PSYCHOSOLSTICE

Psychosolstice is an incredible debut album. Hell, it's an incredible album regardless of how you look at it. It's quite clear from the very beginning that a lot of love went into the making of this album. It is no doubt a very well crafted and consistent album, with no weak or filler material throughout.

From the other reviews I've read of this album, I was led to believe that this band sounded like a mix of Riverside and Porcupine Tree. I can certainly hear where they might be coming from, and it wouldn't come as much of a surprise if a good bit of inspiration came from those two bands, but I feel they do a good job of melding their influences together and adding their own touch to it. And besides, there is totally more King Crimson influence on this album than either of those two other chumps combined! C'mon, folks... get with it. *Ahem* As I was saying, yes... there are some pretty clear influences present on this album, but don't let that detract you from checking this album out. Besides, if you ask me, I feel as though the songwriting and musicianship on this album hands down beats the daylights out of a certain band's so-called "55-minute long epic" album that also came out in 2009 (I am, of course, referencing Porcupine Tree's "The Incident"), but... I digress.

So, how to actually describe the music on this album (outside of "amazing", that is)... Well, it's got a good balanced between laid back and atmospheric pieces ("2AM"), heavy rockers, ("Buried Hopes" / "Curse"), Crimson-esque guitar interlay ("Moondroom"), and everything in between. The band only has two permanent members-- Mariusz Boniecki on guitar/keys as well as on vocal duties, and Marcin Kledzik on drums/percussion-- with a handful of guest musicians filling in the gaps. Apparently, and I found this especially interesting, there quite a few improvised bits scattered throughout the album, despite sounding like a very structured record.

Pinkroom is at the very top of my bands to look out for, and I'm really excited to see what else they have up their sleeves.