SURREVIVAL

OK, to start off with, i write reviews very infrequently, mainly becasue I have little time and to be honest, I have to feel motivated by either the positive or negative attributes of a disk to make myself write. So here goes. I first off have to say that I sold this album already on Ebay, I was SO totally disappointed by it. It is astounding that this is the same band that gave us ALL their previous albums. Now I know the beautiful Emila left, and the bass player and drummer are also new faces, but the heart of this band has ALWAYS been Zbyszek Florek (the keyboard player) and Maciek Meller (the guitarist). if you listen to their other albums it undoubtably the interplay between them that created the 'Quidam sound'. The keyboards were (for me anyway) the real essence of their sound. However, here it is like a different badn completely. The synths are much lower in the mix, the guitarist has gone from sounding like a mic between Hackett and Latimer to almost a 'grungy-metal' sound and most of all, the songs just dont seem that strong, there is no other way to put it. It is odd, though, that the new vocalist does a good job, his voice is decent and his vocal melodies are strong, but the music is just not as strong as their previous efforts. It pains me to write this, because I know how disheartening negative reviews can be, but the stylistic change evident here is dramatic. I am so curious to hear what the band felt about making such a big change..were they pushed? Either way, I feel this bands strength was with their 'symphonic' sound. They appear to have dropped that for a more agressive, sharper, simpler...almost 'hollow' approach. I REALLY hope they reconsider this direction, I for one would be happier.