IT'S.TRUE.MENTALITY

This 2008 album was the debut by Polish prog metal outfit Its.True.Mentality. It's not just the punctuation in the name that is unusual, as while prog metal bands aren't exactly uncommon, it is certainly strange to come across one that is totally instrumental, and one that is happy to move as far away from riffs as these do at times. The line-up of Andrzej Lebek (guitar), Grzegorz Haasa (drums), Anna Weyna (keyboards) and Arkadiusz Doroszuk (bass) can certainly crunch the riffs when they need to, but there is a great deal of light within the album as well. The use of older keyboard sounds also provides warmth, and the result is a five-track twenty-nine-minute- long album that just makes me want to keep coming back for more. Bass and drums sit in the background quite a bit, but aren't afraid to be forward and demanding when the time is right, but for a lot of the time it is Anna and Andrzej who rightly take centre stage. They have a strong solid understanding of each other, so they can duet and provide strong interlinked runs, or they are also content to let each other take the lead.

This is music that is incredibly solid, as one would expect from the genre, but there is also a great deal of light and space within the music which then allows for contrast against the more metallic elements when they make their presence felt. The solos aren't pure solos in the traditional sense, but more that they are taking the musical lead at that point. It is more reflective than many in the scene, and has been influenced as much by melodic guitarists such as John McLaughlin as much as they have by Karl Groom. Highlight is the final song, "Mistificated Paranoia" which has a wonderful warm introduction with some beautiful fretless bass notes that gradually just builds into a swirling epic.

I feel that there are times when they lack the musical depth and power that they need, and some of the compositions are a little weak in places, as if this were a work in progress as opposed to the finished article. But, this was a self-released demo, so possibly they were looking for some recognition and record company support. Sadly, I believe this was their only release, their sites are no longer active, and their Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2009. That's a real shame as this showed promise, and is worth picking up if you come across it.

Hailing from Poland, It's.True.Mentality is a relatively young band; formed as late as 2005. They made a 7-track demo just after hooking up; and then several line-up changes occured before the band stabilized. "Insomnia" is their first effort following this, a 5-track EP (or mini-album, depending on point of view).

After the short opening track, with some passages reminding quite a bit of Metallica at times, 4 longer escapades follow. As with the opener these are all instrumental affairs, where the guitar is the key feature of the sound this act has chosen to follow. Rather less distorted and downtuned than many other acts within the progressive metal genre, wandering mellow guitar patterns, toned down staccato riffs and riff patterns are blended nicely and invitingly with melodic guitar passages and soloing - albeit with less of this latter aspect than one might expect.

Synths and organs provide some neat additional features, where especially the latter adds a vintage art rock mood to the explorations - a nice detail which might just give this act an edge in terms of attracting a key fanbase.

And last track Mistificated Paranoia deserves special mentioning; the opening 90 seconds or so with dark, floating synths and percussion conjures an atmosphere pretty similar to the one found on the soundtrack to Twin Peaks (the series, not any of the movies).

Apart from the opening segment of this creation and the opening track I'd think that one of the major influences for this act is Iron Maiden though; where it's the form rather than the overall sound that has taken most ques from this veteran metal act.

The main flaw of this album are predictable compositional evolvements; and also a few transitional passages that comes across as somewhat underdeveloped. When that is said; I'd suspect that there are many who'd most likely take an interest in this band and this particular album. Especially if they are fond of instrumental progressive metal.

Let me introduce these newcomers and represent them to wide audience. It's.True.Mentality comes from Poland. Founded in 2005, they distracted in 2007 and since then they work in standard line-up, consisted of: Andrzej Lebek on guitars, Grzegorz Haasa on drums, Anna Weyna on keyboards and Arkadiusz Doroszuk on bass. Their music can be qualified as variety of genres related to rock, but mainly they are characterized as progressive rock with heavier guitar sound. Until now, they've recorded "Insomnia", the album for which one I've got opportunity to write very first review for Prog Archives. At the beginning, I want to underline that this band is instrumental, without vocalist and I have to admit that I like this fact, just because their music is complete even without vocal fragments. Insomnia implies 5 songs, packed in almost a half of an hour of music, what's the biggest complaint related for this album. As someone who's impressed with Insomnia, I definitely ask for more music on this release, just because I've got an opinion that right when you're going to be ready for this album, it will eventuate. But, let's focus on these 5 served tracks, after all. Album starts with an intro, which begins with very interesting bass line, followed by nice drumming and kinda sepulchral riffing, what becomes larger and "alive" and at the end piano comes to the surface and with darkened decomposition fills the space. Those what remains as a question is, if intro is like this, then this album will hit you straight to the face and blow you away. The next song is called "Daily Nightmares", which comes with a bit of "funny" melodiousness at the very beginning and then develops to one of the main representatives from "Insomnia". There's evident the influence of progressive rock, especially speaking of keyboards. I really enjoy them and freely can say that instrumentation in this song is the range of Camel keyboards-sound. Middle part of the song is styled with beautiful guitar solo of Andrzej Lebek, and I have to praise also rhythm section, especially drums at the end of the song, which together with keyboards come to the first plan. Third song on the album is called "The Night is a Day". Starts with calm beginning, established by guitar decomposition, followed by rhythm section. The things which decorate this song is that 70ies progressive rock atmosphere, with very nice guitar lines and drumming, with Rhodes (?) piano which really takes my breath away. Personally, this is my favorite song on "Insomnia", and by the way it's the longest one, what's another reason why should this album be longer. Because the band fits very well with longer compositions and they should do more songs like this, definitely. Follows "Fear of a Sleep". A song with excellent beginning, accomplished with drums and wah-wah riffing. On the first listening of this song, I acquired an opinion that guitars are too "overlouded" and in front of the other instruments. But, I am glad that the song disallowed this statement of mine. Because, keyboards again. Seems like I am really obsessed with their sound. After "The Night is a Day", this song is the next joker. Finally, the last song on the album, called "Mistificated Paranoia". Abounded with dark and deep keyboards, you can really feel that mystification. It's nice to hear that bass overtakes and starts to "play" altogether with other instruments. Guitar solo is once again performed with the support of wah-wah. A lot of broken rhythms in the second half of the song, and keyboards solo are very remarkable, done into the manner of the best progressive rock bands. As I said at the beginning of this review, the biggest and the only complaint refers to the album duration. But, with my crossed fingers, I am sure that the band will have this on their mind, when the time for the succeeder comes. Polish scene has got another represent at the field of progressive, by having It's.True.Mentality. It's for sure. And now, I'm going to start this album again.