ANIMATE

...Or Imagine Infinity?

Polish progressive-metal quartet ANIMATE releases their first full-length album, "Infinite Imaginations", almost exactly eleven years after their eponymous EP came out.

And it's well worth the wait.

From what I can see, some of the titles on their earlier tracks show up here, well-polished, beautifully produced and engineered, and impeccably performed- as indeed, is the entire album.

Band Line-Up:

Robert Robin Niemiec: all vocals; Marcin Trela: guitars; Przemek Skrzypiec: bass, samples, synthesizers; and Sebastian Jezierski: drums & percussion.

Crunchy, Heavy, Vibrant

That's how I'd describe the sound of this outfit. Guitars are often down-tuned and have a nasty, rich bite on many a riff. On lead lines, we hear supple and quick playing, as well as innate musicality and melodicism. Sometimes clean tones are chiming and textured.

The bass, featured on the opening of several tracks like "Still Water" and "A Web of Madness", rumbles and supports in unison riffs and meanderings of its own.

Drumming I thought is excellent, almost cinematic, and colorful in the sense of choice of sounds, textures, accents, and percussion touches.

Keyboards, which I definitely would like to hear more of, are mainly atmospheric- setting a menacing tone through pulsing deep sounds on the opening track, "Threshold" and on "Ghostmaker", and moody layers elsewhere, with some very tasty lead work as well but all too rare.

I even thought I heard Hammond organ tones but only as accents (more, please!) on "A Web of Madness". In fact, in a perfect world, I'd wish for a full-time dedicated keyboard player in ANIMATE- for me, this would elevate the band which is already great, to yet another level.

Vocals and Lyrics

Guitarist Przemek writes lyrics for most of these tracks, and tended toward the ideas of bravely marching on despite stiff opposition (the idea of "annihilation" I mentioned above- forces that wish to destroy the individual), while vocalist Robert contributed "A Web of Madness", in which he portrays some pretty brutal landscape, with rats, urine-stench, and the ravages of aging.

Only the depth of a love-relationship can bring sense to the death-dealing influences in life.

Drummer Sebastian added "Pleasant Addiction", in which the apparent loveliness and attractions actually cover up the terrible truth of addiction- and poses the question if these can and should be resisted.

In any case, it feels like the music is built around the lyrics, and ANIMATE does a fine job of showcasing the ideas with musical themes, whether desperate or intense or tender. Vocals too nail these down, and Robert uses his supple, expressive tenor to voice these, as well as add layers of lovely harmonies too.

For me, these were part of what make the band special, and help this album shine. I thought the vocals were well above average, and might have wished only two things: a bit of variety in the tone, and a sense that these words were coming from a deeper, more personal place- purely subjective on my part.

Closing Thoughts

I think ANIMATE does a fine job here with its first full-length album, "Infinite Imaginations". It's got strong musicality, it's cleanly and clearly produced, a lot of crunchy, hard-hitting sounds, and clear, strong vocals with good melodicism and catchy harmonies. The rhythm section is superb.

I rate this release 3.5/5- well done, and a little room to grow. "Imagine infinity!"