other tracks counter-weight this.