THIS BREAD IS MINE

Fall of 2008 was a period of big changes for Believe.Keyboardist Adam Milosz moved away for good, suffering from prematiral stress, but the biggest loss was the departure of talented singer Tomasz Rozycki, who was feeling exhausted by the whole project of running a group.Gil announced the arrival of new frontman Karol Wroblewski, a 19-old singer, who could also play the flute.Some six months later Believe had recorded their third album ''This bread is mine'', released in August 2009, always supported by Metal Mind.

Listening to the album I have the feeling that Mirek Gil hurried up to make the introduction of the new singer.Material was not as strong as on the previous albums, while Wroblewski was handed too many duties in a short time, he was also responsible for the keyboard parts of the album besides his regular ones as a lead singer and flutist.The band appears to distinguish from the charming stylings of Polish Prog and comes up with a work, sounding like millions of other modern Prog albums, having PINK FLOYD and PORCUPINE TREE as the main guiding lights.Tracks are mostly atmospheric without any significant symphonic orientations, limited keyboards have transformed Believe into a slightly rawer band and the overall mood sounds like Gil and Wroblewski running the project, even Satomi's violin moves do not sound quite as nice as on the previous album.My main problem though comes from the similarity between the tracks, practically following the same form, which included slow tempo electric guitars and lyrical explorations, always interrupted by laid-back textures with bits of flute and maybe acoustic guitars.No true dynamics, pretty rare explosions and a generally lyrical, smooth atmosphere, which even makes it doubtful of how progressive this work is.Of course Mr. Gil hasn't left his talent at home, there are some beautiful, cinematic passges in here with a distinctive Post Rock background and some great guitar work, but, when we are talking about this man, expectations are really high.

Change of frontman had an impact on Believe's sound and actually a questionable one.I think that there was a bit of rush by the band to expose their new singer to the public and I have to believe this was the reason why ''This bread is mine'' sounds a bit pale and uninspired.Average work by the standards of Mirek Gil's talent...2.5 stars.