W GALERII CZASU

I bought this album by the Polish band Lizard on a whim and the fact that it was in the clearance section of one of my favorite online sellers. You certainly can't beat a bargain, and this one was well worth the price. Many of the reviews for Lizard's 2004 release, Psychopuls, have described their music as a cross of King Crimson, UK, and ELP. I can only guess the group got it's name from KC's Lizard album of 1970. But their debut, in my opinion, only shows a slight King Crimson influence and very little signs of the other mentioned groups. In fact, I would say their debut has a rather unique sound combined from a more diverse mix of influences. Finally, please disregard that this has been released by Metal Mind Records. This band has nothing to do with metal. They are an equal mix of symphonic prog and neo prog.

Clearly the main focus of Lizard's sound is keyboards. There are ample amounts of lush and spacey atmospheres creating a beautiful background for guitar playing in a Hackett/Rothery-like style, excellent drum work, and strong bass playing. The vocals are entirely in Polish, which is hardly a distraction as the singer is quite skilled. The music is not really that complex, but it has well-composed melodies. As mentioned before, there is a slight King Crimson influence in places, but I sense a much stronger Marillion influence in many of the songs. I've also heard this band compared to Collage and although I have not had the chance to hear Collage's material, they do sound somewhat similar to another Polish band called Abraxas, especially Abraxas' first release. Of the six tracks on this release, not one of them is weak in my opinion. The best song is clearly the epic W krainie szmaragdowego jaszczura.

The last three tracks on this release are live bonus tracks. Two of them are live versions of songs from this album, the other is unrelated. These are performed really well, the audience is almost not heard at all (maybe they were doing laundry? or maybe they were removed from the mix to bring out the band's sound better?), and the recording is of lesser quality than the studio tracks, as expected.

Overall, a great buy if you can get it cheaply. It's also one of the better debuts I've heard in awhile and I would highly recommend to symphonic/neo prog fans, especially those looking for that unique East European feel. I think instead of the bonus tracks, one more epic would've convinced me to seriously consider this as a masterpiece. However, this is still an excellent addition to any prog rock collection. Easily four stars.