EON

When a band finds a sure-fire groove in their playing, they can follow at least one of two possible paths: embellish and strengthen its impact by shifting of temper and meter, or simply ride it to exhaustion. Unfortunately, the latter choice was made by Annalist on "Eon". Perhaps this is a case in which one needs to be fluent in Polish, but when I listen to "Eon", I find myself in awe of the simple yet haunting quality at one moment and wishing I could shake these guys out of their stupor the next.

As is often true on monotonous albums, the first few tracks provide an essential synopsis of the proceedings, which in this case include mellow plucked electric guitars; samey atmospheric keyboards; little distinction between oratorial verse and chorus; and excruciatingly slow tempos. While this works well enough at first - and I do believe the initial 2 songs are also slightly fresher anyway - rigor mortis sets in quickly. A tangible pickup occurs on tracks 5-7 in which guitars are played with more intensity if hardly more variation, but the rest of the album mostly repeats the pattern poorly. Even occasional shifts into ambient and bluesy space rock a la JANE are unconvincing and too little too late.

A major step down from "Artemis", "Eon" holds the promise of a well conceived and evolved work, but ultimately seems to take a billion years to go a very short distance.

Having listening to their first two albums, I far much preferred the songs with Polish lyrics. Since this one was fully sung in their native language, I thought that I might be facing their best effort so far.

Unfortunately, this is far from it!

Actually, it is their weakest. Very average neo prog with no fantasy at all. Just as if the band had to release one album by contract: business as usual? Maybe. Anyway: it is not a great moment to share.

I am trying and having a hard time to find any highlight on this album. But I can't find any. Most tracks are on the short edge (but that's a usual factor for "Annalist"). So, don't expect any superb solo (being keys or guitar). There aren't any. Melodies are also quite absent and there is very little to retain from such a work. The last two instrumental tracks are quite useless as well to say the least.

Two stars is almost an exaggerated rating; but only one would be too harsh. You shouldn't bother though. This album is not a good one and the best thing for you to do, is just to avoid it. Their predecessor "Artemis" is their most achieved so far (even if not great).

This band is far behind some good Polish bands (most of them belonging to the neo genre).